Rate the last movie you watched. [Archive] - Page 7

NokkonWud

14-01-2010, 09:20

I do wish people wouldn't mention twists in movies. It means you *know* there's a twist, so you're waiting for it. Grrrr *shakes fist*
Yeah. Reminds me of Sixth Sense being advertised as having a twist, not even word of mouth, it was KNOWN to have a twist. So I watched the advert for the first time, saw Haley Joel Osmond say "I see dead people" to Bruce Willis, turned to my friend and said "Bruce Willis is dead then", turned out I was right. Never bothered watching the film after that.

It's become a real trend of the last decade or so really. Although no one has over-done them like M Night Shyamalamalamalam (and his best film is definitely Unbreakable).

Aboobie

14-01-2010, 16:31

Yeah. Reminds me of Sixth Sense being advertised as having a twist, not even word of mouth, it was KNOWN to have a twist. So I watched the advert for the first time, saw Haley Joel Osmond say "I see dead people" to Bruce Willis, turned to my friend and said "Bruce Willis is dead then", turned out I was right. Never bothered watching the film after that.

It's become a real trend of the last decade or so really. Although no one has over-done them like M Night Shyamalamalamalam (and his best film is definitely Unbreakable).

This reminds me of Jen's experience of this film.

She sat down with her Auntie and Grandma to watch this when Grandma turned round and asked all "Is this the one where he's dead?". :thanks:

Garp

14-01-2010, 17:35

9

6/10 (-1 for brevity)

Mankind has been exterminated, massacred Terminator style by an AI that has been turned evil by a dictator.

9 little .. umm .. things made out of what look to be burlap sacks have been created and given life. We follow the story from the viewpoint of number 9, the last one to be created who wakes up an unspecified period of time after the rest and finds himself alone in a dark post-apocalyptic world.

Whilst he was only a producer, it seems to me that Tim Burton's finger prints are all over the film. It may be that the director has just as dark an imagination as Mr Burton, but it just feels so much like one of his. There are a few well known actors providing voices to the characters and they're all animated in a believable and natural way.

The story is pretty good and well put together but I thought overly short. The movie weighs in at barely over an hour and a quarter. In many regards it felt like it was over and done with way too quickly. I think I'd have been pissed if I'd been seeing it in the cinema, but as a netflix rental it hasn't cost me all that much.

I'd say it's worth a watch, but it ain't all that.

Kitten

14-01-2010, 17:38

I thought it was just the right length - too much longer and I think I'd have lost interest. Reminded me of the little fella from Little Big Planet. Very sad story though :(

7/10 for me.

semi-pro waster

17-01-2010, 10:59

The Banquet

Starring Ziyi Zhang You Ge Daniel Wu Xun Zhou

Historical martial arts epic

6/10 It's quite a beautiful film and runs along tragedic lines as do many of these martial arts epics however while the ending in say Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon feels satisfying (albeit sad) in the conclusion, here it just feels a bit unfinished. I enjoyed most of it but as I seem to have said a few times recently the ending does not live up to the promise of the rest.

Sherlock Holmes

Starring Robert Downey Jr Jude Law Rachel McAdams Mark Strong

Adaptation of the short stories

7/10 It's an entertaining romp through 19th century London and if you take it on its merits as simply a fictional detective of the time with almost no relation to the stories by Sir Arthur then its a not atypical Guy Ritchie film. If however you're expecting a faithful adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories then 5/10 is a fairer mark, I enjoyed it but can't help thinking it would have been better without the name attached, I'd still probably have watched it as I do like most of Guy Ritchie's films. Some of the mentions of characters felt a little contrived as if they were simply trying to root it in the stories, also Irene Adler as a criminal is taking gross liberties with what has been written about her. Lord Blackwood would seem more suited to a Harry Potter film I'd guess etc.

Flibster

18-01-2010, 00:26

Das Boot - Directors Cut in German

Scratch another one off the list. Utterly magnificent. Tension is perfect, soundtrack is perfect, feeling of claustrophobia is there...

Amazingly good.

9/10

Fayshun

18-01-2010, 01:15

Das Boot - Directors Cut in German

Scratch another one off the list. Utterly magnificent. Tension is perfect, soundtrack is perfect, feeling of claustrophobia is there...

