Star Wars , Bond, Moby Dick and other holiday Blockbusters

boardman's Avatar
The Revenant was decent. It's beautifully shot, very subversive score, but it's more along the lines of Cast Away in the wilderness the the revenge flick the trailers make it out to be. Acting is alright as well, Leo does a decent enough job but half the time I wondered if he really did the things that he did (eat raw bison meat , etc) for the film or for an Oscar. The actual star of the film is the director, action scenes are shot with long takes that put you in that time frame and era. He action is also brutal and painful- he doesn't hold his punches - but the midsection of the film slows down a crawl. Oh it's a very beautiful crawl though. It looks and sounds great - but the film could have used a bit more editing and could have been trimmed some more. Originally Posted by cr76
Your description reminds me of the True Grit remake which, BTW, I thought was one of the better remakes I've seen.
Loved everything about that movie just about. The Acting, dialogue and of course the cinematography was beautiful.
I'm looking forward to The Revenant this weekend.
  • cr76
  • 01-08-2016, 03:58 PM
Check it out B-man and we will compare notes.

I saw it at Santikos and while it wasn't in Dolby Atmos - The sound was truly spectacular as was the Image since it was shot on Digital - So if there is a theater with a premium option - i highly suggest you partake.
boardman's Avatar
Check it out B-man and we will compare notes.

I saw it at Santikos and while it wasn't in Dolby Atmos - The sound was truly spectacular as was the Image since it was shot on Digital - So if there is a theater with a premium option - i highly suggest you partake. Originally Posted by cr76
Spoiler alert...Kind of.

Saw The Revenant this weekend and it was pretty much as you described. I thought it was a visually stunning movie. The beauty of the scenery and the cinematography was contrasted well by the brutality. It was both fascinating and difficult to watch at the same time sometimes. The bear attack was probably the best scene of the movie. I would watch the movie again just for that scene. It was so fucking real and every bit as hard to watch as the first 30 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. The battles with the Arikara were equally difficult. DiCaprio did a great job of conveying the pain and frustration and helplessness that Glass must have been feeling and did it at times with no dialogue. In that way it was much like Castaway. Tom Hardy did a great job as Fitzgerald. He portrayed an intense internal struggle that eventually took him down. If only it were true.

Overall I was disappointed though. Had I not read the book and learned about the story of Glass I would have thought it a pretty good movie. There were too many deviations from the book which tried to stay historically accurate with a couple of noted dramatic exceptions. It was good enough in it's own right and there was no reason to deviate. The screenwriters did the real story a huge disservice IMO. Had they followed the book there were plenty of battles, hardships overcome and reckoning to make a great movie.

Some items of note, from the book's epilogue addressing historical accuracy is that Jim Bridger, the younger of the two betrayers, later became what is considered to be the king of the mountain men. He died in the 1870's and there are towns, rivers, bridges etc. all over the northwest named after him. His life is probably a very interesting story on it's own.

While there is some evidence that Glass confronted Bridger he did forgive him as is pretty much portrayed in the movie. However, there is no record of Glass confronting Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald escaped back down the river and enlisted in the army. He may have been found by Glass but Glass didn't kill him.

There is no mention of Glass having a son and he certainly wasn't with him on the expedition when he was attacked by the grizzly. Glass spent time as a captive of the pirate Jean Lafitte and the Pawnee at different times in his earlier years. He spent the next ten years after the bear attack exploring and trapping the southwest briefly before returning back to trap the Missouri river area. He was killed in 1823 when he and a couple of other trappers were crossing the Yellowstone river and were ambushed and killed by a group of Arikara Indians.
Spoiler alert:

I did like the scene in Revenant where they took a scene from Empire Strikes back. Survive a winter storm inside the belly of a dead beast of burden.
  • cr76
  • 01-11-2016, 11:12 PM
The bear attack is great :

When he shot the beat and it attacked him again. I was like "BAD IDEAD!!! IT JUST MADE THE BEAR ANGRIER!!!!"

The opening long take Indian Raid as well.

Tom Hardy steals the show in this movie- interesting what you said about Fitzgerald cause technically he is still alive when he is thrown in the river.
boardman's Avatar
Now that the movie is out there is a lot of information out there about the historical account. It's been there all along in print but has hit the internet big time and seems pretty consistent.

Here's one synopsis I just ran across that is brief, concise and seems to be the real history as we know it.

http://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/tale...-mountain-man/

Glass was killed in 1833 not '23. The attack took place in '23.

The fact that he survived at all is almost unbelievable. I think the screenwriters left some of the injuries like the scalping out because they thought they might lose the audience.
  • cr76
  • 01-12-2016, 10:20 PM
Some people are saying 13 hours is an exaggeration of what really happen in Benghazi
Fishpie's Avatar
Of course. It's a Michael Bay production. He did it with Pain & Gain. You got to spruce it up a little to get people to pay for your movie.
Trey's Avatar
  • Trey
  • 01-13-2016, 06:46 AM
Spoiler alert, they all die in 13 hours.
  • cr76
  • 01-13-2016, 07:50 AM
Clever - a friend of mine went to a screening of it last night and said its fantastic. I think it will be great- even though it does look like CALL OF DUTY :The Movie
  • cr76
  • 01-13-2016, 09:50 PM
Just got back from screening of Dirty Grandpa with Robert deniro and Zac Efron. shit was fucking funny as hell. Formulaic and cliche but still hilarious and my god Aubrey Plaza is sexy in that movie!!!!
Saw The Revenent the other day..! Agree. it was pretty good story. Saw Star Wars for the 3rd time today with my oldest offspring...!! Great movie

Definitely looking forward to watching 13 Hours this weekend...!!

I wanna see the new Independence Day movie also!!!


Here's a few more I'd like to see........







  • cr76
  • 01-15-2016, 07:30 AM
I went and viewed Star Wars again and it's a solid movie.

I do want to see Deadpool. - Ryan reynolds has always thrived when he can be an arrogant wiseass. Some of his best stuff is in Waiting, which isn't the best comedy, but still pretty funny.
Fishpie's Avatar
I would love to see Deadpool but will miss that one also. Ryan Reynolds has always be the top runner to play the role because he shares the same comedic tone as Deadpool. Waiting is the best movie ever for anyone who has ever worked in the food service business. They hit a lot things dead on. It's the equivalent of what Office Space is for desk jockeys.