Good films I watched this weekend (Vol 2)
Discussion
Halb said:
Ocean Waves
Only Yesterday
Laputa
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
All studio Ghibli films, all fantastic. I'm a fan of the crazy sci-fi stuff, but even the real stories about memories are vividly entertaining.
I missed them all when they were on Film 4 apart from Howl's Moving Castle.Only Yesterday
Laputa
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
All studio Ghibli films, all fantastic. I'm a fan of the crazy sci-fi stuff, but even the real stories about memories are vividly entertaining.
I watched it with my four year old daughter 'on the wall' (as she calls our projector) and she loves it.
I've seen Laputa, and know that's suitable for her, but could you possibly hint whether the rest might be suitable?
I am conscious of the fact that all she knows is classical Hollywood narrative of the Disney princess things, and know that far eastern stories are culturally not as clear cut. She watched some parts of Howls through her fingers, so don't want any hidden nasties or characters dying. For example, from what I've heard of Spirited Away, I think that may be too much for her.
Cheers!
Nom de ploom said:
Watched Gone Girl last night, pretty enjoyable hokum ponders a few question, one or two gaps that could have been better explained but a solid 8/10 nonetheless.
The actress that played Margot was superb -as was the lawyer....
oh and Rosamund Pike....very good looking woman
I enjoyed it until the final five minutes, the Mrs had read the book but the ending just annoyed me.The actress that played Margot was superb -as was the lawyer....
oh and Rosamund Pike....very good looking woman
Nom de ploom said:
Watched Gone Girl last night, pretty enjoyable hokum ponders a few question, one or two gaps that could have been better explained but a solid 8/10 nonetheless.
My wife said the same thing, and asked questions at the end, as I'd read the book.The audiobook is about 14 hours long, so it's a feat cutting that down to 2 1/2 hours, and a pretty good version of what is a pretty complex plot.
All that had really changed is a couple of very minor characters were removed and their roles amalgamated into another character. Also a pretty major 'weapon' was changed position to cut down on complexity, at the possible loss to the complexity and cleverness of the plot.
However, the beauty of the story are the details that build up to make the actions of the protagonists a lot more understandable.
There was a couple of plot things for example that I remembered from the book that made the final five minutes a lot more understandable in terms of why the characters acted in the way they did. It seems that there was at least a few minutes of scenes cut out there.
Edited by JustinP1 on Monday 27th April 13:10
yeah last few minutes felt just a bit too "convenient" the bit I thought was a bit suss was...
the breakdown of the marriage could have done with more backstory to embed why he did what he did and why she wanted out so much, yes there was the debt and the redundancies and teh moving to missouri, but more fall outs, etc would have helped me to understand why she went to so much trouble to run away...
the breakdown of the marriage could have done with more backstory to embed why he did what he did and why she wanted out so much, yes there was the debt and the redundancies and teh moving to missouri, but more fall outs, etc would have helped me to understand why she went to so much trouble to run away...
Nom de ploom said:
yeah last few minutes felt just a bit too "convenient" the bit I thought was a bit suss was...
the breakdown of the marriage could have done with more backstory to embed why he did what he did and why she wanted out so much, yes there was the debt and the redundancies and teh moving to missouri, but more fall outs, etc would have helped me to understand why she went to so much trouble to run away...
Ahh, you're right there. It a lot clearer in the book:the breakdown of the marriage could have done with more backstory to embed why he did what he did and why she wanted out so much, yes there was the debt and the redundancies and teh moving to missouri, but more fall outs, etc would have helped me to understand why she went to so much trouble to run away...
She's shown to be such a control freak that she plans the running away as the ultimate payback, the next level to what she did to Desi, and that other guy when she didn't get her own way.
She planned to kill herself, and dump herself in the river, thus ensuring that she is found and he gets the electric chair. The way the river and tides ran was planted in his search history, and in the book she puts one of the clues next to a bridge by the river, and the 'murder weapon', Punches truncheon, nearby. (not in the fireplace as in the film)
So, later on, his car will be on by CCTV and ANPR suspiciously in the days after she went missing at the very same point where the murder weapon is found, thus totally incriminating him.
