Entries tagged 'cat:Films' (Page 1)

Deutsche Untertitel für A Brony Tale

Entry created on 2024-07-18 author:steeph (374) cat:#100DaysToOffload (41) cat:Bronies (2) cat:Documentary (1) cat:Fandom (1) cat:Films (22) cat:My Little Pony (10) cat:Subtitles (1) lang:de (41)

Es gibt da eine weniger bekannte Dokumentation über Bronies, als die Bronies-Doku. Auch über die bekannte von John de Lancie gäbe es etwas zu schreiben. Aber egal. Einfach vergessen. Die muss nicht gekauft werden. Interessanter (auch weil weniger bekannt) ist die Doku mit dem Titel A Brony Tale.

A Brony Tale von Brent Hodge gibt einen Einblick in das Fandom von My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic indem die Frage "Was sind Bronys" langsam und aus der Sicht von Ashleigh Ball beantwortert, während sie entscheidet, ihre erste Brony-Convention zu besuchen und Fans ihrer Voice-Arbeit trifft. Ashleigh Ball kennt ein Publikum von Fans bisher nur von Konzerten ihrer Band. Als Sprecherin zweier Hauptcharaktere in der Animationsserie (im englischsprachigen Original) wurde sie aber auch unter Bronys ein Name und häufig zu Panel auf Fan-Conventions eingeladen. Es gibt auch Einschätzungen anderer zu dem Fandom, aber keine wirklich kritische Beurteilung oder negative Betrachtungsweise. Ein guter Film für jemanden, den die Frage oder das Thema interessiert. Aber keiner, der weit ins Detail geht oder viel Wissen über die Subkultur vermitteln will. Die Bewertungen haben recht viele Ausreißer nach oben und untern, liegen aber größtenteils im unteren Mittelfeld. Also, nichts besonders Tolles, aber als Teil des Fandoms fand ich ihn sehr gut.

Nachdem der Film veröffentlicht wurde gab es wohl auch mal Pläne, ihn im deutschen TV zu zeigen. Jedenfalls hatte mir Brend Hodge derzeit glaubhaft gemacht, dass es Interesse eines Senders gegeben hätte und quasi nur noch ein Termin gefunden werden musste. Ich hatte damals meistens Zeit und Kopfkapazitäten frei und habe gerne und viel an Gemeinschaftsprojekten mitgearbeitet oder bei Crowd-Sourcing-Aktionen mitgemacht. Mein Angebot, dass ich die deutschen Untertitel für den Film schreibe, um eine Entscheidung für die Ausstrahlung im deutschen Fernsehen wahrscheinlich zu machen, nahm er dankend an. So habe ich gelernt, Untertitel zu schreiben. Praktischerweise gibt es gute freie Software, die die Arbeit erleichtert. Als professionell ist das Ergebnis sicherlich nicht anzusehen. Die Zeilen sind viel zu verbos und bestimmt hier und da zu direkt übersetzt. Aber ich halte das Ergebnis für benutzbar und frei von Fehlern. Aus der Ausstrahlung ist wohl nichts geworden. Vielleicht war es auch ein Missverständnis, weshalb ich danach nie wieder von ihm gehört/gelesen habe.

Aber die Untertiteldatei wollte ich dann doch mal irgendwo veröffentlichen, weil sich das mit brauchbarer Software so gehört. SRT und XML (SubtitleEdit-Datei, nicht TTML) sind im Anhang verlinkt. Der eigentliche Film nicht, weil ich das bestimmt nicht darf. Schade. Naja. Keine Ahnung wie brauchbar die Untertitel heute noch sind, bei den ganzen Tools, die die Untertitel-Arbeit mehr als nur vereinfachen.

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The Best Movies Ever

Entry created on 2024-07-10 author:steeph (374) cat:#100DaysToOffload (41) cat:Films (22) lang:en (253)

I like to recommend movies. Because I like to discover movies that serve me as a source of a good mystery, an emotional journey, or fun. But it's not easy to recommend some film to somebody with a different taste than me, which is everybody that I know. But I think it is pretty likely that you will like this recommendation - if you take the time to follow it.

