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Thread: The Battery (film) - Indie zombie flick

  1. #16
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Legion2213 View Post
    Good to see the love here! Glad I am not alone in really rating this movie (and it's soundtrack)!
    Yep, you were on point sir. As stated above, my only regret was I didn't see it sooner due to a mistaken synopsis making it sound much less awesome than it actually IS.

  2. #17
    Walking Dead Legion2213's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MoonSylver View Post
    Yep, you were on point sir. As stated above, my only regret was I didn't see it sooner due to a mistaken synopsis making it sound much less awesome than it actually IS.
    My own musings as to the nature of the film weren't too great either really.

    Hopefully, others here will read your far more detailed thoughts and comments about this flick and give it a go.

    Oh, and the original condensed review you read that put you off is criminal!
    Last edited by Legion2213; 04-Nov-2014 at 01:02 AM. Reason: .
    Oblivion gallops closer, favoring the spur, sparing the rein - I think we will be gone soon

  3. #18
    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    The dialog, character interplay and of course the music made it for me...

    A couple of zombies in the distance every now and then would have helped I think, just to remind you they're never totally safe. eg: At the lake, just have a lone figure stumbling around right on the other side or something. They did it beautifully once in TWD when they were driving along and there was a lone zombie in the middle of a huge field... Atmospheric!

    Not so sure about the "man act" to the female zombie at the car window mind... Didn't quite to sit right with that character IMHO.
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
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  4. #19
    Just been bitten Morto Vivente's Avatar
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    @Legion, watched this flick recently, thanks man, I wasn't disappointed. A great dynamic between the lead characters, and despite the lack of zeds it still held everything together.

     
    I liked the use of the headphones and music as a means to contrast the characters and hi-light the issue of survival versus humanity/art/romance etc. The actual soundtrack didn't do much for me though. I didn't dislike it, it did the job.


    The baseball allegory for Ben and Mickey wasn't lost on me either, even although I'm a Brit.

     
    "One pitch bitch !"



    Loved this movie!
    Last edited by Morto Vivente; 04-Nov-2014 at 01:21 PM. Reason: edit
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  5. #20
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Legion2213 View Post
    My own musings as to the nature of the film weren't too great either really.

    Hopefully, others here will read your far more detailed thoughts and comments about this flick and give it a go.

    Oh, and the original condensed review you read that put you off is criminal!
    Your mention was what finally got me off my arse to give it a go. After starting to hear so many mentions around the interwebz I started figuring "there has to be SOMETHING going on here!"

    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    The dialog, character interplay and of course the music made it for me...

    A couple of zombies in the distance every now and then would have helped I think, just to remind you they're never totally safe. eg: At the lake, just have a lone figure stumbling around right on the other side or something. They did it beautifully once in TWD when they were driving along and there was a lone zombie in the middle of a huge field... Atmospheric!
    Yeah. Movie this small, I'm sure it was a budgetary/availability thing, in terms of extras.

    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    Not so sure about the car scene & zombie at the car window mind... Didn't quite to sit right with that character IMHO.
    Redacted. Might want to edit for minor spoilers? In any case
     
    didn't fuss me too much. A quirky scene in a quirky movie, played for laughs. In the "making of" they rationalized it by saying that it's been awhile since there's been any "alone time" since these guys have been together every moment, in the open, with no privacy. Mickey saw a chance on the spur of the moment & took it.

    In the original draft of the script, apparently he is scrambling around the car for a weapon & finds a condom, which spurs him the get out & tie the zombie to the hood of the car w/ a bungee cord & have his way with her! In some ways I wish they'd kept that as its kinda more serious & disturbing, but not sure how it would impact the tone of the movie, the feel of the character, etc. As it is, it's funny & kinda sad. Mickey is already a kind of sad & slightly pathetic character who I felt sorry for. This actually kind of reinforced that, especially with Ben catching him, & his reaction


    Quote Originally Posted by Morto Vivente View Post
    @Legion, watched this flick recently, thanks man, I wasn't disappointed. A great dynamic between the lead characters, and despite the lack of zeds it still held everything together.

     
    I liked the use of the headphones and music as a means to contrast the characters and hi-light the issue of survival versus humanity/art/romance etc. The actual soundtrack didn't do much for me though. I didn't dislike it, it did the job.
     
    good points on the use of the music & the listening to it to highlight the issues of humanity/art/romanticism vs survival. Not sure I considered that. I was too busy considering it escapism aspect of it. As for the actual music itself, I was a little off put at first, but it lent a quirky charm I didn't expect the more of it I heard as the movie progressed.


    Quote Originally Posted by Morto Vivente View Post
    The baseball allegory for Ben and Mickey wasn't lost on me either, even although I'm a Brit.

     
    "One pitch bitch !"
     
    Great scene. I liked his follow up response after he said that "...but what a pitch it is." It was nice.



    Quote Originally Posted by Morto Vivente View Post
    Loved this movie!
    Glad to see it gaining viewers.
    Last edited by MoonSylver; 04-Nov-2014 at 10:54 PM. Reason: .

  6. #21
    Twitching
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    This was the one where the two Survivors
     
    spent a huge amount of time stuck in the vehicle surrounded by zombies

    Right?
    If so, I hated this movie with a PASSION. If anyone here has seen The Pulse 2, I hate it THAT much.
     
