Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

That's pretty cool to hear about, gbg. Your hubby story made me smile.

I know this probably won't make sense to you, but I didn't know the Inhumans had even been introduced into the Marvel TV or cinematic universe. Although, there were rumors going round that Quciksilver & the Scarlet Witch were supposed to be Inhumans (instead of Mutants as they always have been in the comics) in the Avengers movies, all because the X-Men franchise was also using Quicksilver, but because of legal issues the Avengers can't have mutants since those belong to the X-Men... blah-blah-blah!

Sheesh! It's hard to believe most of these characters were created by the same two guys and interacted within the same comic universe for decades with no problems, but now there's all this legal wrangling over which studio owns what! Sad, that in the end it all comes down to money.

Yeah, money is the reason that we keep getting reboots of Spiderman movies, Fantastic Four movies, etc. They'll just keep rebooting them as long as people keep flocking to the theaters to see them.

I think eventually Disney will just buy up every comic franchise, and they'll just have one giant crossover movie with everyone in it.

I don't know if you watch the TV show "Once Upon A Time", but it's owned by Disney, so it has many of the Disney characters in it, (Snow White and Prince Charming, Belle, Mulan, Peter Pan and Hook, etc.), and people keep watching to see which characters will show up next. Since Disney bought the Star Wars franchise, there have been a bunch of in-jokes about some of the Star Wars characters written into the show, and the fans are speculating that there will even be appearances by some of them. The writers of the show have even hinted about it in recent interviews.

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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.

I've posted this a few times (but in case you haven't seen it in a while) ... this was made after Disney acquired Star Wars and the other Disney Princesses are welcoming Leia into their ranks...

Thanks for posting that video. I can't imagine ever thinking of Princess Leia as a "Disney Princess", but that video was kind of funny, but true.

I don't think I'll ever get used to walking into The Disney Store, (in the malls), and seeing Disney characters on one side of the store, and Star Wars and Marvel Comics characters on the other side of the store. Something about that just feels wrong.

I know, they should get rid of those Disney characters altogether.

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"I may be rancid butter, but I'm on your side of the bread."
E. K. Hornbeck

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Writers: Pawel Pawlikowski & Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Cast: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, Dawid Ogrodnik
Genre: Drama
Language: Polish

About: A young woman who is about to take her vows and become a nun in 1960s Poland. Before she can take her vows she discover a dark secret about her family that involves her aunt and the Germans during WWII. The film follows her as she discovers what had been hidden from her.

Review: Very enjoyable film. I had wanted to see Ida for a long time and I was not disappointed. It's so exceptionally well made, that I don't know where to begin?

Let's start with the black and white photography...I love b&w, and the choice to use it here was perfect. Without color, our eyes & our minds go then to the shape and form of what we are looking at...And OMG talk about amazing compositions! I loved how the camera shots were framed with the subject often very low in the frame, with a vast space of emptiness over their heads. Which shows us how small Ida is compared to the world outside of her convent, a world she knows nothing about. Through black and white cinematography we see the shape and form of a bleak communist Poland, circa 1962.

Review: This film is so amazingly visual, that I've spent over half an hour looking for that one special photo from the film that would sum up the spirit of the movie...And there's just no way one image can do that, as Flowers of War has so many different sub stories running through it. I love images and the visual arts, but I also love a good old fashioned story...and Flowers of War combines both. And it does that while taking the time to develop the story fully without rushing it and yet is always spell binding.


The film is set during the Japanese occupation of Nanking and war is a part of the story, but this is not a war film...it's a humanistic film that examines how war can bring out the worst and best in humans. I really liked the story elements that showed the conflict between the convent school girls and the prostitutes. And I liked the juxtaposition between George Chen the alter boy who wants desperately to honor the former priest of the church and John Miller (Christian Bale) who wants only at first to get drunk, paid and laid. I thought Bale was pretty good at being an opportunistic scoundrel...and the actor who played George Chen was amazing at relaying emotions to us.
Of course the other big part of the film is it's sensuality, set against the liberality of war. I thought the story elements about the legendary Qin Huai river prostitutes was very well done. It never got cheesy or overly sappy. And the scenes between Bale and the lead prostitute played by actress Ni Ni, added a whole new level to what could have been just a war film.


This was my second viewing of Flowers of War, and I loved it even more the second time around.

Hi Rules,
In case you're still interested I did a little checking. The show I'd been watching was called Mars: The Secret Science (on the Science Channel).

They referenced a study called "Mars 500" - which was a Russian study (with the European Space Agency & China), putting Cosmonauts in isolation for 500 days.
I thought it was a current study since they referenced it on a current TV series, but, based on some research, it was conducted in 2007 - 2011.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500

Perhaps 400 Days drew some influence from this study.

Thanks Cap, I tried to find that and I see it's a series, which sounds very cool as I've been thinking about how we can do a mission to mars. Sadly it's not at library and not at Netflix. But in my search I found I can watch legally, PBS shows and Nova has had a bunch of shows on Mars, so I'm happy about that.