The ending was a lot more understandable in the book too. There's a number of points through the book where it explains about how he vows to be a better father than his own who was never there, and how he desperately wants children. IIRC, he discovers that all the time they were 'trying' that she was taking contraception because she never wanted kids.
Hence, why the fertility treatment is left 'half done', as of course she knew she was fertile all along.
So, he wants to stay for the good of his kid, and, this very good reason which was excluded from the film:
The other thing is the reason why in the film that he had to admit some minor abuse as part of the 'deal' was that part of the big plan was that she was feeding herself anti-freeze to make herself sick. She froze that vomit, and hid it in the freezer - it showed in the film the OCD stuff in the freezer that he never touched.
So, at the end, she told him of what she'd been doing and this if at any time in the future he didn't 'tow the line' then she would simply go to where she'd hidden the sick, thaw it out, and go to the hospital saying she'd just thrown up.
So, after the previous public admittance of some spousal abuse, she would claim she's being poisoned, and he'd be done for attempted murder, and who would believe him?
The ending of the book made it clear that he really was forced to pretend to be in a relationship.
JustinP1 said:
Ahh, you're right there. It a lot clearer in the book:
She's shown to be such a control freak that she plans the running away as the ultimate payback, the next level to what she did to Desi, and that other guy when she didn't get her own way.
She planned to kill herself, and dump herself in the river, thus ensuring that she is found and he gets the electric chair. The way the river and tides ran was planted in his search history, and in the book she puts one of the clues next to a bridge by the river, and the 'murder weapon', Punches truncheon, nearby. (not in the fireplace as in the film)
So, later on, his car will be on by CCTV and ANPR suspiciously in the days after she went missing at the very same point where the murder weapon is found, thus totally incriminating him.
The ending was a lot more understandable in the book too. There's a number of points through the book where it explains about how he vows to be a better father than his own who was never there, and how he desperately wants children. IIRC, he discovers that all the time they were 'trying' that she was taking contraception because she never wanted kids.
Hence, why the fertility treatment is left 'half done', as of course she knew she was fertile all along.
So, he wants to stay for the good of his kid, and, this very good reason which was excluded from the film:
The other thing is the reason why in the film that he had to admit some minor abuse as part of the 'deal' was that part of the big plan was that she was feeding herself anti-freeze to make herself sick. She froze that vomit, and hid it in the freezer - it showed in the film the OCD stuff in the freezer that he never touched.
So, at the end, she told him of what she'd been doing and this if at any time in the future he didn't 'tow the line' then she would simply go to where she'd hidden the sick, thaw it out, and go to the hospital saying she'd just thrown up.
So, after the previous public admittance of some spousal abuse, she would claim she's being poisoned, and he'd be done for attempted murder, and who would believe him?
The ending of the book made it clear that he really was forced to pretend to be in a relationship.
That makes a lot more sense, it wound me up quite a bit but the Mrs wouldn't tell me anything else, she just said read the book.She's shown to be such a control freak that she plans the running away as the ultimate payback, the next level to what she did to Desi, and that other guy when she didn't get her own way.
She planned to kill herself, and dump herself in the river, thus ensuring that she is found and he gets the electric chair. The way the river and tides ran was planted in his search history, and in the book she puts one of the clues next to a bridge by the river, and the 'murder weapon', Punches truncheon, nearby. (not in the fireplace as in the film)
So, later on, his car will be on by CCTV and ANPR suspiciously in the days after she went missing at the very same point where the murder weapon is found, thus totally incriminating him.
The ending was a lot more understandable in the book too. There's a number of points through the book where it explains about how he vows to be a better father than his own who was never there, and how he desperately wants children. IIRC, he discovers that all the time they were 'trying' that she was taking contraception because she never wanted kids.
Hence, why the fertility treatment is left 'half done', as of course she knew she was fertile all along.
