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Post by Red Dog on Jan 16, 2007 19:41:31 GMT -5
Watched Apocalypto last night at home (I just happened to "find" a bootleg screener copy online ;D), and I gotta say it surpassed all of my expectations! I really didn't think it was going to be all that great but as it turns out, it was an awesome flick. The story centers around Jaguar Paw, whose Mayan village gets attacked by another tribe. Those men and women who weren't killed during the initial onslaught, get round up for sale as slaves or to be used as human sacrifice. All of the young children of the village are simply left behind to fend for themselves. Jaguar Paw hides his pregnant wife and his son during the battle, and once he is captured, the story shifts to his determiniation to try and go back and rescue them. The film did a really good job about making you care about the characters and what they were going through. All the critic's reviews aside, I found Jaguar Paw's tribe was surprisingly likeable, and I was really rooting for him to whup some ass and get back to his family. The reviews were all wrong about this one, calling Mel Gibson "a maniac" and that the film looked like it was made by a "deranged lunatic." Some said this film is nearly unwatchable with it's level of violence. Bullshit. I think it was no different than Braveheart (and Braveheart may have actually been even more bloody) or Gladiator, and the critics didn't seem to have a problem with either of those films. Just goes to show you that some people can't stay impartial when reviewing a film when the director spits out some remarks they don't agree with a few months prior. Either that, or these guys are all just a bunch of squemish pussies. It IS a violent film, but it isn't THAT bad. At least it wasn't to me. This is great movie and I really recommend it to everyone here, but UK, this flick has you written ALL OVER it! I think you will really like this.
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gots0
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Post by gots0 on Jan 17, 2007 15:42:10 GMT -5
I happen to have found that same copy. I just never watched it, I will check it out.
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Post by smile4chaos on Jan 19, 2007 22:16:02 GMT -5
I'll watch it when I get the chance, critics hate it for the most part, but from personal reviews I havent heard a bad thing about it.
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Post by Red Dog on May 25, 2007 9:45:54 GMT -5
So what did you think UK?
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uglyknuckles
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Post by uglyknuckles on May 25, 2007 13:35:22 GMT -5
So what did you think UK? I watched it last night and it had a lot of cool symbolism going on. Some subtle allegorical stuff with the quotation about civilization's decay that it leads off with. Then the story, full of meaning and delivering a message that I guarantee flew over the heads of a lot of people. The final scenes completed a storyline that ran parallel to the story of Jaguar Paw and his family. There is an old short story, now in the public domain and easily found online, called "The Most Dangerous game". I can't remember who wrote it. It's about a guy who lives on an island that he basically owns, where he is the autocrat. The island sits along major shipping lanes and a lot of shipwreck survivors wash up of swim to his island where he takes them in as guests on the first night and then releases them into the jungle in the morning to hunt them. Eventually he picks the wrong guy, hence the "Most Dangerous Game" title. The second half of Apocalypto is an AWESOME example of why man IS dangerous game. Jaguar Paw fucks some shit up when he gets back to his home territory and the Maya elite follow him to try to kill him. Some great shit, fellas. It's a violent movie but only to the extent that it needs to be. I really liked Apocalypto. There's a lot going on here other than an action movie, and I really appreciated the storytelling involved. I recommend it, particularly for students of history. There are at least three stories running parallel in this movie, the "message" of the film is one, the fate of the warriors of the Maya elite is one, and Jaguar Paw's story is the main conduit of the film. The fact that there was so much going on really impressed me. As far as enjoying it, it's definitely not the most fun, popcorn entertainment. It's not 300. But I really enjoyed it. It's a bad idea to get between a jaguar and its cub! I didn't rent this DVD, I bought it and that was a good choice, because I will definitely be watching it again. I had some problems with 300, which is why, after posting several times in the 300 thread about really being hyped to see it, I didn't post anything after I actually saw it. Since then I've watched it a couple more times on my laptop and I'm nearly ready to speak my mind about it. After everything you see in Apocalypto, the final couple of scenes, where the Spanish conquistadores arrive in their warships with their steel armor and swords, accompanied by Jesuits brandishing crosses is one of the most effective and best endings I've seen in a movie in a long time.
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uglyknuckles
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Post by uglyknuckles on May 25, 2007 13:43:41 GMT -5
not to say that it's not entertaining, it damn sure is entertaining! it's great. My point is that it's not mindless entertainment, which is what most of the action-oriented movies -even the ones that are great and that I really enjoy- are these days.
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Post by Red Dog on May 25, 2007 21:13:07 GMT -5
I knew you'd dig it UK! When I saw it I knew I had to let you know about this one. Glad you liked it.
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Lunkermouth
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Post by Lunkermouth on May 29, 2007 19:37:40 GMT -5
Is it in english or is it subtitled?
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uglyknuckles
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Post by uglyknuckles on May 29, 2007 20:22:34 GMT -5
Is it in english or is it subtitled? it's subtitled. wasn't a real big deal for me thanks to the many hours I've spent watching Akira Kurosawa flicks. It's spoken, suposedly, in Mayan. Although it's unclear to me who they found who can speak that shit. Experts can't even agree when the Mayan civilization ended and they've only been able to read the extant Maya writings for about twenty years. or less.
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Lunkermouth
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Post by Lunkermouth on May 30, 2007 3:46:47 GMT -5
Thanks UK I'm not real fond of the subtitle stuff but I think I'll still check it out. Pan's Labyrinth was in Spanish with English subtitles and I really enjoyed the film.
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Joe
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Post by Joe on Jun 1, 2007 23:26:04 GMT -5
A great film. I think the critics may have had a problem with the temple scene since the tension was fist tight and that part was very violent. But MAN was it awesome...I thought this should have been up for best picture. It wiped it's ass with that hunk of shit The Departed.
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Post by paperdragon on Jun 2, 2007 8:44:06 GMT -5
The God hating socialistic fags that make up the hollywood pecking order hate Mel so his movies will never get the recognition they deserve.
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uglyknuckles
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Post by uglyknuckles on Jun 2, 2007 21:24:07 GMT -5
The God hating socialistic fags that make up the hollywood pecking order hate Mel so his movies will never get the recognition they deserve. this is true, but after The Passion (wjich i've still never seen) Mel has what's known as "fuck you money". He never has to answer to anybody ever again and can do any movie he wants. I have been a fan of his since I was a kid and a fan of him as a director since Braveheart. I disagree with almost every opinion he holds about roman catholicism, but I back him up. even as an atheist i back him.
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Post by darkartlover on Jun 2, 2007 21:53:05 GMT -5
the Passion is worth seeing just for the brutality DAL
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Lunkermouth
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Post by Lunkermouth on Jun 6, 2007 5:17:49 GMT -5
the Passion is worth seeing just for the brutality DAL I agree if you want to see a guy get his ass kicked for an hour, see this movie.
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