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Post by clericjay on Nov 3, 2009 11:06:37 GMT -5
I've recently seen this German/US production and as well as "District 9" I had high expectations about this movie and even this one blew me away. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PandorumA critic wrote this SciFi-Horror-movie is a mix between Alien and Aliens and this is exactly what it is. I love both films and Pandorum has the atmosphere and nearly unbearable suspence of Alien and the action of Aliens. This film starts as a very claustrophobic Thriller and ends as an jaw-dropping rollercoster-ride. Most amazing about it all: It's a German production and was shot in Potsdam Babelsberg Studios, which isn't that far away from where I live. Probably I should mention that most of the German movies these days aren't very good in my eyes, so this one shines like a pearl... The director Christian Alvart has done a movie, called "Antikörper" (Antibodies), which is a very interesting and unconventional thriller having a surprising, but also wonderful ending. Pandorum as well has a very surprising twist at the end and an interesting and satisfying ending, which isn't usual for this kind of movies these days... I like it very much and can highly recommend it to every SciFi-Horror fan. If you love the Alien movies, you'll also love this one. ;D
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Post by invisiblescientist on Nov 3, 2009 21:46:53 GMT -5
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Post by clericjay on Nov 7, 2009 11:28:08 GMT -5
Other recent recommendable German films would be: Antikörper (Antibodies, a brilliant Thriller with some very good twists and a fantastically done ending. It also touches some religious topics in a very well way and was done by Christian Alvart, the Pandorum-director, and there will be made an US remake, called "Antibodies".) www.imdb.com/title/tt0337573/Downfall (a very authentic film about Hitlers last days in 1945, a touching drama written by life) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downfall_%28film%29Napola ("Before the Fall" in English, about two boys at a Nazi elite school, who react very differently to their environment, is much better then it sounds. ) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Before_the_FallGood Bye Lenin! (The resurection of the GDR in one room. A pretty nostalgic comedy.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Bye_Lenin! The Lives of Others (An also authentic, though fictive, story about the control of the GDR state's secrete service. Got an Oscar.) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lives_of_OthersMerry Christmas (Something unbelievable and beautiful, which really happened during WWI) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyeux_No%C3%ABlDer Baader Meinhof Komplex (About the RAF socialist terrorists in Westgermany) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Baader_Meinhof_KomplexIs there something striking? All but one of these films have a historic background or are telling the exact historic story. There might be many very good German films these days, which I haven't seen or not remembered immideately. But except of some very good comedies, which unfortunately wouldn't work that well in English, because of many jokes working with language, historic movies are coming to my mind, when I think about it. Maybe it's my personal interest in them, but I do have the impression that most of the entertaining or dramatic films in Germany do not work as good as for example American or British or Korean movies by far. I see it that way that here good script writers or producers with fantasy are rarely spread. The film industry here has the know-how, the money and some very talented directors, but there aren't many good films in my eyes, because the auhtors do not leave the safe usual paths and/or producers also don't have the courage give unusual ideas a chance, like they do in other countries and therefor historic movies are way better then the fictive movies in Germany. Historic movies are done extraordinarily well in most cases.
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Post by invisiblescientist on Nov 8, 2009 12:58:16 GMT -5
It seems that many of those German movie directors and producers who are fantasy and action oriented, have migrated to Hollywood: For example Wolfgang Petersen: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_PetersenAnd also Roland Emmerich: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_EmmerichThe 2012 movie of Roland Emmerich will be released next week, it has good reviews, and it probably has one of the biggest budget in Hollywood history. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_(film)www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2012/But if you are planning to become a movie director, have you considered making movies about the novels of Hermann Hesse? I have seen the movie Siddharta and also Steppenwolf, but there are many other books of Hesse. For example, I am sure you can make a movie about The Glass Beads Game (Magister Ludi.) And perhaps Narziss and Goldmund can also become a great movie. Speaking about German historical movies, Mephisto was a great film. Also, Hanussen was interesting. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephisto_(1981_film)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanussen_(1988_film)Believe it or not, the son of Hanussen was in the United States. He was invited to a special interview in a theater in California, and I was there!!!