So, he wants to stay for the good of his kid, and, this very good reason which was excluded from the film:
The other thing is the reason why in the film that he had to admit some minor abuse as part of the 'deal' was that part of the big plan was that she was feeding herself anti-freeze to make herself sick. She froze that vomit, and hid it in the freezer - it showed in the film the OCD stuff in the freezer that he never touched.
So, at the end, she told him of what she'd been doing and this if at any time in the future he didn't 'tow the line' then she would simply go to where she'd hidden the sick, thaw it out, and go to the hospital saying she'd just thrown up.
So, after the previous public admittance of some spousal abuse, she would claim she's being poisoned, and he'd be done for attempted murder, and who would believe him?
The ending of the book made it clear that he really was forced to pretend to be in a relationship.
JustinP1 said:
I missed them all when they were on Film 4 apart from Howl's Moving Castle.
I watched it with my four year old daughter 'on the wall' (as she calls our projector) and she loves it.
I've seen Laputa, and know that's suitable for her, but could you possibly hint whether the rest might be suitable?
I am conscious of the fact that all she knows is classical Hollywood narrative of the Disney princess things, and know that far eastern stories are culturally not as clear cut. She watched some parts of Howls through her fingers, so don't want any hidden nasties or characters dying. For example, from what I've heard of Spirited Away, I think that may be too much for her.
Cheers!
I made a decision not to watch any dubbed ones as they tend to not be as good as the original (subtitled). I deleted Howl's Moving Castle because it was dubbed. I did watch Laputa though, because it's my favourite and the dubbed version is the version I saw back when it was on telly in the 90s. So I've not seen Howl's to gauge it's level.I watched it with my four year old daughter 'on the wall' (as she calls our projector) and she loves it.
I've seen Laputa, and know that's suitable for her, but could you possibly hint whether the rest might be suitable?
I am conscious of the fact that all she knows is classical Hollywood narrative of the Disney princess things, and know that far eastern stories are culturally not as clear cut. She watched some parts of Howls through her fingers, so don't want any hidden nasties or characters dying. For example, from what I've heard of Spirited Away, I think that may be too much for her.
Cheers!
Spirited Away has no 'air of menace', but I can see how the parents being turned into pigs, the dragon getting cut over and over by paper planes and the slimy spirit could be on the verge. The girl lead is super positive though and isn't really scared at any point.
Nausicaä possibly might be too much (I also watched the dubbed because it's just such a great story), which is a real shame because yet again (the Japanese are so far ahead here) the lead is a young girl who shows far more intelligence and bravery than most around her, and basically saves the world. But it's a pretty intense story with fights, death, giant bugs and at one point a giant skeletal/muscle cyborg vomiting death at huge attacking bugs. But it's one of the best ones. Like Princess Mononoke, with another powerful female lead, but that has fights and death aplenty, and blood. So that one is too much I should think for a 4 year old.
Western stories are quite complex too, but Disney just dispenses with all the complexity and make them basic, like lego.
Ocean Waves and Only Yesterday are different kettle of fish. I tried to watch them both last year, but got bored and deleted them. But I tried them again this year and was glad I did. Waves is about a young man remembering his time at school, it's really a great piece, but not sure if a 4 year old would like it, depends what she likes. Only Yesterday is similar, with a young woman remembering her time as a 6 year old child, and how confusing growing up in 60s Japan was. The insight to Japan is really enlightening. Your daughter may like the memories of the woman.
From Up on Poppy Hill is about two kids in 60's Japan and their relationship, it's a great story and again, from the girl's perspective, so she may like that.
Pom Poko is one she will probably like, it's about Japanese raccoon dogs fighting humans over development, but no deaths or stuff like that. The scariest bit is where the raccoon dogs pretend to be humans with no faces to scare a security guard.
She'll probably like Tales from Earthsea too. It was a dubbed one that I watched last year...cannot recall anything bad in it, it is taken from one of Le Guinn's books.
She'll like The Cat Returns, that's a fun one, a bit like ALice in WOnderland.
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