Something like three years ago I've started to watch the titles on the then current IMDb Top 250 Movies list. The way I do it is to keep the next 8 to 16 titles with me, ready to watch when I like to. When I'm not in the mood for a movie, find it booring or for other reasons not worth following through, I skip to the next one but keep the skipped movie to give it at least another two chances. That way I always have at least some very good movies with me, ready to be watched, even when I'm travelling or have no access to the internet. I started this because there are some very well known and very popular movies that I had never watched and I didn't know if that's because of a preconception or not. I'm slowly going through the classics of all genres. Even the horror movies I at least watch for a while. Although I say that horror is not for me, there are some very good ones that I enjoyed in a way. I've watched Casablanca and North By Northwest and get those references now and I know that I don't need to watch them again. I get to see some Chinese and Indian movies that I would have never had the idea to check out. I've seen 12 Years a Slave and To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time and now their relevance now. So many other great movies that I had missed out on for a long time for various reasons. I've eaven discovered some movies that really are for me but I've never heard of before, like Paris, Texas and Jagten. Again, all the classics people from different generations expect others to know, like The Shawshank Redemption" and Psycho, are in the reportoir of comparisons I can make now. From some I learned pieces of history, like from Hotel Rwanda and Gandhi . Some Anime like Hotaru no haka and Kimi no na wa., I would probably have never watched if they weren't rated that highly. ANd in between all of that, I get to watch many of my favourite movies as well as very good movies that I haven't seen since I was much younger.

I don't watch all of them, by far. And that is where I'll stop naming titles in pairs, or at all. I just don't like some movie styles and others are too boring or too far outside of my reality (without any element that keeps my interest up otherwise) and so I abandon them after a couple of attempts to make me interested. I'm not through yet. There are still many classics coming up. And even now there are new titles on the current list, like Oppenheimer and Joker, that I know I'd like to watch. So either when I will be through my list, I'll look at the then current one and see if I want to catch up or start anew. Because many of these movies are worth wathing again after five years.

In my experience, watching one after one of these movies has been a great way to discover new movies of very high quality, rediscover old gems, get to know classics and re-watch favourites because it is a relatively broad list. Not one that is confined to genres, a time period or a culture that I'm familiar with and that I already know has movies that I like.

Film: Womb (2010)

Entry created on 2023-02-05 author:steeph (374) cat:Death (7) cat:Films (22) cat:Incest (1) lang:en (253)

What three words come to your mind first that describe the film?

Soft, Love, Incest. Well, to be honest, those are the first three. I wish the third one would have been a different word. The forth one would have been Sci-Fi. More keywords are: cloning, childhood, ostracization, ocean, death, depression

How does the film end?

The scene that is shown first in the film is chronologically the last scene in the story. So, that's how the story ends. The rest of the film creates the meaning of what is seen and what she sais in that first scene.

Which two movies is this one a mix of?

Kind of Birth (2004) and Be Right Back (2014, Black Mirror epispde). It's not the same story as Birth. But if you've seen it you will notice the similarities, about which I don't want to tell too much here. Maybe even more so for Be Right Back.

How does that melody go?

DING DING DING DING. ding DING DING DING DING. ding DING DING DING DING DING ding. DING DING DING DING ding. ding ding DING DING DING DING … It's a mostly slow movie. This slow melody sets or accompanies the mood during moments where nothing happens, like during scenery shots. I can't forget that melody. Actually, the melody doesn't reaccur after the beginning of the story. (The instrument does, though.) But still, I can't forget that melody.

Why is Doctor Who there?

Matt Smith is the name of the actor. I see hom so rarely in roles other than The Doctor. This is an entirely different sort of science fition. He still did good.

What open questions remain at the end of the movie?

Why is the new Thomas physically atracted to Rebecca when he only knows her as his mother? How will the new Thomas's life be like after he knows?

Would you watch it again two weeks later because it's a good movie and can be enjoyed twice?

Yes. And I Have.

