Movie Reviews 2.0

What's he said/done about scientology lately? I haven't heard a peep from him really (regarding anything connected to scientology anyway) since he was jumping around in Oprah's couch and acting like he'd totally gone off the deep end.

Watched about 60% of the trailer. Premise sounds ludicrous, of course... How does one evacuate an entire planet, for starters. ...But disregarding that (as one so often have to do with hollywood blockbuster plotlines), it does look intriguing. I'm sure I'll watch it on bluray (in a year or whenever it comes out :LOL:), if not in theaters.
 
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I thought this was a comic book adaptation, in that case the hollywood bashing isn't really justified, right? :)
 
What's he said/done about scientology lately? I haven't heard a peep from him really (regarding anything connected to scientology anyway) since he was jumping around in Oprah's couch and acting like he'd totally gone off the deep end.
I'm not aware of anything he's done lately. The couch-jumping was odd, but this is what gets me:

The reason, by the way that Scientology is so adamantly against Psychiatry is because Scientology claims to be able to do the same things that Psychiatry actually does.

Watched about 60% of the trailer. Premise sounds ludicrous, of course... How does one evacuate an entire planet, for starters. ...But disregarding that (as one so often have to do with hollywood blockbuster plotlines), it does look intriguing. I'm sure I'll watch it on bluray (in a year or whenever it comes out :LOL:), if not in theaters.
It might be fun. But I'm not expecting much. I'll wait until the reviews are out, at the very least.
 
The actual reason is that psychiatrists can easily expose all of their machinations and manipulations, which are based on human psychology research. It's like selling snake oil, your greatest enemy would be the well educated doctor that can debunk all your wrongdoing.

Also, I think Cruise might start to get really angry with the scientologists, he's lost two of his wives and his kid because of them.


BTW I think the movie's visual design is cool, and also, how many years it's been since we had a sci-fi release that wasn't an adaptation of a big existing IP or a sequel in a big franchise? District 9 and Moon are the only ones I recall and they were both quite low budget... (although quite good, too).
 
I'd rather watch Cruise shooting stuff sci-fi style than (say) romantic comedy.

It's a shame the whole Scientology/celebrity thing has overshadowed his film work. He's done some great films, from iconic popcorn movies like Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Mission Impossible, to more "worthy" films like Rain Man, Colour Of Money, Vanilla Sky, and Last Samurai. His filmography is pretty impressive, so I try to ignore all the crap around his life (which only helps spoil the ability to believe the actor as the character), and just enjoy the movies.

I think Christian Bale has the right idea when he says "I don't want to know about the lives of other actors and I don't want people to know too much about me. If we don't know about the private lives of other actors, that leaves us as clean slates when it comes to playing characters. That's the point, they can create these other characters and I can believe them. I think if you're a good enough actor, that's the way to longevity in the film business. Keep everybody guessing."
 
Looks interesting. Hopefully, it won't disappoint me too much!

For what it's worth, I quite enjoyed Minority Report so I realise that decent SciFi movies can be produced, even if they star Tom Cruise!

I'm not aware of the comic book origins (really not my thing) so that wouldn't be an issue for me.
 
My problem with Minority Report is that it seriously rewrote the story, despite the original being one of the few Dick novels making sense and having a proper ending.

The big twist at the end is that the main character does commit the murder he's been charged with, but for completely different reasons.

Whereas Tom Cruise just had to be a hero...
 
The actual reason is that psychiatrists can easily expose all of their machinations and manipulations, which are based on human psychology research.
It's probably that, these days. Back when Hubbard was still alive, it was almost certainly because Hubbard was certifiable - or close to it anyway - and resented the psychologist who'd told him that. The man was undoubtedly a mythomaniac/pathological liar, so this explanation makes sense to me anyway. ;)

Also, I think Cruise might start to get really angry with the scientologists, he's lost two of his wives and his kid because of them.
One can only hope. The problem with people who's sunk down big stakes in something is they are loathe to give them up, for obvious reasons.

Anyway, I myself rather enjoy Cruise the actor. He's got a lot of intensity that is intrinsically well suited towards action characters, but he works quite well in dramas too. "A Few Good Men" is one of his best movies ever IMO, and there's not really a single action scene in that one.

I also enjoyed War of the Worlds, A LOT. And not despite Cruise's character being such an asshole through much of the movie, but rather because of it. His character developed, in an action flick. That's rather remarkable. :)

BTW I think the movie's visual design is cool
Yeah it does, although the overly clean, pre-aluminium-Apple-era white carbon acrylate style has been done in movies before. We're not graced with an overabundance of sci-fi movies as it is, so I think feeling a certain amount of enthusiasm towards this one might only be natural, for fans of the genre anyway. :)
 
It's probably that, these days. Back when Hubbard was still alive, it was almost certainly because Hubbard was certifiable - or close to it anyway - and resented the psychologist who'd told him that. The man was undoubtedly a mythomaniac/pathological liar, so this explanation makes sense to me anyway. ;)

Don't forget that Scientology wasn't initially intended to be a religion. It was a money-making scheme which became a 'religion' for tax purposes. I think Hubbard's diatribes against psychology were as much an attack on a competitor to his 'auditing' nonsense as anything else.

That said, the fact that Scientology has been advertised as a religion has helped the twisted fuckers running the show to con the gullible over the years and make lots and lots of money. Very unpleasant people indeed.
 
General Semantics was, for a time, "the next big thing" back in the golden age of SF and Hubbard freely borrowed from it.

I'm guessing that the parts of Scientology that help people are the parts that were borrowed.
 
Saw the hobbit early early morning. I didn't know what to expect but found it pretty good overall and in awe at parts of the film due to how the fluff was visually presented on the screen! I can see non-Tolkien fans might disengage from the plot i.e. the movie from time to time due to some pacing issues.. But one thing for sure is that it felt like a completely different movie compared to LOTR. Im thinking the hobbit trilogy will have its own identity and not fall victim to being the typical "prequel" movie which some movies suffer from. I think Sir Peter balanced it nicely so that it inter-relates to the events that lead up to LOTR but don't deviate from the actual story too much.

Id give it a 7 or 7.5 out of 10. Eagerly anticipating the next movie.. :cool:
 
The Hobbit as a literal work feels much different to the Rings trilogy. It's not nearly as heavy and wordy for starters, in fact rather easily absorbed. I read The Hobbit for the first time in my mid-teens, in English, and it was a really good read IMO. I'd previously read the Ring trilogy in Swedish, and noted the difference myself despite the change in language. That it in movie form should have another kind of flavor is just a positive thing I'd say and might be a sign that the people behind it got it right.

I'll have to see it for myself to know for sure though, I never trust movie reviews. They're pure shite just too often. Like that overrated, well-known whatsisname who dissed The Usual Suspects for example. What an idiot.
 
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