Maths/Stats Question

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
Nick Grey
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Nick Grey » Thu May 05, 2016 11:40 pm

You have watched more films in the first half of your grading season than my graded games this season.

Last time I went to the cinema was to watch Unstoppable. With my son & daughter-in-law before they got married (their fifth anniversary in July). On their half-price Tuesday tickets. That's far too long.

I hear the next Sweeney film will be in Paris. Though I remember as a child filming the TV series in Battersea - that bit between Clapham Junction & Vauxhall. Been quite chaotic with the fire today messing up the morning & not knowing why until I get home.

Keep up the recommendations.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri May 06, 2016 9:13 am

Nick Grey wrote: Keep up the recommendations.

My last 10:-

Florence Foster Jenkins: Has a chess set in it. Entertaining. Not as good as Marguerite which is essentially the same story set in France.

Son of Saul: Absolutely Must See.

Captain America - Civil War: Has a chess set in it (the wrong way around). 10 minutes of discussing whether it’s a good thing to punch people in the face followed by two hours 20 minutes of punching people in the face.

Demolition: Donnie Darko grows up to be an investment banker. I like this a lot although judging by the reviews nobody else did.

The Treasure: A Romanian comedy. It was certainly Romanian.

Jane Got a Gun: I expected this to be bad but I quite I enjoyed it.

Miles Ahead: Jolly romp of a Miles Davies biopic most of the plot being entirely fictional.

Bastille Day: It’s not Idris Elba being a maverick cop who gets results like in Luther. It’s completely different. In this one he’s a maverick CIA Agent - with a flappily dodgy accent - who gets results. Like Luther, it manages to make an absurd plot quite fun.

Louder than Bombs: Unpleasant people remain unpleasant after woman dies. Isabelle Huppert is good in it though.

Eye in the Sky: The trailier made this look complete pish but it’s really good.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Fri May 06, 2016 12:08 pm

Would I be correct in my assumption that "London Has Fallen" features some American showing the hapless London police/security services how to do it?

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri May 06, 2016 12:28 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:Would I be correct in my assumption that "London Has Fallen" features some American showing the hapless London police/security services how to do it?

It’s Gerard Butler who is Scottish but he’s playing an Americans so you’re right there. He’s not so much showing the British police and security services how to do things as much as finding out that they’ve been infiltrated top to bottom by - suspiciously brown skinned - terrorists.

Like Bastille Day, the plot is absurd.
Unlike Bastille Day, London Has Fallen is not at all fun
Unlike Bastille Day, London Has Fallen is deeply racist and thoroughly unpleasant in it’s world view. The subtitle might as well have been "Why f**king them up with drone strikes is a really really good thing"

Also, the CGI looks like it was done on a VIC 20.


As you may have gathered, I didn’t like London Has Fallen very much.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Fri May 06, 2016 2:02 pm

As you may have gathered, I didn’t like London Has Fallen very much.
At least the title has a ring of truth about it. We'll know by about 4 o'clock if it's actually true, or not.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Fri May 06, 2016 3:15 pm


Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Fri May 06, 2016 4:31 pm

This is rapidly becoming a potpourri thread

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Sun May 08, 2016 9:23 pm

Laputa Castle in the Sky has a chess scene in it. When they’re on their way to the aforementioned castle, Mama plays with the engineer

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Sun May 08, 2016 11:00 pm

To me, that anime film was like a sugar-coated bitter pill, the swallowing of which was mainly to do with coming, or more likely not coming, to terms with authority and the supposed benefits of youthful rebellion and bohemian existence. A kind of modern kiddy version of the film Zabriskie Point but with a more conventional ending. (Japanese probably see it as more about coming to terms with their authoritarian history.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabriskie ... %28film%29

Last film I saw was Bridge of Spies and it was good - even the real-life Samaritan played by Tom Hanks was good. But, the low-key Soviet agent played by Mark Rylance was also good. The film is about authority coming to terms with itself by relaxing its grip just enough to let very different kinds of people breathe a little easier after almost choking them to death.

I'm hoping to see The Big Short next, so I can finally come to terms with the abject failure of the financial and political authorities to keep things on an even keel, the huge mess that caused and how the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer, all in the name of austerity. For some reason that puts me in mind of the old British comedy film The Wrong Box - perhaps there's a similarity between them. I'll let you know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrong_Box

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Wed May 11, 2016 6:57 pm

John McKenna wrote: Last film I saw was Bridge of Spies and it was good - even the real-life Samaritan played by Tom Hanks was good.

I wasn’t a fan of Bridge of Spies. I find Tom Hanks mostly dull. The problem is that the only characters that he plays these days are paragons of virtue. He is always wholly in the right. The other people in the film wholly in the wrong. It makes him - and the films - dull to watch.

There was nothing actively wrong with Bridge of Spies. It was just very lacking in dramatic tension. And not just because the incidents portrayed were matters of historical record.

There was a chess scene in it though.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Thu May 12, 2016 12:27 am

There was a chess scene in it though.
Don't remember the chess scene, Jonathan. I'm sure it's there but it seems to have either escaped my attention or my memory. I saw Spectre after Bridge of Spies and clearly remember the "chess scene" in that film.
I find Tom Hanks mostly dull.
As for Tom, I agree that he's become typecast as a kind of Mr America. I liked him early on in his career in The 'Burbs, and later in Saving Private Ryan, but off the top of my head that's all I can say.

I believe his latest film is called - A Hologram for the King (Cert. 12A, release 20th May).

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Thu May 12, 2016 12:29 am

Green Room.

Saw this evening - the opening night of Everyman’s Music-Film festival.

Thrash metal band accidentally get a gig playing for a bunch of neo-nazis. Extreme violence ensues.

No chess.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Thu May 12, 2016 12:30 am

John McKenna wrote: Don't remember the chess scene, Jonathan.
When Tom Hanks visits Mark Rylance in prison there are a couple of guys playing chess in the backgournd.


Seen the trailer for the new Tommy H film a few times. It’s looks thoroughly hateful.

John McKenna

Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by John McKenna » Thu May 12, 2016 12:51 am

Seen the trailer for the new Tommy H film a few times. It’s looks thoroughly hateful.
It may be meant to educate the Americans about their friends the Saudis, and vice versa, perhaps :|

Green Room sound like a smashing movie :mrgreen:
Last edited by John McKenna on Thu May 12, 2016 1:13 am, edited 1 time in total.

Jonathan Bryant
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Re: Maths/Stats Question

Post by Jonathan Bryant » Thu May 12, 2016 1:00 am

John McKenna wrote: Green Room sound like a smashing movie :mrgreen:
GM level entertainment if you like horror films. Sub 50 ECF at best if you don’t. I loved it. Mind you, I did get free beer and live music beforehand to mark the opening of the festival.