Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

While I didn't post on this thread's initial discussion, I was a silent reader, and, being a big film buff, I was excited to see where this thread was going... And, while I watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance that week (it always was my favorite western, after all!), I hesitated to post due to the lack of interest that seemed to come with the first film choice... there were only two reviews, after all.

One year later, however, I'm much less enthusiastic about the whole thing; Not in concept, but, more in execution. Nathan Well's now-ceased Brickfilm of the Week had a great format, and, was sort of prepared for entries when nobody posted by having primarily one host the entire time continue to stoically post entries regardless of interest (or lack thereof) in the previous topic.

I understand that's a lot to put on one brickfilmer's shoulders, but, it worked for the year or so the entire thing ran!

Another great thread I loved posting to was, funny enough, an earlier Nathan Wells thread series - Brickfilming Weekly Discussion. Both of his threads seemed to engage this community in a great way, creating returning posters every week.

This discussion, however, does not. As it is now, it seems destined to fail again... and, that's not something I'd like to see, as, like I said earlier, the concept really intrigued me. I think we should probably set some more rules/guidelines first before continuing.

Here are some of my suggestions:

Choose one host for a certain period (maybe 6 months? a year? less?)

Have a co-host, or replacement host, ready to fill in or take control of the thread, if the thread's been dormant for an entire week.

Film selection could be broadened to things off of Netflix. (Pritchard's comment about visiting your Local Library was a great suggestion)... and besides, I have a (on it's last legs, for sure, but, still standing) video rental store nearby... and Netflix does have a dvd by mail service too, remember?

Someone should make a graphic for users to use for rating/discussing a film Either a small image, or, even something like this would suffice: * * * * * Casablanca, *         Guardians of the Galaxy

Brickfilms should be added to the list... either one along with the main feature every week, or, a brickfilm one week, a motion picture another...

The main reason I loved the Brickfilm Weekly Discussion and the Brickfilm of the Week series' was because, even if they didn't talk about brickfilming specifically, they still were relevant to the craft - each week's discussion had something that you could take away from it. And, unless we only choose brickfilms & movies that have neat camera angles/cinematography/music/acting/any other aspect... I don't think that's going to drive discussion.

And, while I do love studying film, I'd much prefer to see Nathan Well's Beast, or a Doctor Who: The Movie thrown in, just for the fun of it - not just for a reason to dissect, but, for entertainment. Sheer entertainment.

That's what film's all about, remember? I'd love to see this thread reflect that.

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Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

I'm glad to see people are interested in reviving this thread. The whole idea behind starting it came from a weekly movie night that my brother, dad, and I participate in every Thursday. It's introduced me to a lot of great films. I would like to emulate a similar movie night, of sorts, here. 

I do like your idea, Divine, however I think the Brickfilm of the Week serves its purpose as far as exposing new and old members to brickfilms and allowing for a discussion to take place. I agree with what Sonjira and Pritchard have said. Watching films outside of brickfilms can only be beneficial. And Pritchard, the library is a great suggestion. (My local library has a pretty large-scale selection of movies).

Dyland, I like some of the suggestions that you have outlined, though as I mentioned, I would like to avoid discussing brickfilms as there are already places to do so. Ironically, this is a website about brickfilming, but my intention for this thread was for it exclude brickfilms.

Perhaps I could spend the next few days outlining updated rules/guidelines, as Dyland has already started to do. If you guys have any suggestions at all feel free to PM me or post here. Also, maybe we could try to organize some kind of skype call for planning this thing out. It might be easier to communicate that way. In any case, I hope we can get this thread off the ground again.

Edit: I apologize, I didn't see your post twickabrick. Thanks for getting things back on track.

Just to summarize:

This Week's Film:

The Secret of Kells
Directed By: Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey
Year Released: 2009
Starring: Brendan Gleeson and Evan McGuire

Schedule for this week's film:
January 17 - January 23: watch The Secret of Kells
January 24 - January 30: discuss the film and begin to watch the next film of choice

I've also updated the first post. Please take a look at it when you guys get a chance.

Last edited by Willow Tree (January 17, 2016 (02:03pm))

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

Dyland wrote:

Film selection could be broadened to things off of Netflix.

Totally, and I think it already is. Willow Tree never said they had to be on Netflix, and I didn't mean to imply that by suggesting a film that's on Netflix; I just thought it might help jump-start this thread if I posted something more readily available. As people have said, people should definitely check their local library when looking for a film.

Choose one host for a certain period (maybe 6 months? a year? less?)

I think this is a good idea, but I think instead of just being completely in charge, the host could be more like the "shepherd" of the thread. He or she could just make sure the first person to post on Sunday picks the next week's film, and if the first poster doesn't, then the "shepherd" would post one instead. Something like that.

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

i wont be there but i just want to say that the secret of kells is like my favorite thing ever and its the best film ever made go u

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

edit:
My bad, I was reading from the first page.

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Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

All right, well let's start talking about The Secret of Kells! Here're some discussion questions to start us off:

What did you think of the "flatness" of the animation/the animation in general? Did you think it helped or hurt the film significantly in any particular instances? Did you notice any specific symbolism in the visuals? What part of the film stands out to you the most?

While writing these I realized it's pretty hard to think of discussion questions, so sorry if these aren't the best. Also, everyone's gonna notice different things about the film, so I don't mean to limit the discussion to the few subjects I talked about in my questions.

Last edited by twickabrick (January 24, 2016 (11:14am))

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

Those are great questions, twickabrick. The animation style is an integral part of the film and should definitely be discussed.