    The entire fixation on the chick from the other group. The keys getting thrown into the unfindable shrubbery...the endless march of minutiae in the vehicle.


    About the only thing I liked was
     
    the guy who lived radioing the chick and explaining what he was gonna do and how, and what would happen if he didn't die.


    The characterization was extremely annoying,
     
    and the guy who hadn't killed a zombie, forcing the other guy to carry him...but then the asshole move about throwing a zombie in his room while he's sleeping and then holding the door shut...I was like WTH. With a friend like this, who needs mortal enemies.


    I am completely mystified at all the praise this movie is getting here.

    Mod Note: added spoiler tags

  7. #22
    Just Married AcesandEights's Avatar
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    Added spoiler tags for you, Wyld

    "Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true." --Lord Dunsany

  8. #23
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wyldwraith View Post
    I am completely mystified at all the praise this movie is getting here.
    Because we don't all like the same things. I can accept it's not a movie for everyone. As I pointed out, it is a very indie movie, with all the alternative sensibilities that come along with. So if that's not your thing, then yeah, steer clear.
    Last edited by MoonSylver; 13-Nov-2014 at 12:23 AM. Reason: .

  9. #24
    Twitching
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    @Moon:

    And about most movies, I'd say you're exactly right, tastes differ, and that's the end of it. In this case, however, I am ACTUALLY *mystified* how something I loathed so very much can be so universally well-received. I mean it's one thing when (for example) Person A watches Movie X and gives it a 9 out of 10, while Person B having watched Movie X gives it a 7 out of 10. To me the mystery is how can something I'd give a 2-3 out of 10 be 8-9 out of 10 material for so many others?

    So NOT trying to imply my taste in movies is somehow more elevated or worth more than anyone else, I just commented based on my genuine confusion and listed the main reasons why I felt the movie was so bad.
     
    And BTW, if the chick's only purpose in throwing away their car keys was to prevent them from following her and her companion, she could easily have said "I'm gonna drop these out the window about a quarter mile down the road. By the time you run down there and back to the car, we'll be long gone." Or something to that effect. INSTEAD, she chunks the keys way off the road into the dense foliage. Which would be perfectly justifiable if she had something against the protagonists...but nope, she explains its just a preventative measure.
    That just didn't make sense to me, maddeningly so.

  10. #25
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    I think she was pretty pissed when she realized who they were, which is why she chucked the keys. After all, she just shot Ben in the leg. She had told Mickey not to try & find her or they'd exile her. We never learn the full story of "The Orchard", but it sounds like a bad scene. I'd say she really didn't give a shit what happened to them TBH.

    As for Mickey's fixation on her: IMO it was another escape. Another coping mechanism. Something to hang onto.

    RE: Ben shoving the zombie in the room w/ Mickey. Yeah, it was a dick move, no doubt. Not smart at all. But both those guys weren't the brightest bulbs, & probably neither of them were playing with a full deck by that point.


    In any case, it is a quirky film, so again, if that sort of thing is not to one's taste, there it is.
    Last edited by MoonSylver; 13-Nov-2014 at 10:39 PM. Reason: .

  11. #26
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    Wyldwraith I felt the same way. But after reading the comments here I understood that the things I disliked about the characters were things I were supposed to dislike about them. Maybe it is because the abundance of characters like the main protagonists in TV and movies now adays that I thought that the writers intended the characters values to be something for us to agree with.

  12. #27
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    Ben & Mickey are an odd duo. They wouldn't be on my list if I was putting together a "dream team" of who I'd want with me in a zombpocalypse. But they're interesting characters to me nonetheless. I like them, in a doofus-y sort of way, even though they both are somewhat unlikeable in some of their character flaws in some respects.

  13. #28
    Just been bitten Morto Vivente's Avatar
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    I really liked how the characters played off one another. IMO it wasn't about the individuals, but the relationship between them. Mickey resisting his reality anyway he can, and Ben almost reveling in it at times.

     
    When Ben locks Mickey in the room with the zed, he's already realized that Mickey will get them both killed if he doesn't accept that the world has changed. No amount of rational debate will change Mickey. Ben merely corners Mickey and forces him to see the situation as it is, and attempts to shatter his wall of denial (trial by fire). The Bottom line in Ben's eyes is that Mickey has no powers of self-reliance (partially explaining his obsession with the female survivor), ultimately killing himself and probably Ben. "The one pitch bitch" never managed to "change up".


    I agree that Mickey could be described as annoying and Ben as obnoxious, but for me the interest lies in the interaction of these two extremes. They're almost the Laurel and Hardy of the ZA.
    Last edited by Morto Vivente; 15-Nov-2014 at 12:13 PM. Reason: edit
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  14. #29
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    ^^^ Great analysis MV!
     
    very astute observation on the relevance of the"one pitch bitch" comment. I never got that. Makes perfect sense now. A seemingly throwaway line that actually gives a much deeper insight into the character: a guy who's unwilling (or unable) to change.

  15. #30
    Just been bitten bd2999's Avatar
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    I am not going to go to much into it, but I wanted to like this movie more than I did. The trapped in a car part was kind of neat and creepy but to me there needed to be more action or horror involved. The story is primarily the relationship between the two leads, and that is fine, but the threat never seems quite as imminent as I think is warranted at times in these sorts of movies.

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