ot, children of men

subbasshead · Post by **subbasshead** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:07 pm

I totally agree, it should win an oscar or two... but will it?
see the thing with Oscars is that it appears as a fair competition based on the best film
but it isn't, that is just an illusion
it is all about who spends the most promoting their films to the Oscar voters

obviously if a film is shit it doesnt matter how much you spend
but have a read of this article about how Crash won an oscar

http://film.guardian.co.uk/oscars2006/s ... 60,00.html

"Crash plus cash equals Oscar"

The studio behind Crash, the surprise best picture winner at Sunday night's Oscar ceremony, spent a total of $4m (£2.3m) promoting the film ahead of the ceremony with a targeted campaign to woo academy members. The film itself only cost $6.5m to make.....

still I think Children of Men will win an oscar for cinematography

joshuajames · Post by **joshuajames** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:31 pm

oh EASILY for cinematography, sound design and special effects too, i'd say best original screenplay too...

it was like 1984, but "real". like you could see it all better cause it was all right there in front of us.

M. Bréqs · Post by **M. Bréqs** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:39 am

ethios4 wrote:To anyone in the armed forces, or who has been in the armed forces - I don't know how you do it. I am convinced I would get myself killed in 5 minutes in a street battle like that!!

Keep your ass down. Don't move until the other guy's position is saturated with firepower. Urban combat favours the defence.

An attacker needs about a 5 to 1 ratio just to consider MOUT (military ops in Urban Terrain) / FIBUA (Fighting in Built Up Areas), probably you're better off with ten to one numbers.

Use concealment. Smoke will cover your movement between points as you advance on an enemy's position.

Don't go through doors or windows; they're covered by enemy fire (assuming the enemy's not retarded). Make your own entranceways with direct fire support or demolitions.

It's best to clear buildings from the top down. Insert yourself via helicopter or use ladders, whatever. That way the enemy defender has a place to go, otherwise they'll fight to the death as you push them upstairs. Besides, grenades roll down staris. When your enemy withdraws out the building as you clear it (with grenades and automatic fire) have cut-off teams with the medium and heavy machineguns covering the exits. These weapons are too heavy and cumborsome to take room clearing anyways.

Leaders know that in order to identify a well hidden enemy position you usually have to get them to shoot unfortunately. That means sending small teams of your own people into obvious kill zones to draw enemy fire. It sucks, but unless you have some wiz-bang technology that I'm not aware of, you have to sacrfice blood to advance.

The best advice if you're ever caught up in combat like that (as a non-combattant): Get low. Hide in a basement and don't come out. If you absolutely have to move, Crawl. Don't take your shit, you don't want to have anything in your arms or on your back. Get out of any building where there are "defenders". Don't grab a weapon, it just makes you a target. Travel alone. Groups are easier to see in the "fog of war" than individuals. Move away from the noise.

joshuajames · Post by **joshuajames** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:43 am

yes grenades rolling downhill is always a huge thing to remember.

i never saw enemy fire, but i always assumed that on a personal level survival is either all chance or all providence. either way thinking about anything besides getting to the next cover position as fast as possible is suicidal.

eturnol · Post by **eturnol** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:05 am

i really really liked it. M Breqs is right, the final scenes are amazing, with absolutley amazing filmaking. There was one point were all this stuff was going on (explosions...glass..shattering...people dying...etc) and he didnt even cut away! a lot of it seemed like it was done in just one take! watch the final battle scene and see how long it takes for a cut to happen. amazing. that would have been so expensive to reshoot. Saving Private Ryans intro was definitely more on a grand scale, but COMs final scene was just as impressive.

And i dont know if this has been mentioned already, but the end was left vague for a reason. the human project was a metaphor for hope for the future, and that is why no one ever saw the human project. they only believed in its existence. read the interview with alfonso cuaron at rotten tomatoes, and he'll explain what he was trying to do

i thought it was really well done. very realistic, sometimes over the top, but as a whole very enjoyable.

simpleton · Post by **simpleton** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:37 am

Machinesworking wrote:...mankind will kill itself off in the next hundred years.
If that happens, then another species will come in to take the reign, and become technologically advanced etc. in a few million years.

Unfortunately it will take more like a billion or more years for any of the remaining (decimated) species to achieve the level of technological sophistication that humans have attained. Only by then... the Earth's lease on life will have expired as the Sun swells into a red giant and literally vaporizes the Earth. So the fate of (advanced) civilization in (probably) our galaxy is in our hands. So it's either sink or swim... can't wait for the next species to bail us out.

kooki415 · Post by **kooki415** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:50 am

awesome film, awesome cinematography, gota love long shots.

however, the 10 minute long shot at the climax of the film that appears to be continuous really isnt. its a few takes stiched together with cg.. very hard to notice though.. most of the cg work in the film is done amazingly well (with a few exceptions like the horrid ping pong ball trick.. i still dont understand why they left that in...)

great stuff though.

joshuajames · Post by **joshuajames** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 7:53 am

i can do that ping pong trick....i don't have a cg workstation either...

kooki415 · Post by **kooki415** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:26 am

yea but it looks pretty bad in the film.. poor tracking..

subbasshead · Post by **subbasshead** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:40 am

gota love long shots.

check out movies by Bela Tarr:
the master of long shots...

'The Wreckmeister Harmonies'
' Damnantion'
'Satanango'

tekkers · Post by **tekkers** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:23 pm

i enjoyed the song right at the end of the credits... with the nice piano riff..
had the great chorus line of 'cunts are still running the world'

very true

not normally a big fan of jarvis cocker but this was one of his better efforts

shanti shanti shanti

ethios4 · Post by **ethios4** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 5:53 pm

Whoa, thanks for the tips on urban combat! That's so scary to me, and yet so exciting too...push and pull. I'm ordering the SAS Urban Survival Guide today. I'd want to be able to defend myself and my family in a crazy situation like that.

I was just talking to some friends just last night about this army ranger friend's advice "When approached with violence, respond with EXTREME violence." Like if someone comes at you with a gun pointed and their gonna shoot, you grab the gun and deflect it downwards, taking the shot in the log if you have to, while simultaneously reaching for the throat to rip it out. That anecdote helped me to clarify how I would seek to react in a extreme life-or-death situation like that....no fucking around.

joshuajames · Post by **joshuajames** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:03 pm

yes, fucking around is suicide. anytime you may need to kill someone you really NEED to kill them as quickly as possible, without hesitation. that said, i'm glad i've never had to kill anyone.

stratusseeker · Post by **stratusseeker** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:35 pm

Saw it last night.

2 Things for people who haven't seen it:

I did not like the trailer so don't let that stop you and it needs to be seen in the theater. The sound and visuals are worth seeing on the big screen.

kooki415 · Post by **kooki415** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:13 pm

subbasshead wrote:
gota love long shots.

check out movies by Bela Tarr:
the master of long shots...

'The Wreckmeister Harmonies'
' Damnantion'
'Satanango'

thanks...will do.

i always thought Tarkovsky was the master of the long shot though.