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Post by clericjay on Nov 9, 2009 8:54:49 GMT -5
Exactly! Probably because you have better possibilities to produce unusual movies and bigger budgets there. Emmmerich for example was shooting his movies in English, even when he was still working in Germany, because he intended to work in the US right from the start. I personally would be very glad if I could produce my films in Germany, but if there would be too many stones on my path, I wouldn't mind going abroad. I'm flexible in this matter. But if you are planning to become a movie director, have you considered making movies about the novels of Hermann Hesse? I have seen the movie Siddharta and also Steppenwolf, but there are many other books of Hesse. For example, I am sure you can make a movie about The Glass Beads Game (Magister Ludi.) And perhaps Narziss and Goldmund can also become a great movie. You're not the first one to recommend Hesse to me, but I did not had the fortune to read a book of him yet. Someday I'll read some of his stuff, because it seems to be interesting. Interesting... How was it and when was it?
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Post by invisiblescientist on Nov 9, 2009 21:44:27 GMT -5
This was approximately 12 years ago, in California. There was a theatre version of the Hanussen movie, but it was considerably different from the film. And at the end of the play, Hanussen's surviving son was actually interviewed on stage. (He is also a magician.) Here is an American book about Hanussen: www.amazon.com/Hanussen-Hitlers-Clairvoyant-Mel-Gordon/dp/0922915687But since some people have already recommended making films based on the books of Hermann Hesse, let me first emphasize that if you have not seen the Steppenwolf movie (Max von Sydow), you should definitely get this film: www.amazon.com/Steppenwolf-Max-von-Sydow/dp/B000FUF7EO/In fact, this Steppenwolf film is so good that you one can even see it before reading the original book. Also, although the Siddharta movie is also great, it is important to read the original book before seeing this movie. www.amazon.com/Siddhartha-Shashi-Kapoor/dp/B0000714B5/ref=pd_sim_d_7In any case, it seems that both the "Glass Beads Game", and "Narziss and Goldmund" are written in such a way that it is possible to make movies from these books. So I strongly recommend reading these two books. ;D
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Post by Aedh on Jun 12, 2010 20:28:57 GMT -5
Here is my thought, moved from "Random Movie Review & Opinions." I had looked for this thread under 'Evidentiary Reports' which is where, technically, movie threads are supposed to go, but no matter. Your post there provides a link here. I thought someone had posted something about "Pandorum" somewhere, but if so I can't find it, so I'll note here that we watched it last night. Good movie visually and the action moved well. I have to say it was quite bewildering to watch. It's hard to explain without giving massive spoilers, suffice it to say that there was MASSIVE backstory which was not touched upon in the movie, which would have gone far to explain much that was going on. That and people whispering half the time, making it hard to hear. I can enjoy a movie more when I don't have to turn on subtitles and don't have to go to the internet afterward for a plot explanation. I thought Antje Traue was rather Milla-esque--to be expected from the people who made the 'Resident Evil' movies I guess--and good performances all around. I also thought the music was quite good. I am looking forward to a Director's Cut which will hopefully restore some of the lost backstory, as happened with "Ultraviolet."
