masterphilster
http://www.flixster.com/user/masterphilster
| Name | Philip So |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| I'm From | Barrow-In-Furness And Manchester |
| Member For | 612 days |
| Last Login | Sun. May 18 |
| Profile Views | 1692 |
| Age | 21 |
| MCT Score |
| Movie: | Se7en, Shawshank Redemption, Godfather 1 + 2, Star Wars Original Trilogy (esp. Episode V), Schindler's List, Die Hard, Lord Of The Rings Trilogy, V For Vendetta, Superman, Superman Returns etc... |
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| Actor: | Morgan Freeman, Al Pacino, Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Carrey, Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Kevin Spacey, Robert DeNiro, Eric Bana etc... |
| Director: | Francis Coppolla, Richard Donner, Bryan Singer, David Fincher, Guy Ritchie, Martin Scorcese, Joss Whedon |
| Quote: | "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker" (Die Hard) .............."Maybe we should check if he's circumcised, he could be a double agent" (Munich) ....................."Keaton always said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze" (The Usual Suspects) "I could shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like a suicide" (Tomorrow Never Dies) |
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I love movies!! Own tonnes of dvds, even have a set cinema time!! I'm also a crazy idiot... apparently!!! I like all types of films except for the majority of horrors, which just don't appeal to me because they're somewhat pointless. They're very similar and usually the only variety present in such films are the ways the characters die.
For more visit http://www.myspace.com/masterphilster My friend Becca insisted I get myspace so she took the liberty of making one for me!! It's all her handywork!! Just so you know, I won't give my email/ msn to anyone I don't know that well. If I get to know you, then maybe, but there are no guarantees!! More great quotes: "Live as one of them, Kal-El, to discover where your strength and your power are needed. Always hold in your heart the pride of your special heritage. They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son." (Superman) "We've got two people and a hell of a lot of cutlery" (Hot Fuzz) Vesper Lynd: How was your lamb? James Bond: Skewered. (Casino Royale) "How the hell could Bond be so stupid? I give him double-O status and he celebrates by shooting up an embassy. Is the man deranged? And where the hell is he? In the old days if an agent did something that embarrassing he'd have a good sense to defect. Christ, I miss the Cold War." (Casino Royale) "Yes, considerably" (Best Casino Royale quote) |
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1.
Superman
PG
A classic superhero movie, one of the best, if not the best. Although some people are critical of the cheese within the movie, I believe it is an integral part of its charm. The cast and directing are brilliant. The background given to Superman as Clark Kent really shows how Superman became the man who stands for "truth, justice and the American way". The, then, unknown Christopher Reeve will be unsurpassed as Superman. Brandon Routh does a good job, but Christopher Reeve will always be Superman. Although his different portrayals of Clark kent and superman draws criticism, I believe it is required to differentiate between them, which is highlighted by the different reactions Lois has to them both. His chemistry with Margot Kidder is undeniable, which provides a strong backbone to the movie. Gene Hackman is a brilliant Lex Luthor, showing wit and genius combined with his intrinsic evil. Marlon Brando unfortunately only had a small part as the doomed Jor-El, but he plays his role excellently. Again, there is a God-like aura about Jor-El, as he sends "his only son" to earth because we only "lack the light to show the way". There seems to be an underlying religious theme within the Superman movies, which strongly and rightly portrays Superman as a saviour. This is the best superhero movie thus far. I don't believe it will be surpassed.
2.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
PG
The best of the Star Wars movies; it's my personal favourite. The bonds of the characters are strengthened and with it comes the biggest movie twist of all time! Although people criticise the abilities of Vader and Luke during their lightsaber battle, I believe it was very good for the time, obviously incomparable to those seen in the prequels. The plot is great, showing the development of Luke's path to Jedi knighthood with the guidance of an elfin creature, the venerable Master Yoda. Mark Hamill is great, but it's Han who stands out. Harrison Ford manages to draw out plenty of laughs and additionally, his chemistry with Carrie Fisher makes for a good subplot. Vader is at his most evil, killing high ranking officers for their only mistakes, striking fear to those who actually get promoted. Vader is uncompromising; he wants everything to go perfectly and expects it too. We also get to see Vader as a human, if only a glimpse which is somewhat unsettling - showing what a human is capable of. He also follows the true Sith way of betraying his master, by trying to convert Luke to the dark side, which ultimately leads to an unwelcome revelation for Luke... This is a brilliant film; one of the films you have to see before you die!!
3.