I can't quite pin-point why but the "flatness" of the animation worked incredibly well. Right from the opening goose chase scene, I was invested in the film just by the style alone. The Secret of Kells has a very different feel to it than, say, a Disney animated film. Which is not a bad thing in the slightest. Admittedly, I can only watch so many Disney movies after noticing a common repetition.

Also, I became very invested in all the characters, especially Pangur. Such a cute little cat! His interaction with Brendan throughout the film is heartwarming. If I may ask, who are your favorite characters?

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

I liked the animation style, like Willow Tree said, it is a refreshing departure from the Disney standard.
My favorite part of the movie has got to be the encounter with Crom Cruach, and the animation style really gave it a cool mythical quality.
I believe that this scene also has some symbolism, with

Spoiler (click to read)

The power of writing (the chalk) defeating the old pagan beliefs (Crom Cruach).

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Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

My favorite character is probably Abbot Cellach (Brendan Gleeson); I think he has the most pronounced character arc in the film, and he's easy to empathize with, even though you're not necessarily rooting for him.

Also, I think as well as what you said, 1999mrlegoman, the fact that...

Spoiler (click to read)

...in that scene, Crom is eating his tail and looks a lot like what I've just looked up and found to be Ouroboros, a symbol representing (among other things) "self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return" (see link). Even though Crom seems to be destroying himself, this might mean that evil will always return, thereby foreshadowing that even though he defeats one form of evil in the battle with Crom, it returns by the end of the film with the attack of the Vikings.

In addition to this, the scene where...

Spoiler (click to read)

...the wolves save Brendan and Aidan from the Vikings in the forest has a shot where two swords fall and form a sideways cross, which apparently can symbolize a whole load of things, but the one that makes the most sense to me for this scene is: "the sideways cross becomes a symbol of Jesus’ finished work—having procured our salvation, He has laid His cross down" (see link).

I dunno, it's pretty interesting stuff. I probably wouldn't notice it in a live-action movie, but the fact that it's animated makes the symbols really stand out.

Last edited by twickabrick (January 24, 2016 (11:50pm))

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

All right so I just checked out the film. Very inventive and highly entertaining throughout. The animation style reminded me quite a lot of Samurai Jack - but that might just be me as I haven't even seen that show in over 10 years. It's a rich and detailed world these characters inhabited which is great to see. I got more out of those characters and the world they lived in than several movies twice as long.

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

This was a very pretty movie.  I loved the water color like landscapes and all the surreal visions.  The visual story telling was really well done and I especially liked the part where

Spoiler (click to read)

brother aiden dies and his footprints in the sand are washed away by the tide

.

I thought the flatness of the animation carried well with the theme of painting in the book, it reminded me a bit of the Atlantis movie Disney made awhile back.  I think the characters there had the same square fingers that were present here. 

While I enjoyed it, I can't think of too much to say about it.  I thought it was a very well done movie, entertaining and visually appealing.

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

You posted first, Willow Tree, so do you wanna post the next movie?

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

Yeah if it's okay with everyone, I'll go ahead and post the next movie.

This Week's Film:

Memento
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Year Released: 2000
Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano 

Schedule:

January 26 (we're starting a few days late) - January 30: watch Memento
January 31 - February 6: disscuss the film and begin watching the next film of choice

Also, please feel free to continue the discussion on The Secret of Kells until Saturday.

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

Great!

Also seeing as this is now the movie night thread I thought we could share our letterboxd profiles if you happen to have one (if not, well go sign up right now)
My profile

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

Here's mine. Just set it up, cool website! Probs gonna get some hate for that first review, but whatever.

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Youtube @TheRealSonjira I consider it a personal defeat if my pee is not perfectly clear every time.]

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

I was totally unaware of letterboxd until today. Just signed up!

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

Like Willow Tree, I wasn't aware of its existence until now, so I just signed up. Here's mine

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

I was thinking of doing it if no one else did, but since you started the thread, Willow Tree, it'd be cool to make a list of every movie that's been featured on Movie Nights With Bricks in Motion on there. Here's my profile. I don't really write reviews that much, but it's a really cool website.

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

That's a great idea twickabrick. I'll start a running log on the first post.

I was also thinking that we should come up with a slightly different system for choosing each week's film. As Lucas mentioned, the first person to post is not exactly ideal as people live in different time zones. I was thinking that we could do a rotation. Each week, one person would select a movie to watch, the following week the next person would pick, and so on. After the last person chooses, we would just repeat the rotation.

This list would look something like this:
week 1: twickabrick
week 2: Willow Tree
week 3: 1999mrlegoman
week 4: Lucas
week 5: Greenshirt
week 6: Sonjira
week 7: Dyland
week 8: William
week 9: Pritchard
week 10: Divine   

I based the list on people who have posted in this thread recently. If you would like to be a part of the rotation, just let me know. If you don't, that's perfectly fine too. When week 10 is over, we will then start with week 1 again. Let's say we're currently on week 2. That means that this coming Sunday will mark the start of week 3. This rotation list is not set in stone. I'll finalize the list within the next few days depending on everyone's input.

I like your idea twickabrick, of have a "shepherd" of sorts. We can trade off every couple months or so-I'll start for now. The job of the "shepherd" will be to simply have a back up film in place in case someone does not post on a given Sunday.

Is this okay with everyone? Let me if you have any suggestions or if you just want to keep the current system in place.

Re: Movie Nights With BricksinMotion

I think the rotation is a neat idea, and I'm willing to participate.  In regards to movie suggestions, can we pick anything or are there any restrictions? 

I'm not at all against watching R rated movies, but do we need to let people know about the content when we post the movie, or let people look into that themselves.