There's also a show (I gave a brief review in the TV tab) called MARS on National Geographic Channel.
http://www.movieforums.com/community...36#post1611636

It's science fiction mixed with documentary. The fiction part begins with the first manned mission to Mars in 2033. I think it's supposed to be a six-episode series (not sure). Something like that might be available on NetFlix when all the episodes are complete.

I watched the first 4 episodes and kind of liked it - but it's got mixed reviews (some viewers feel all the problems the crew experiences for the sake of drama are unrealistic as all these potentialities would have been well worked out before sending any people there.)

Director: Dexter Fletcher
Cast: Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello
Genre: Biography, Drama-Comedy

About: The amazing story of a British man who all of his life wanted more than anything to be an Olympian. Eddie (the Eagle) Edwards, is the underdog who started ski jumping only a year before going to the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. His journey to the Olympics was nothing short of miraculously as he faced nearly insurmountable odds at every step of the way.

Review: I liked this, as the poster says it's a 'feel good movie'. I watched the DVD extras and the director said he decided to make this in the style of the 1980's feel good comedy-dramas. If you watch carefully you'll see one brief shot that pays homage to The Breakfast Club and another that nods to The Karate Kid. The music score is 80s style synthesizer, luckily it's actually good. There's also a smattering of 80s pop rock songs. Even actor Hugh Jackman got into the 80s grove with an authentic flat top haircut.

So as you might expect this is clicheified, and plays out like a rehash of Cool Runnings (1993), but like I said this is by design as it's retro film making.


I thought the actor who played Eddie looked amazingly like him and nailed his facial actions to a tee. Though it's too bad the film makes Eddie look like he's mentally slow, he wasn't. The real Eddie has said he liked the film, but also said only 5% of his real story is included in it.

Which is to bad because a good film maker could have done a bio-pic and still got in a few good laughs to ski boots. I thought Hugh Jackman was good but I didn't like his character who's a washed up ex skier...who had been thrown off the U.S. team by Christopher Walken no less and now spends his days smoking and drinking in the bar...just like John Candy in Cool Runnings. In fact just for fun watch Cool Runnings and Eddie the Eagle back to back.

Well even though there are problems, it was still a fun movie.
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Documentary BBC TV Series (2008)

A up close and personal look at the British Royal Family as cameras follow them for a year. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and I wish there had been even more episodes. Unlike other documentations about Queen Elizabeth II, this one puts us in the driver's seat as we follow her Majesty and members of her family as they do what they do.

For the first time I feel like I seen the person behind the crown. There was also many good moments as we see Prince Philip and Prince Charles go about their royal duties, presenting awards, visiting with State Dignitaries and with common folk too. Likewise we see all of the Queens children, Charles, Ann, Andrew and Edward. It was really interesting to see their different personalities and they different ways they go about their duties.

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Just out of interest Citizen what is it you find so interesting about the Royals? I personally find them incredibly boring, the monarchy hasn't been interesting to me since the time of Napoleon.

I do like the royals and so does my wife, I find them really interesting. It's like they inhabit this unique world of theirs, which is much different than my world. It's sort of like a movie, that takes you to a different place for awhile.

When Prince William and Kate where married we watched every last minute of the telecast from the pre-ceremony stuff, to the after the wedding commentary. My wife wanted to watch that and I thought I wouldn't like it, but I did get caught up in it. Maybe it has a soap opera appeal, and that's why I like it.

After watching the last documentary I have memorized the protocol for meeting the Queen, if I ever get the chance Which is doubtful! But still I know what to do and not do in her presences.

And I guess that's what I like: the protocols, the pomp, the pageantry and the respect she garners. And the history of it all too, we don't have anything like the Monarchy in America and I think it gives a sense of continuity and reassurance that as much as things change there will always be a connection with the past.

Now when I was your age, I could care less about the royals. But as I have gotten older I enjoy watching shows about them. I feel like England is our (America's) mother country and so I'm always interested in the events there.

Fair enough, thanks for the response. I already know a fair amount about the royals i just personally find it all tedious and i don't think that will change, i have some family and friends who are interested in it so i get it. I am interested in the history of the monarchy though; particularly the Tudors and certain other times post - William The Conqueror.

All i've heard about The Tudors is that it is godawful so i don't really have any intention of seeing it. Have never heard of the other one.

I liked The Kings Speech quite a bit. Wasn't expecting to as well but it turned out really good.

Game of Thrones is inspired by The War of the Roses which was a war for the English Throne which was won by the House of York who were defeated later on by Henry Tudors forces at The Battle of Bosworth to start The Tudor Dynasty. I imagine that's probably how The Tudors show starts, maybe the end of season one or something.

The White Queen picks up after the War of the Roses. I liked the first couple seasons of The Tudors but the latter seasons seemed to be lacking. I've heard of Game of Thrones, MovieGal told me about, but haven't seen it yet, I need to look into that and might give it a go, thanks for mentioning it.

BTW, I hadn't watched anything about The current Royals until I watched that movie with the misleading title The Queen. So that then kicked off a Royal watching spree.

This looks interesting, might have to add it to my watchlist.

Gideon I think you and GBG would both appreciate Eddie the Eagle. I did give it a lower score, but only because I thought the real story of Eddie would have made a better movie. But still a fun watch. I hope you watch it...you too GBG.