Random Play by Graham Reid

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Random Play: Welcome to this world

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  • Russell Brown,

    We have iMax bookings, in good seats, booked for Saturday.

    Major family excitement.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Meh... I'm going to see Avatar, and fully expect to be wow-ed by the special effects while marvelling at James Cameron's inability to tell a story not smothered in corn-flecked cheese. But there's still part of me that says when you've got a budget running at several million dollars a minute, unless most of it is going up the director's nose the damn film SHOULD be a visual skull-fuck.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    We have iMax bookings

    Hates you. That would have to be amazing viewing.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    James Cameron's inability to tell a story not smothered in corn-flecked cheese

    Terminator was smothered in corn-flecked cheese?

    But I will give you The Abyss, True Lies and Titanic.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Terminator was smothered in corn-flecked cheese?

    Who the hell knows -- like Aliens, it didn't stand still long enough to tell. You can enjoy Titanic as full throttle disaster porn, but you've got writhe through a lot of plot that would have been ridiculously melodramatic back in 1912. The one time I tried sitting through the damn thing on DVD, I just cued the disc up to the moment the iceberg hit the fan. :)

    But a couple of things: some have skewered it because the storyline is pretty simple (at least it has one) but that’s fine. So was Star Wars (the first/fourth) and this one layers in messages of eco-consciousness, the wisdom of being connected to your planet, (implied American) militarism, the barbarity of capitalism and so forth.

    They seem decent and important messages to pass on in the early 21st century.

    I know you're on a hiding to nothing looking for much depth in a popcorn flick, but should we just grant that there's something rather obnoxious about the Coca-Colonialism in play here. The "enlightened" white men (and Ellen Ripley) swooping in to save the noble savages from the evil white men? (And that's before you get into the rather blatant irony of who actually financed this paean against rampant consumerism and exploitation by evil corporates.)

    I expect to enjoy the spectacle, but that's about it.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    we did the champagne breakfast 3d pre screening here in nelson.

    and as i said somewhere else here. its more of a polynesian movie with regards to the indigenousity theme than a native american one and could only have been made here or it wouldnt have been the movie it is.

    it comes through in the notions of tangata whenua expressed by tall blue skinned' tattooed' people with flat noses. we belong to the land it doesnt belong to us. i thought the hongi was a nice touch. the fauna is NZ native bush imagined from pangean/gondwana times submerged in crystal clear polynesian waters. and what about them kauri trees ?

    gotta wonder how the hero could remote control his avatar in the mountains if it played havoc with other electronic systems ?

    plotwise it reminded me of Dune. now if david lynch reshot that in 3d and re imagined those planets...wow!

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    The "enlightened" white men (and Ellen Ripley) swooping in to save the noble savages from the evil white men?

    its more about the 'polynization' of the white man who in trying to eliminate native culture by infiltration, coercion and military domination comes to accept the inherent superiority of indigenous culture:)

    its the future we're hurtling towards. the acceptance of a hybrid accessing of genepools by technological means as opposed to natural selection and survival of the fittest expressed best in polynesian...ummm breeding rituals ?

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    I know you're on a hiding to nothing looking for much depth in a popcorn flick, but should we just grant that there's something rather obnoxious about the Coca-Colonialism in play here.

    I'm expecting Pocahontas with action scenes. As they'll be James Cameron action scenes, I'm not complaining. But I was never very excited by the generic fantasy art -- did someone say a Yes album cover come to life? -- in the trailers.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    But I will give you The Abyss, True Lies and Titanic.

    Abyss was 90% good with the other 10% cheese. I'd put it well above Titanic.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    Abyss was 90% good with the other 10% cheese. I'd put it well above Titanic.

    In my view, True Lies is his one real dud. The cheese is well over 50% and the attempts at comedy are laborious. Not Arnie at his best either.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • pollywog,

    BTW do you all know that the terminator and matrix were apparently one book written by a black woman whose script got jacked and split into 2 stories back in the 80's?

    the terminator series runs forward the matrix backwards.

    to put it simply. Neo sends back someone in time to father himself as john connor. the terminators win the war and enslave humans as human battteries including john connor and create the matrix to generate power to reproduce. agent smith is a T5.

    what i think cameron does with this movie in continuing the remote accessed avatar theme of the matrix/terminator series is open up the possibility of bio engineering through pyschotropics the union of man, machine and the universe at large expressed in the 'box' that is pandora. terence mckenna would have loved this movie.

    unobtanium would then be the naturally occuring element that powers the transformation and expands the consciousness as the spice melange does in 'dune' and opens up the possibility for interstellar travel.

    somewhere else • Since Dec 2009 • 152 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    I'm expecting Pocahontas with action scenes

    I'm expecting 'Dances with Aliens'.

    True Lies is his one real dud

    Well, I'd prefer Ah-nold over Celine Dion any day.

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Not Arnie at his best either.

    There's a scale of relatively that largely lives in the negatives. An actor ideally suited for playing a robot.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Gareth Ward,

    Interesting what you say about Star Wars - Cameron saw that in 77 and instantly decided he had to make something like it. Avatar was written mid-90's while Titanic was in production, and when it was finally looked at late-90's he canned it because the technology couldn't create his vision of his own Star Wars.

    Auckland, NZ • Since Mar 2007 • 1727 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Avatar was written mid-90's while Titanic was in production, and when it was finally looked at late-90's he canned it because the technology couldn't create his vision of his own Star Wars.

