Now Watching, Films/ movies discussion Options

[Olen]

We have a music discussion thread but seem to lack a film (movie if you're from that bit of the world) discussion. The idea's pretty self-evident: what films have you seen recently, what did you think of them? Fairly similar to another thread really...

To start, I watched Gomorrah (2008) for the second time last night. It's a really good bit of Italian film-making and centres arouind the problems faced by Naples throught the stories of a few people whose paths cross with the organised crime there. It certainly doesn't pull punches in terms of the gritty reality from the first scene and a fairly grim ending.
Some of the settings are brilliant too, there are scenes shot in some buildings which look seriously run down in Naples which leads to a good degree of accuracy.

Overall I'd give it 8/10.


So what's anyone else watching?

[SubRosa]

I just finished watching Digging to China, a wonderful little movie about a girl who befriends a severely retarded man. Evan Rachel Wood plays the girl, who is far too smart and imaginative for her own good (she once tried digging a hole to China, but found that a mysterious electrical barrier protected the core of the earth... Zot!). Kevin Bacon turns in a spectacular performance as the retarded man. It is hard to imagine he is the same actor from movies like Footloose. The relationship that develops between the two tugs at your heartstrings, and had me in tears more than once. Definitely a chick flick, so guys beware.

On a completely different note, I have also been slowly working my way through the old Showtime series Robin of Sherwood, starring Michael Praed as Robin, The Hooded Man. This is by far my favorite incarnation of Robin Hood. The series was shot on location, which brings a real sense of realness and grittiness to each episode. ut best of all is the kind of Robin it has. He is not some spoiled Baron's son out to get his title back. Rather he is a Saxon revolutionary fighting the Norman invaders who oppress the common people. With a healthy dose of magic and paganism, Robin is Herne's Son, and carries Albion, one of the Swords of Wayland, charged with the powers of light and darkness.

The supporting cast is strong, with Nicholas Grace truly shining as the Sheriff of Nottingham. A brilliant, bitterly acerbic, and utterly amoral man contemptuous of everything and everyone around him. He is a man you really love to hate, and truly deserves the title of master villain. My favorite character is Nasir though, a Saracen assassin who was enslaved by the devil-worshipping sorcerer Baron De Balleme and freed by Robin. A man of few words, he fights with two swords, and just generally looks cool at all times. He was the first Saracen character in a Robin Hood story, and was actually supposed to die in the pilot. But the writers liked the character so much they kept him instead.

The series suffers the same drawbacks as most t.v. shows, as the heros always find some reason not to kill Sir Guy and the Sheriff when they have the opportunity, and likewise always somehow wriggle free when the tables are turned. Michael Praed leaving the series at the end of the second season gave them the opportunity to break from that mold for a truly sad episode in which the Sheriff finally has his victory. Or does he? For the third season begins with Jason Connery as a new hero who takes up Robin's mantle as Herne's Son. Not as good as the first two seasons, it is still worth giving a watch at least once.

This post has been edited by SubRosa: Aug 9 2010, 12:30 AM