The film thread

Watched The Rock last night (on DVD although it was strangely on TV at the same time too).

The storyline sets itself up well at the beginning, telling us that a group of Marines (all with various medals/honours) have taken Alcatraz as their base, hijacked some chemical weaponary and are pointing them at San Francisco whilst demanding millions of dollars compensation for the families of soldiers that have died in combat.

It doesn't take the usual route of playing out the government as a hapless mob, clueless as to how approach things, and it doesn't play the marines out as your archetypal bad guys, you're made to at least understand, and perhaps sympathise with their cause.

However it manages to fall down relatively quickly, with a massively overblown and completely pointless (in terms of advancing the plot) car chase sequence, that probably increased the budget by millions. And instead of developing characters and intensifying the storyline, it feels as though a number of corners are cut to get to the end.

In summary, it starts off very much like a thriller/action film with a difference, and ends like most other action films.

i watched wall-e last night and it was amazing!! actually was. that will be a classic for me now. and it's wierd because when i first saw it advertised i though it would be totally shit. really wasn't interested in seeing it! but yeah it's great. watch it if you haven't already

Wall-E is awesome.

It's not at all what you expect from it.
I love the fact that the majority of the film lacks any real dialogue, yet manages to be absolutely riveting.

You have to applaud the fact that it attempts to make a comment on the laziness of American culture, even if it goes about it with the subtlety of a brick.

how could it not possibly be what you're expecting? it was the same plot that they use in all of their films?!*

Yahtzee wrote:One or more lovable protagonists have existed for some time in a stable but fundamentally flawed routine, which is shaken up by the introduction of a foreign entity, usually another character, around whom attitudes are initially hostile. Attempts to deal with this character eventually lead to the protagonist(s) discovering a new, unfamiliar world, and in doing so discover the nature of the fundamental flaw in their routine. Villains are usually introduced or only become truly villainous from around the mid-point or quite late into the film. Along the way the heroes enlist the help of various lesser characters with clearly definable quirks and at one point reluctantly enter a high-speed chase. The villain is generally finally defeated with surprising ease, and everything concludes in an emotionally manipulative ending in which routine is restored with the fundamental flaw excised.

* except a bugs life, but that was a remake of seven samurai

It did indeed fit that structure, but that's not how it was presented in the trailers. None of the trailers suggested any humans being in the film for a start.

Plus that little bit of schpiel you've posted up there is basically Propp's Character Theory, put into a very loose context, and with a bit of tinkering could be applied to most films and/or stories.

propp's character theory is something else, you were thinking of propp's theory of narative structure :p

you're quite right though that this doesn't only apply to pixar films, a while back i sent an email around work asking which film i was describing, i got a shitload of emails back all claiming different things, all sure they'd guessed it right. The first thing i always think of reading that is shrek though.

this is all just an example of the hero's journey, albeit narrowed down a bit to not be so overly encompassing. the main difference is focussing on the end result, rather than the hero getting what they wanted, it focuses on self-improvement, learning lessons and learning the true value of X.

In fact I WAS talking about Propp's Character Theory, although granted, it's more of a fusion of his Character and Narrative theories than being one or the other.

It's a bit unfair of Yahtzee whatshisface to single out Disney films in general as being predictable, when most films that achieve general release follow one of the key theories around characterisation and/or plot.

the underdog story is the one that gets me, millions of films with the exact same plot of ambition, self doubt etc etc

I watched My Sister's Keeper last night... it was sad... good... but sad...

Shrek was Dreamworks, not Pixar...

I can spell I just can't type, I didnt realise this was something bob was inflicted with, fair does lol.

you fat handed twat [/bigtrain]

bob is inflicted with the following

1. stupidity
2. stubbornness
3. ???
4. PROFIT!

im glad im infected with profit

also is stel 3 swine flu?

stel?

yes

Hahahaha

lightowler wrote:you fat handed twat [/bigtrain]

Fuck off lightowler

it's LIGTOWLER, no H

Losers try, winners go home and fuck the prom queen.

we're not talking about the rock now, feltch

you had your window, ted. you blew it

Furious D wrote:How do you know John Hurt and Anthony Hopkins?

We used to engage in vigourous mutual masturbation with Clive James in Australia as youngsters.

i finally watched the watchmen, it rocks, way darker than i expected, propperly good

I watched it the other day too. Actually pretty good, although I did feel that it was a trifle unneccesary to see his willy all the time.