    There was also the small technicality that while Titanic was massively over-budget, behind schedule, and looking like the mother of all fliops, nobody was going to hand his initial estimated budget of close to $400 million.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Littlewood,

    The interesting thing about Aliens is that for all its admittedly relentless action, the buildup is surprisingly considered. I watched it again the other week, and it struck me how evenly paced it actually is- it's a good 90 minutes before they even land on the planet, and much of the first half deals with Ripley figuring out exactly what's happened since she's been frozen. If it were made today, it would be the same length (probably longer even), but it would cut out the backstory entirely.

    Sure, it doesn't have the foreboding, almost glacial pace of Alien, but Cameron doesn't exactly throw you straight into it, either, and more to the point, his setpieces are coherent- especially compared to say, anything directed by Michael Bay or the Bourne films (which admittedly are deliberately disorientating). HK-era John Woo aside, he's probably the action director.

    Today, Tomorrow, Timaru • Since Jan 2007 • 449 posts Report Reply

  • Geoff Lealand,

    The very best sci-fi film I have seen for an age (saw it twice this year) is David Jone's Moon. It does have some resemblance to Aliens(the amoral, corrupt corporation ) but succeeds without any monsters or banal threats--more of a film about ideas, set on the dark side of the moon. It is also succeeds in being melancholic, which is rather unusual for sci-fi.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    The interesting thing about Aliens is that for all its admittedly relentless action, the buildup is surprisingly considered. I watched it again the other week, and it struck me how evenly paced it actually is- it's a good 90 minutes before they even land on the planet, and much of the first half deals with Ripley figuring out exactly what's happened since she's been frozen. If it were made today, it would be the same length (probably longer even), but it would cut out the backstory entirely.

    The interesting thing is that my DVD has two versions of Aliens: And the main addition to the "special edition" is a long sequence where we see the Colony and Newt's parents being (unwittingly) sent out to the derelict ship, and ends with Newt getting her shriek on as her father comes back to the family buggy with a passenger. Judging from the commentary, Cameron is still resentful as heck that (for once) the studio prevailed -- but I think they were right. There's nothing wrong with the sequence -- it's well-staged and works in it's own right. But it drags the whole film to a grinding halt, and IMO it's more dramatically effective when we discover along with Ripley later on in the movie that (surprise!) it was no accident the colonists discovered the ship.

    his setpieces are coherent- especially compared to say, anything directed by Michael Bay or the Bourne films (which admittedly are deliberately disorientating).

    OMFG, how much do I hate drunk-with-DTs-cam. :) I swear to you, if Cloverfield had been five minutes longer I'd have been getting my Mister Creosote on all over the head of the poor bitch sitting in front of me.

    But one wonderful action director is Zhang Yimou -- I own, and frequently re-watch, his wuxia trilogy: Hero, House of Flying Daggers and Curse of The Golden Flowers. Often directors use pyrotechnics and crash cuts to "fake" up energy and momentum, but Zhang's action scenes are often shot in medium or long shots where you 1) don't come away with a migraine, and , 2) you always have a sense of space and visual coherence. If that makes any sense at all.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Just for Craig, I'll bring a small bag of cheese to put on my popcorn while I watch it.

    I'm also going IMAX on Saturday. I missed out going last night because I got stuck in analysis paralysis deciding whether I wanted to do IMAX, or digital 3D, or Gold Class, and when I finally decided, the only seats left were in the corner of the front row.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    And the main addition to the "special edition" is a long sequence

    Wait, that's the only version of Aliens that I've seen. There's a version without showing the family going out to the ship? You're messing with me!

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Just for Craig, I'll bring a small bag of cheese to put on my popcorn while I watch it.

    Hey, I'm going to geek-jizz in my pants over the sheer spectacle of it all, but I've no expectations that the storytelling in going to be anything less than risible. And I don't see why there's got to be any special pleading involved -- love the eye candy, but don't pretend that characters that struggle to reach two-dimensions don't matter. It's not a zero sum game, but I guess Cameron doesn't have to care any more than disaster pornographer Roland Emmerich does. (I don't think actors as talented as John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton found 2012 a terribly challenging gig.)

    Wait, that's the only version of Aliens that I've seen. There's a version without showing the family going out to the ship? You're messing with me!

    Dude, I can find infinitely more satisfying ways to fuck with your head. :) But, yes, the 'special edition' is the one Cameron prefers, and I think that's the one that ends up on television and is more readily available on DVD. (There also an edition of Terminator 2 out there with a rather odd coda which I, personally, don't regret losing. It's jusy way too preachy and totally clunky.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I've no expectations that the storytelling in going to be anything less than risible.

    I'm going to keep an open mind, avoid the spoilers and any other mediation, suspend my disbelief and just enjoy it. It's like being a child again, without the long queue to get a ticket.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • James Bremner,

    I saw Invictus last weekend. Liked it a lot. Morgan Freeman does very well as Mandela.

    Don't know when it hits NZ, but it is well worth a few hours and a few bucks.

    Won't hurt NZ's reputation to have its team cast as the unbeatable giant in the final.
    Still hurts to remember the actual game though.

    NOLA • Since Nov 2006 • 353 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    It's jusy way too preachy and totally clunky.

    Not to mention that it fucks up the franchise.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Still hurts to remember the actual game though.

    Like it was just yesterday. A twisting pain in my gut, which is ironically what most of the NZ team were feeling before the game, apparently.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

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