My good friend and colleague, Monty-Dan, has released ‘Pictures of War 2’.
This is undoubtedly the best ever IL2 Movie I have ever seen.
It’s a sequel to the first ‘Pictures of War’, so if you haven’t seen that then please check it out. PoW2 can be watched on it’s own, but you’ll get more of the story if you watch them both.
As ever, IL2 movie makers do this for free, and the best payment we get is to know people have watched and appreciate our work. So do please leave Monty a comment in the UBI thread.
Started off well, then suddenley became a comedy when he was with the 2 zeros - the worst kind of comedy, unintentional. I was laughing at it in the same way I laugh when I watch terrible movies on the telly.
I was then bored approximately 30 seconds after the “2 zeros” scene and actually quite annoyed that the film had become this bad.
It was about 15 minutes too long and I couldn’t watch it to the end. Once it decended into obscurity I gave up and despite telling myself I ought to and weening another minute or 2 out of the film I switched it off in disgust.
Obviously this isn’t very objective in terms of how well filmed it was etc. so…
The camera work and production on the whole couldn’t be faulted except for the overkill on the camera shake whilst observing Flight 19 taking off and in flight.
The high quality production and camera work was hugely overshadowed by a laughable story however, which made all of this - regardless of how good - irrelevant.
Sorry
I won’t post this in response on the UBI forums as I will undoubtedly be shot down for not liking this “film”.
I can’t believe as many people liked it on the forum as they did, although I think I know why they did - and it isn’t because it was a good film.
Insight, no problem on being frank. I’m pretty sure Monty wants considered opinions from outside the Movie-making community as well.
We both (I think) have a priority of pleasing our little community first, and the wider public second. Maybe serious movie makers should reverse those priorities?
I know I will have to, if I want to make a bigger impact than ‘Brothers In Arms’ did. I, for one, appreciate an outsiders’ honest opinion (only two people said they laughed at the ‘running man’ in Brother’s in Arms, of which you were one and the other was an ex-girlfriend!).
I won’t assume any more of how Monty-dan will react - but do you mind if I point him to this thread?
Up until the first 10 mins, its the best i’d ever seen. But when the two zero’s are taken out by a light, its crap and silly from there on. Pity really.
I am glad you aren’t angry with me for speaking my mind on it.
I have posted a reply on the Ubi forum which is a bit less harsh but amounts to much the same outcome - maybe he would be better reading that.
With regards to priorities. It all depends on what you want these movies to achieve I suppose, if it is to get them heard of a bit more and more widley watched outside the close group of reviewers from the forum. You have to aim the movies at the audiences you want them to have the most impact on.
Currently, the reviewers and so on from what I assume are mostly film makers themselves who will be reviewing the films on an entirely different level.
Someone who doesn’t know the game won’t know you have to put in the camera shake yourself, overlay sounds, saturate the colours etc etc etc and won’t care about it - all they want to see is a good and entertaining film that makes them want to watch it from beginning to end.
Out of all the movies I have shown Becky, “Come With Me” was her favourite. Obviously other people interested more in the period of time or the war itself have enjoyed other movies as well.
I just read the Ubi board and a link to another forum with comments on it.
Everyone else seems to love it so it is obviously just me. I did appreciate Beebop’s reply on the forum not flaming me, but thanking me for being honest - it is refreshing to see the community is mature enough to take criticism.
it is refreshing to see the community is mature enough to take criticism
The community isn’t taking criticism Insight, only the makers of the movie feel the criticism if they get to hear about it which they will eventually when they take the names of their critics for future reference when they offer their opinion on your movies
You mean it’s refreshing to see the community is mature enough to resist criticising you for your criticism of the movie. That won’t last long and you’re aware that you will be arguing the toss about whether a movie is good or not. Or bits of it. All of which is at one step removed from anything to do with the movie. One can be drawn in to say perhaps more than one would like to have said in more temperate moments looking back. It all goes in the Archive
In general it’s best not to criticise people for their creations and public criticism is that much harder to bear for the content provider. No one likes to hear that they have an ugly baby. It doesn’t add anything other than form a focus for arguments (I use the word ‘arguments’ advisedly) about one’s subjective opinions, which is obviously a waste of time. One can’t argue that something is perceived to be good when someone else perceives the same thing to be bad. It’s both. It’s not something that can usefully be argued about other than if you’re looking for a fight obviously with someone equally looking to waste time arguing the toss about a criticism, an opinion. One cannot defend an opinion other than to keep repeating it until someone says “Oh yes you’re right I see it now” which I’ll be using in my next reply btw
“Does my bum look big in this?”
What’s the correct answer. It’s always “No” isn’t it with no exceptions. Self-discipline
If something is put into the public domain, it will attract opinions from both sides. Some will like it and some wont. In respect of this film, a lot liked it and a lot didn’t. Some posted their approval and insight post his disapproval. That is how it works. Ying and yang, a natural balance.
It would be very unbalanced if the only response for this particular piece was how great it was, when clearly it isn’t. When something goes public, it is out there to be scrutinised and if it isn’t popular it will attract negative comments. If that is the case then so be it, that is how it works.
Originally posted by Monty-Dan:
I am inviting anyone to critique / comment on the movie, but so no confusion is made as with POW when comparing this movie to other types of movies, POW2 is a “Hollywood Fictional Drama” style movie as all my previous three movies, and most probably my last of this style.
We developed the ettiquete at the UBI Movie Makers Forum to ask if you want honest opinions.
Therefore Insight, and anybody else, is being asked openly for comments. Monty is a good guy who wants to continually improve, and sometimes you have to hear what some people don’t like to make the next movie better.
Of course, if it’s just about subject matter, well you can never please everybody. And Science Fiction is not everybody’s cup of tea.
And before you say it’s just a small clicque, well, the number of downloads of some movies belies that: MrVH’s I Promise at 20,000 plus, some guy who made Operation Big Ben at about 4,000. That’s quite a significant audience!
I realise lots of people watch them and I am sure lots of people like them, but the number of people who comment on them in the forums doesn’t equal that number from what I remember of having seen previous posts - so you only really receive an opinion from a sub section of your audience most of the time.
It is true of course that you cannot please all of the people all of the time - but real films aren’t reviewed on technical merits alone either.
When things started to go a bit Close Encounters I carried on enjoying it, but realised it wasn’t an historical film in the same way I carried on watching Lord of the Rings when I realised it wasn’t a film about bondage but about small people, wizards and orcs.
Quote:
“Does my bum look big in this?”
Sometimes that answer should be yes…
Only if you can outrun your better half.
On the camera shake, for the initial Flight 19 sequence I did think it was a bit overdone and too home movie and could have been toned down a little bit. They’re really nice skins and it would have enabled them a clearer viewing.
A comrade had already told me that it wasn’t a must to download as I was finishing downloading it so I watched the first 30 seconds and then gave it up, sounds a bit weird to be honest. Science fiction?
See I was right he’ll find us and kill us all
[b]“Does my bum look big in this?”
Sometimes that answer should be yes… [/b]
If you think that people really want to hear “Your baby is pig-ugly” and “How did you drag your fat arse through that door?” then good luck. On the other hand if you have a small arse and a beautiful baby then you don’t care what the rest of us thinks
We’d never say that sort of thing but the artistic temperament can get things out of proportion, some people only see the negative in reviews. You’re dealing with artists, content builders. They’re a touchy lot aren’t they [name withheld]