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Post by Aedh on Jun 12, 2010 20:39:07 GMT -5
As for the ending, as you spoke of on the other board, I quite liked it. It is just what I would have written and found it very satisfying. SPOILER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SPOILER! 3-2-1 ... . . . . . . . . . . . . SPOILER!!!!! The reason I sussed the ending was gravity on the ship. Ships in deep space have zero gravity, of course, unless perhaps you wear magnetic boots or something which was not in evidence. This suggested to me that they were already on someplace with gravity. This suggested the destination planet, and the impression was accentuated by all the falling through escape hatches, chutes, etc. We kind of knew that the Dennis Quaid character was up to something and suffered from Pandorum. We also found that the mutants were passengers who had--AHEM!--been released SOMEHOW--and whose genetic programming for adaptation to Tanis had kicked off, adapting them to the ship instead. What was not at all suggested so far as I knew was that the Quaid chara had INTENTIONALLY awoken people early in order to torment them and mess with them, and leave them INTENTIONALLY to adapt to the ship, becoming monsters, while he put himself back into hypersleep. This is completely stone-cold psycho-villain behaviour of a high order, and as such I quite appreciate it. But I had to learn it from the backstory online. I also wonder about the flooding, evidently but not explicitly killing all the mutant things and the Quaid chara. Pandorum 2 anyone?
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Post by clericjay on Jun 30, 2010 4:34:25 GMT -5
A BUNCH OF SPOILERS AHEAD!!! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE... ...AND IF SO: DO WATCH PANDORUM!!! ;D As for the ending, as you spoke of on the other board, I quite liked it. It is just what I would have written and found it very satisfying. The reason I sussed the ending was gravity on the ship. Ships in deep space have zero gravity, of course, unless perhaps you wear magnetic boots or something which was not in evidence. This suggested to me that they were already on someplace with gravity. This suggested the destination planet, and the impression was accentuated by all the falling through escape hatches, chutes, etc. We kind of knew that the Dennis Quaid character was up to something and suffered from Pandorum. We also found that the mutants were passengers who had--AHEM!--been released SOMEHOW--and whose genetic programming for adaptation to Tanis had kicked off, adapting them to the ship instead. What was not at all suggested so far as I knew was that the Quaid chara had INTENTIONALLY awoken people early in order to torment them and mess with them, and leave them INTENTIONALLY to adapt to the ship, becoming monsters, while he put himself back into hypersleep. This is completely stone-cold psycho-villain behaviour of a high order, and as such I quite appreciate it. But I had to learn it from the backstory online. I also wonder about the flooding, evidently but not explicitly killing all the mutant things and the Quaid chara. Pandorum 2 anyone? The ending is so beautiful and the impression of this wonderful new world is even much stronger after you (and the characters) have been in this dark, cold and dangerous environment. Honestly I expected a bad ending to such a movie, while the film was going on. And I think that it's very clever that the solution of the whole problem ( shooting yourself out via sleeping chambers) was shown as a catastrophe in the story about Pandorum, which Payton is telling Bower, so everyone, thinking they'd still be in space, would hesitate having that image in mind, where the captain killed all passengers this way out of paranoia. So the story about paranoia is causing more paranoia, keeping you from doing the right thing. (Sounds familiar somehow, thinking of history... ) What fascinated me was that you as the viewer awake toghether with Bower in such a horrible scenario without knowing much, not what happened, why it happened and what to do. And everything is so dark and malfunctioning (the crank handle reloading the console is simple, but brilliant, why haven't I seen that in any other sci-fi movie/series?). I've seen only the trailer, which doesn't show if these monsters were real or just imagination (well, they were kind of both, but mostly too real... ). Afterwards I did not research any information, against my usual kind, to be able to just enjoy the movie and Bower's journey without having any idea, before he's got one. This way you can really go through the ship as if you were him. (But I would have never been able to leave that shoe shelf, like Bower did, after he's seen these monsters for the first time.. .) And I don't know, what I would have done, when Bower just got this anti-riot-weapon and thought about running away or fighting these things (he did right to run, because the weapon wasn't very effective). The reason why I did not suspected that they've already landed, was the concept of artificial gravity by circle movements, causing gravitiy by centrifugal force (I know that this isn't expressed physically correct this way, but let's keep it simple. ). And I'm used to artificial gravity by watching too many sci-fi movies (which aren't always very realistic of course) as well as I'm used that a space ship (especially such a big one as the Elysium) is floating in space. I haven't thought about this possibility until the end, so the film played with my (by pop-culture limited) viewing habits and expectations.
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