Superman Returns
PG-13
An excellent summer movie. Although not filled with non-stop action, the movie follows on well from Superman II, and is well compensated by the plot. The unknown Brandon Routh fills Christopher Reeve's red boots well, being a worthy successor, not only because of their physical likeness, but also the aura he gives off as Superman. Kevin Spacey is excellent as Lex Luthor, portraying his evil and distaste for Superman superbly. However, the one weakness in the cast is Kate Bosworth. She wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel the chemistry between Superman and Lois Lane. Unfortunately, she wasn't an improvement on the marvellous Margot Kidder. The special effects are excellent, most notable being the reintroduction of Superman to the world. The plot is good. The use of the Marlon Brando (Jor-El) archives were great, giving a tangible link back to the original movies. There is also a somewhat unsubtle theological undertone in the movie, where Superman is portrayed as our saviour. The parallels between Jor-El and God, and Superman and Jesus are apparent. All in all, an excellent movie, definitely worth watching.
4.
Gladiator
R
Beautiful is an understatement. It is a truly remarkable film. It doesn't diminish in terms of entertainment after many watches. It's a film you can watch over and over again. Its true success would have been its popularity with the ladies as well as the guys. It is after all a brutal, testosterone-filled film, yet its plot is so brilliant. Its a relatively simple plot, so brilliantly directed and beautifully shot. Special mention of the beautiful shots should go to the introduction of Rome. It's breathtaking and the score which hums along with it is majestic. Extremely fitting for the scene. The afterlife shots were extremely well filmed and superbly integrated. The dialogue is fantastic. There are so many memorable quotes. One quote even sums up the plot: "A general who became a slave; a slave who became a gladiator; a gladiator who defied and emperor". The acting is outstanding. Special mentions go to Joaquin Phoenix, who is superb as the disturbingly meticulous power-hungry Commodus. He really does scare me in that chilling way. Connie Nielsen is excellent as his sister. She really has to show a range of emotions; love, hatred, remorse, anger etc.... Djimon Hounsou is great as Maximus' council and a great confidante. Russell Crowe, well, an excellent performance. One of the best acting performances I've seen for a while. His best film. You really feel for him. Masterful. The gladiatorial sequences and the opening battle sequence were excellent. Their realism is unparalleled. Extremely well choreographed. The gratuity is not spared, which obviously adds to the realism. The score is magnificent. The music is brilliantly used. The vocals in the closing afterife sequence really does capture the moment. The scores used during the battles capture the glorious nature of the Roman culture. They're epic. The premise is magnificent. Superbly directed, wonderfully shot, beautifully acted. A film worthy of superlatives, though I don't like giving them. Some of the ladies I know are deterred because the film is seemingly action-orientated. Do not let the title fool you. There is substance behind the action, which is used to further the storyline. "Are you not entertained?" I'm happy to report that I was extremely well entertained. Everyone should see this!! An utter masterpiece.
5.
Seven
R
A dark and chilling thriller with a wonderfully intertwined plot. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are excellent, but Kevin Spacey steals the show as John Doe. He is so charismatic that he almost persuades the viewer that he was justified to do the horrible degrading murders he committed. An excellent crime movie that will unsettle the viewer.
6.
The Godfather, Part II
R
This is the best film of the trilogy, even surpassing the excellent first installment. The movie shed some light on Vito Corleone's background and how he came to be one of the most powerful people in his society. It portrays his rise to power from humble beginnings in such a moving way. In conjunction with this, we see how the reluctant Michael Corleone takes his father's place as the head of the house and how he becomes somewhat addicted to the power he now wields and the devastating effect it has on the people around him, most profoundly, his marriage. The "unfortunate" aspect of the plot is the way Michael tries to legalise the family business at the urge of his wife, but you soon realise that it would never occur and this would cost him his children and his marriage. Trajedy also ensues as he is forced to kill a person he loves dearly. The violence in this film is aptly tied into the plot; it aids the storyline as opposed to having violence for the sake of violence. It shows the dangerous world these people live in and that once you become part of that life, it would be impossible to stop going down that path. Al Pacino is excellent as the increasingly malevolent Michael and De Niro is brilliant as the young Vito Corleone. A must see; this is the best gangster film ever.
