Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Recommended Movies

'Prisoners', Hugh Jackman is very good in the lead role in this compelling tale of retribution, kidnap and police procedural. Also recommend the director's other film 'Incendies' a French-language thriller that twists and turns right to the end. Brilliant.

M

Watched 'Captain Phillips' last night on Blu-ray. Another 'Mastered in 4K' release. Excellent performance by Tom Hanks.

Here's one out of left field; Princess Mononoke.

It's a Japanese animated film so you need to be open to that vibe but if you are it's terrific.

IMdB has a Top 250 All-Time Films, based on accumulated votes and I'm slowly trying to work my way through the list, although of course it changes at the bottom end as new votes are cast. I've seen just over 200 of them now and this is one of them; currently No 77, and I can see why.

It's been dubbed into English which is normally bad news but they recruited a classy bunch of actors and they've done a very good job. The animation is of a different style to the Pixar way of doing it but is beautiful none the less. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the forest scenes were an inspiration for Avatar.

Anyone watched Gravity in their HT yet?

I think it's 7.1. Apart from a lot of silence, I understand the sound is panned around quite effectively, could be a good test for HT setup as well as a good movie (slightly weak plot?).

Completely agree... fantastic little film, and refreshingly different in philosophy to Hollywood.

I've seen a few of the Studio Ghibli films, and each have been enchanting... Spirited away, Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa.

Cheers

George

Keep going George, there's barely a dud Studio Ghibli film out there.

The Simpsons did a great pastiche of the studio's films recently.

+1 for Princess Mononoke.
+lots for Spirited Away!

Duncan

Aw, that is fantastic!

Thanks

George

Yes. I don't think it's a spoiler to say that it didn't need to be in 3D as this added little to the experience.

That's interesting as Mark Kermode (BBC radio 5 Live) was saying that (in his opinion) "Gravity" was the Only film where 3D added to the experiance as it was properly designed that way from the ground up.
This pre supposes you can see it, don't get headaches and don't wear glasses so you have to have glasses on your glasses.
Chris

There are some very deliberately 3D effects like water droplets floating out towards the viewer and things drifting around in zero G but I suspect that these were put in to "enhance the experience". They don't really add a lot to the plot.

Normally I try to avoid 3D movies like the plague that I think they are and go to the 2D showings of the same movie. When bringing kids to some of the recent blockbusters and they want the "day out" experience of 3D, then I end out having to endure the generally DIM & Murky versions of movies that have little of value added to them by 3D

However, IMHO Gravity is all about trying to give the Viewer the experience of being in Space and to allow them to experience the disorientation effects caused by Zero-G and the Vacuum that is Space

And IMHO, the 3D version of Gravity is noticeably superior to the 2D version (I've seen both) in achieving its aims of transporting its Viewers into "Space"

While the Plot is passable and enough to maintain viewer interest for the 95 minutes, the long 3D Takes as Bullock navigates her way thru the zero G of the International Space Station and other Takes that seamlessly move from outside the Astronaut's helmet to the inside of the helmet and back out again, need to be seen several times to fully appreciate

This is a Landmark film that will be heavily imitated in the years to come and IMHO is definitely a movie to see on the Big Screen and in 3D