What's the overall mood of the movie?

I'd say: peaceful. Not every scene and everything that happens is peaceful. But most of the time that's the prevelant mood that I got from it.

You said love is one of the themes of the film. What sort of love story is it?

Well, I didn't use those words. But alright. Was it true love, love at first sight, first love and the love of her life all at the same time? If so then I'm counting it as an achievement that the film told the story without getting cheesy. The following relationships are adressed: childhood friendship, young love, son - mother, mother - son (erotic). Shown but not really addressed much are those: one-night stand, grandfather - granddoughter parents - dead son.

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Film: Tideland

Entry created on 2023-01-17 (edited 2023-02-03) author:steeph (374) cat:Adventure (2) cat:Child Abuse (4) cat:Children (4) cat:Death (7) cat:Decomposition (1) cat:Drugs (1) cat:Films (22) lang:en (253) top:Films (15)

I didn't think I could be entertained by watching a little girl being traumatised for life in various ways for almost two hours.

Is it a weird movie?

Why, yes. Yes, it is. That is if you consider a movie weird if it contains a scene of a corpse being taxidermied to keep a deceised person around then placed at the dinner table with the still living part of the family. But it is weird in that way without being a gory horror or torture movie.

Would Jean-Pierre Jeunet like this film?

I don't know Jean-Pierre Jeunet or what movies he likes. But Tideland reminded me of his movies' style very much. Camera work, colours, character weirdness, music and the naturalness of unusual events made me suspect that it may be intentionally a tribute to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's work. But that's a silly thought.

Is it a children's movie?

I never understood the criteria for which movies are considered children's movies and which are not. But this one might genuinly be impossible to classify as either. It seems to be a children's movie, telling the story of a child from her point of view, with imaginative play and all. But who would want to show such fucked up shit to a child? Well, actually, why not? Some other children's stories aren't any better. And some, like some of Grim's fairy tales, are more gory than this one.

Shouldn't you have started this with an explanation of what the movie is about?

No. But here are a few keywords: girl, heroin, child abuse, death, friendship, decomposition, mummification, family, adventure, imagination, innosence, love, lonelines

Why is Brendan Fletcher doing this weird retarded act?

I don't know but you can't say it's offensive because he's not actually portraying just a neurodiverse man but a man who has part of his brain removed. Still offensive but for different reasons? Well, okay. I guess not, since he has been complimented for a realisitc portrayal of a mentally challenged person. Anyway. I found his role quite nice and well acted.

So, is it a horror movie or isn't it?

Does it have a romance component in the story?

In an unusual, awkward way, yes, kind of. Well, calling it a romance would legitimise it. It's definitely not the usual cliché romance component. So, no. At least that's how I see it. Others are more open about admitting that a relationship between a child and a grown-up with a romantic component can still be a love story. By definition I agree. And I guess the film shows enough to talk about if you want to discuss the topic, but omits the more erotic parts from the book.

Oh, it's an adaptation of a book?

Yeah, but I haven't read it. It's also called Tideland. Mitch Cullin wrote it.

What is it that you like about it?

I don't know. I think like how different normalities of life circumstances are introduced without any inhibition or restraint in a somehow lighthearted seeming way. The innocent look on everything that happens.

And the consistancy in the changes throughout the story.

What is this movie a mix of?

I'd say Fear And Laughing In Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam) and The City Of The Lost Children (Jean-Pierre Jeunet). That's for the movie style. Terry Gilliam himself said Alice in Wonderland meets Psycho, which describes the story very well.

If you would have watched the film again, with the audio comment from Terry Gilliam after you wrote this entry, how would you have edited it?

I have amended some answers slightly and added one other question besides this one.

Can you show us some paradigmatic screen captures?

OK. But not from the end bit. Here you go.

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Film: Have Dreams, Will Travel

Entry created on 2022-09-13 (edited 2022-10-08) author:steeph (374) cat:Adventure (2) cat:Child Abuse (4) cat:Films (22) cat:Travelling (1) lang:en (253) top:Films (15)

I don't know what the more correct title of the movie is. Some call it Have Dreams Will Travel, some call it A West Texas Children's Story and I don't know where either title was originally used.