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OneWingedPhoenixposted 3 days ago -
Sounds like you were having a lot of fun. I ended up chaperoning a dance at my high school tonight which was way boring because hardly anyone came. There were a group of guys that asked each other even though they are all straight. It was definitely interesting especially when they took their group picture. Plus, some of them were wearing shorter shorts then the girls were. McCain is too boring to be a Manchurin canidate. I'm reading a book right now that you might like. It is called Mormon Scientist. It is a biography of an LDS chemist Henry Eyring, who the chemistry building at my university was named after. It is all about him and talks about his work and how he was both religious and a scientist. I really like it so far
posted 4 days ago -
Hey - try this quiz and see how we compare
Test your Indy knowledge to win a great prize!posted 12 days ago -
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I recommend you see...
Lust, Caution (Se jie)
by SarahDirector:Ang Lee
Released: 2008
Stars: Joan Chen, Tony Leung Chi Wai, Tang Wei
Genre:Drama, Romance, War
Country:China/Taiwan/Hong Kong/USA
Frustrated in his attempts to assassinate Yee, who is an important official in Japanese-ruled Shanghai, Old Wu, who has lost his wife and two sons as well as two women who had attempted to seduce Yee, now recruits Kuang, Mai Tai Tai, and their troupe of drama students from Hong Kong University in yet another attempt to do away with Yee. Mai Tai Tai is chosen to befriend Yee, which she does by posing as the wife of Mak, befriending Yee's wife and her female friends, and then eventually befriending Yee himself
Well I waited a gone long while to see Ang Lee's latest film after being albeit slightly disappointed with Brockback Mountain. Lust,Caution however blew me away. My expectations were slightly shortened because of the many dissapointing reviews I read both in newspapers her ein the UK and reviews on here. To be honest I don't quite know what film they were watching. Utterly compelling and kept me on tender hooks throughout.
As most of my friends on here know I tend to watch a lot of Asian cinema and that Tony Leung is one of my top 5 favourite actors, so I just had to see this. The narrative of the film is incredibly orginal and also because it deals with the subject of Japanese occupied Shanghai, something not familiar to Western audiences. I must admit that I wasn't 100% clear about the background to the story but as time went on it didn't seem to matter as it was inevitably about one character. The film is long but for a reason. It's depicting a story which is incredibly complex and just isn't going to be told in 1 and a bit hours. There are so many sides to the story that you don't envisidge at the first part of the film.
I love the way Lee switches narrative as we see the end of the story at the beginning. This means that we are able to see the full backdrop of the characters and understand their motives, feelings and of course the realtionship with one another. By this I mean Wong and her Dram clas friends who are part of the Resistance. This is an example of superb storytelling, which to be honest I haven't seen for a good few months. What is great is that the 2 and a bit hours just flew by and suddenly I realised the film is almost over. As I've said before just utterly mangnificent.
Oddly, this being a part USA film, this received no Oscar nominations but luckily us Brits awarded some BAFTA nominations. Believe me it so deserves it and it just depicts the story so so well. Being an art house film lover aswell, the story was paced so so well. This is partly due to the superb script writen by American James Schamus who brilliantly writes quick, informative dialogue that imeadialty gets you hooked from the start. Again....utterly amazing. Still can't get over the snobbery at the Oscars these days. As many of Lee's films, Lust caution is ipeccably photographed throughout it's length time. From the gorgeous sceney to the lush lanscapes of Shaghai.
The acting in Lee's film is fantastic. Tony Leung, who I will never say a bad word about, brilliantly plays two sides of Yee; charming and albeit slightly callous. This meant that as a viewer you liked him one minute and hated him the next. Leung is utterly amazing and deserves more credit by Western audiences. I hope he gains some sort of way into Western cinema soon. Tang Wei, who gained a BAFTA rising Star nomination was equally brilliant playing the naive yet incredibly strong Wong who eventually completely turns Mak(chi-Wai) around from this cold hearted man to a man who is left helpless at the end of the film. Their relationship is depicted strongly in the conterversial sex scenes, which were heavy publisied in the USA and that it was awards an NC-17 rating. Which is ridiculous. The sex scenes look so real and depict this up and down relationship betwen the two charactersl for instance the several sexual posistions and the more "harder" scene and a more emotive one. This I think is a reason why a lot of people didn;t get this film. I think because it's very "arty" and not exactly your more mainstream film.
Overall a stunning masterpiece which might very well be one of my favourite films as I could watch this again. Lust,Caution is seriously UNDERATED and deserved far more credit. It's offical Ang lee is on of the great story tellers our there.
Highly recomend and one of Lee's very best films.
