SubJeff on 23/8/2013 at 10:26
Saw Elysium last night.
3/5
It looks great, everyone is good in it (though Jodie Foster has some weird accent), loved the multiculturalism and of course especially the South Africans. I really enjoyed
Wickus Kruger - he was perfectly hateful and the Afrikaans-English vernacular was fun, though I feel it will be lost on the vast majority of people who see this, which is a shame as it really gives those oaks a certain flavour.
The problem with this film is that it had no big ideas and so all there was to enjoy was the action. The main plot issues have been done to death, the tech wasn't especially interesting even though it was all very cool, the action was good but not amazing.
I can't say it's a bad film, hence the 3 (average) but it seemed like a setting and characters in want of a meaty plot.
Quote Posted by Fafhrd
Elysium I enjoyed viscerally during the action bits, and then the ending shat in my mouth so I left the theatre feeling insulted and angry.
Which bit exactly? Perhaps its because I wasn't blown away from the start that meant I didn't feel disappointed at the end, but I dunno man, there was nothing big at the end that really affected me and I was waiting for it because of your post!
PS. I think Afflek is a terrible choice.
N'Al on 23/8/2013 at 10:32
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
I think Afflek is a terrible choice.
Just to play devil's advocate here; how many here thought George Clooney was a good choice for Batman before
Batman & Robin got released? Or that 'that guy from Brokeback Mountain' would make a good Joker?
Affleck
could work. But yeah, the casting choice does currently leave a bad taste in the mouth...
SubJeff on 23/8/2013 at 10:35
I thought Clooney was a terrible choice before I saw what nonsense they were doing with the movie. But I thought Kilmer was terrible too.
And for the record - I thought Heath was a good choice before I even saw what he looked like as the Joker because I knew that he'd have to don some makeup and crazy for it and he wasn't already typecast prior to Batman.
icemann on 23/8/2013 at 18:24
I thought Kilmer did a pretty good job. He's no Michael Keaton, but he was alright. Clooney was fucking horrible.
I watched two movies tonight. The first I expected to be awesome only for it to turn out REALLY boring after the first quarter of it, the second movie I expected to be bad or ok at best and it turned out to be hilarious.
The first was "Now You See Me". I went into this expecting a great movie, and it started off really well. Damn well. But then quarter way in and from then on they switched the focus off of the "bad guy magicians" and put 90% of the focus time wise on the damn fucking cop and the french chick. And it stayed like that for the rest of the damn movie. Zzzzzzzzzzzz. I literally nearly fell asleep in the cinema. Was so bored. If you've seen the trailer for it then you've seen the vast majority of the best bits in it. Really boring movie. Avoid this one like the plague.
The second was "Meet The Miller's". Now I expected this one to be really bad or ok at best, but it turned out to be pretty damn hilarious. Especially at certain bits. This movie also suffers from the "if you've seen the trailer, then you'll have seen half the best bits" syndrome but the other half that weren't are really funny. Especially once they really play with the fact that their a fake family, and so go into certain areas that movies wouldn't go into. To hilarious effect.. Loved this one.
Fafhrd on 23/8/2013 at 23:24
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Which bit exactly? Perhaps its because I wasn't blown away from the start that meant I didn't feel disappointed at the end, but I dunno man, there was nothing big at the end that really affected me and I was waiting for it because of your post!
Completely undermines the already weaksauce world building and shatters any attempts at allegory into a million pieces. (
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2013/08/12/2450871/elysium-health-care/) This Think Progress piece encapsulates basically every thought I had walking out much more succinctly than I can, though I did write (
http://www.chud.com/community/t/148735/elysium-post-release-thread#post_3560478) this about an hour after the film, too.
SubJeff on 24/8/2013 at 07:50
Nice article. On the money really.
Your post elsewhere too.
Shame. I wonder if they got stuck on a track and couldn't get off.
I agree the focus should have been different, but I suppose I have slightly different view on healthcare resources.
froghawk on 24/8/2013 at 21:30
it's a shame to read this - I thought District 9 was a film with a very promising first half that had no idea what to do with its second half, degrading from something quite interesting into a substandard action movie, as if it wanted to say something deep but wasn't quite sure what. It sounds like Elysium heads even further in that direction instead of fixing any of D9's issues and delivering on its promise.
catbarf on 25/8/2013 at 20:05
So, anyone seen The World's End? I went into it knowing nothing about the film and found it as enjoyable as Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz were.