It's about the adventure that Cassie and Ben have after her parents die and his don't even notice that he leaves without saying anything. It's also about trauma processing, communication in relationships (parental, friendships and romantic). That's what I see in it at least.

Cassie: I think it's time for us to leave.
Ben: Leave?
Cassie: Look. Those two people who you live with. They're nice and everything, but-
Ben: My parents?
Cassie: Right. But from what I can tell, they don't really have anything to offer you and they certainly don't have a thing to offer me.
Ben: So, where're we goin'?
Cassie: Baltimore. I have an aunt and uncle there. I haven't seen them since I was five but from what I can remember they're both extremely hip.

The overly compressed sound (accoustically compressed, not in terms of saving storage) is so cinematic that it's conspicuous for a movie made in this century. But it fits the overly grainy film-look and does a good job at creating this big-life-story vibe that dominates the whole movie. Like many dramas this movie has a recurring melody, creating a melodramatic yet optimistic mood.

The characters are so well defined at first that it almost came as a positive surprise that they both have deeper personalities. But I soon got used to the movie not becoming as comedic as I first thought it might be.

There is something about some of the dialogues that make them refreshing and simultaneously irregular for child characters and very fitting for these particular child characters.

Cassie: See, a real plan is more than just some pipe dream.
Ben: Pipe dream?
Cassie: A pipe dream is an unrealistic fantasy that deludes oneself into thinking that it's an actual plan. It's a very popular expression. I'm surprised you've never heard of it before.
Ben: I didn't say I'd never heard it.
Cassie: Anyway, a real plan is an actual goal that you believe in enough to create a set of circumstances. Which leads you to, and into, a plan. Comprende?
Ben: Where do you come up with this stuff? I mean, what part of your brain works so hard it makes you think and talk like that?
Cassie: My father was a professor with a very wide vocabulary and lots of unique ideas. When he wasn't teaching his students, he taught me.
Ben: So what does your mom do?
Cassie: She never did anything.

The last line of that quote may have a different meaning that I thought when I watched the movie for the first time.

The fact that I was surprised by the dramatic loss of Cassie's facade later on may make me naive, but for me it just means that I got a non-obvious important change of the story route. And it's nice to get a story told with a non-obvious route. Whether that's because you're tired, three, stupid, naive or because of excellent writing doesn't really matter. Other viewers may have been able to deduct more about Cassie early on than I was, with her efforts to do things in grown-up ways. I didn't even know what Ben meant when he asked Cassie what she's hiding. That just created all the more potential to be sucked in by emotions to be discovered by my naive movie-drama graving brain.

Over time I think Ben proved that he is the more grown-up one in the relationship. Not by having a large vocabulary or a life plan, but by simply addressing the issue he sees.

In the end, Ben makes his parents choose (in a away) what's more important for them to have - their passionate hobbies or their son - and decides for them at the same time. The result is the most glorious mixing of (fake) sad cry tears with (fake) happy cry tears I've seen in a mov- anywhere really.

I sort of expected this movie to end without any closure. It seemed like one of these movies. But not only did it have a closure for Ben's parents and a happy ending for his part of the story. It even has a happier ending above and after that, depicting the best possible futures Cassie and Ben could have perceived to have together. An utopistic extra happy ending that I didn't see necessary. I keep saying that I'd like to see more movies without a happy ending. This one has two but also shows that a movie can still be as emotional and melodramatic as it is even with a double happy endling. Maybe they felt they needed to quickly tell how happy they both end up in the future so that no viewer with a similar life story or trauma kills themselves after watching the movie.

I think it's interesting that AnnaSophia Robb (Cassie) isn't seen more in movies as an adult now. She has this sort of model face that men find so beautiful and she can act, I think. Maybe she's working more as a model. Cayden Boyd too. He looks like a model for a shaver commercial now. But he only had some small TV show roles in recent years. I haven't seen him in any other role. Maybe he sucks at acting.

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