10/10So good I've written a whole essay about it....go and rent it now!
posted 19 days ago -
Hey, I'm good too, though starting to feel the pressure as I've got 4 exams to get through before the end of the month. Viva is the oral exam- which went ok...surprisingly! Mcdouall questioned fairly, as did the other guy- O'Malley. Amanda said hers didn't go that well- Webb and Reagan! Though she came 2nd for presentations in organic and won a cash prize too! Ok for some! She spent all year practicing...though to be fair she is good at that sort of stuff. Will help her with her teaching. So is the interview for a place here? Well good luck. If you have some free time after the interview, could meet for a catch up?
posted 20 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Feast of Love
by RobertoThe cicle of love.
"Love....is a trick of nature ? Or is everything? I choose the second option..."Hey, you should really see this!
posted 24 days ago -
Hey Phil, how u doing? I'm racking my brain over my viva next week. You'd think it would be ok, but when one of the interviewer's is Mcdouall it puts a very different perspective on it. Definitely drew the short straw. It's been a busy few weeks with write-up, presentation and now viva all in quick succession. Presentation went ok though was pretty surprised that half the phys faculty were there. Had to wrap it up after 8 mins, some PhD student was timing it, but I'm sure he got mine wrong! So what u up2? Teaching course sorted? Hope you're well.
posted 27 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Hey, you should really see this!
posted 29 days ago -
Hey,
I hope you're feeling better now.
I just came back to uni today for the last three weeks before exams. Luckily I only have two to do and then we finish with a week in the Lake District. It sounded good until they told us what we would be doing today, it's going to be a pretty intensive week. Lots of walking, analsying, collecting of data and presentations, all in a week, its so mean.
Where do you plan on doing the teaching course and what do you plan to teach at the end of it? I fancied teaching for awhile and then I remembered I'm crap at speaking in front of lots of people.
Hope you are feeling better :)
Louposted 30 days ago -
I recommend you see...
Alien
by SarahDirector:Ridley Scott
Released: 1979
Stars: John Hurt, Ian Holm, Sigourney Weaver and Harry Dean Stanton
Genre:Sci-Fi/Horror
Country: UK/USA
The crew of the deep space mining ship Nostromo are awaken from hypersleep to investigate a strange signal from a nearby planet. While investigating the signal, they discover it was intended as a warning, and not an SOS. What follows are some grisly and inventive special effects based on the work of H.R.Giger
I can't believe I haven't got round to watching this absolutly superb film nor the rest of the series. So Let this be the start of my Alien Marathon. All I can say is thank god I've watched it now.
This is the one I think most of my friends on here remember, the one that started it all. I obtained yet another director's cut of Scott's film but I decided to watch the orginal '79 theatrical version. Superisingly, because I haven't watched it beefore there are very few flaws even 29 years on since it was made. Despite numerous Alien oe teenage horror films adopting a similar plot, I still could feel the suspense in every single scene and in some cases I did indeed scream. What is still brilliant about Scott's masterpiece is the fact it still feels very modern even almost 30 years on. The bleak and empty atmopshere is still prevelant even to this day.
The opening credits I thought were absolutly spectacular. Complete with Jerry Goldsmith's haunting score before the film has even begun, you are given a little something as to what's to come. Mangnificent. Godsmith#s score adds to the huge amount of tension within a scene and without it, we are left helpless as we have no ides of what's to come.
What's amazing to me is that the idelogy of Alien's exsisting in this film seems all the more real. Scott creates this believable enviornment that will leave you feeling at the end of the film that Aliens really do exsist. Alien's narrative is paced perfectly. at no point do you feel that the film has suddenly moved forward way too much, you are left engrossed in the story. What is also prevelant is the fact that after an hour of the film, I felt like so much has happened, yet I've only seen two or three instances of "Alien attacks." Which is a testemant to the supern direction and tension filled in the scene by Ridley Scott.
The set-designs reminisent of Kubrick's 2001, peerfectly depict the environment and also so well presented in the opening shot. The gorgeous cinematography even in the '79 theatrical version still seemmed absolutly spectacular to me. Oddly thought Alien only achieved two Academy award nominations at that time.
What stops alien from becoming a less than perfect picture is the incredible cast and their performances. Weaver, in her first lead role realistically depicts her character well without any over-exaggeratuons, the legendry Ian Holm is just perfect and John Hurt just as brilliant. Also worth noting Live and Let Die's Yaphet Kotto, who I Didn't think was in anything else.
Along with Blade Runner, both are Scott masterpieces of his career. Alien is a film which I highly recomend to anyone who enjoys cinema.
10/10Hey, you should really see this!
posted 33 days ago
by Roberto
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