Amazingly good.

9/10

Agreed, it's awesome.

But I prefer the miniseries.

Garp

21-01-2010, 21:50

I do wish people wouldn't mention twists in movies. It means you *know* there's a twist, so you're waiting for it. Grrrr *shakes fist*

That reminds me.. an Irish fellow I used to work with mentioned that when Titanic was released the Irish Catholics wanted to protest about the film and how the Irish were portrayed.

Apparently they walked up and down the line outside the cinema whispering conspiratorially to everyone "THE SHIP SINKS!"

Flibster

21-01-2010, 22:03

That reminds me.. an Irish fellow I used to work with mentioned that when Titanic was released the Irish Catholics wanted to protest about the film and how the Irish were portrayed.

Apparently they walked up and down the line outside the cinema whispering conspiratorially to everyone "THE SHIP SINKS!"

I was almost tempted to buy the DVD of Titanic - just because it had on the back - includes previously unseen alternative ending.

Typical American happy ending? Titanic arrives safely and gimp and porky live out their lives together with excess happiness?

Belmit

21-01-2010, 22:17

gimp and porky

I honestly don't know which one is which. ;D

Del Lardo

23-01-2010, 22:45

Dorian Gray

Would have turned it off after an hour if Mrs DL hadn't been watching it.

Dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull dull.

2/10

Belmit

24-01-2010, 02:00

District 9

Everything about it felt cheap.
The acting wasn't upto much.
You can't help but think that it was set in SA for financial reasons.
Script was at least three drafts away from being a finished product.

5/10.

Having just watched this for the second time (the first time was on a plane about six weeks ago) I have to pretty much disagree with every point you made!

There may be spoilers past this point but it would make it too disjointed to start covering them up so just assume the main themes will be ruined for you if you read on!

First of all, this film wouldn't have worked if it hadn't been set in South Africa. Ignoring the apartheid mirroring (the film is based on the writer/director's direct experiences of it), the humour based around the naivety of the main character at the start is fundamentally South African and lacks the seriousness that a US lead would have injected, and the scepticism that a British lead would have, to the film's advantage.

The lack of sympathy I felt for Wikus throughout a lot of the movie is pure genius in my opinion. He comes across as being completely influenced by the regime he's employed under and has chosen to disregard his own feelings towards the alien 'invasion'. As the viewer we're constantly torn between his selfish ambition to escape the situation he's found himself in and his empathy to helping the Prawns. At least three or four times I felt sorry for the man, only seconds later to hold contempt for his actions. I particularly liked the idea that he could only truly feel for their plight by becoming one of them.

The acting felt more naturalistic than most films I've seen - practically genuine pain/panic responses and a lot of talking heads/documentary style interviews with the public that might as well have been set up as if they were talking about a real event. If the subject matter hadn't been aliens, for the most part it could have passed as a real documentary. There was also a clever extra layer caused by the idea that as they carried out their eviction duties they were being filmed, so the characters had to behave on camera, and react to it.

Finally, I was amazed at the fluidity and blending of the special effects. I'm told that most of the effects were added post-production and if that's the case I've no idea how they filmed it. Considering the relatively modest budget of the project, the realism of the scenes where Prawns interacted with humans, and the grimy feel of the alien technology was better than any I've seen in a big budget film. It felt seamless. The final scenes were incredibly kick-ass, and at no point did I stop to think 'how did they do that?' - I just took it at face value until I stopped to think about it afterwards.

I'm struggling to think of a reason not to give this 10/10.

Garp

24-01-2010, 03:27

Moon

Utterly brilliant, and well deserving of a watch. No idea why the idiots only released it on limited release. Guess maybe they thought it was too arty / indie to do well.
Fools.

10/10

Greenlizard0

24-01-2010, 19:52

Del Lardo

30-01-2010, 20:00

The Taking Of Pelham 123

Action/Thriller staring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Basically if you have seen any other Action/Thriller staring Denzel then you have seen this film. Not necessarily a bad thing but you will see the plot coming a mile away so best to disengage that brain before you hit the play button.

5/10

Knipples

30-01-2010, 20:13

Daybreakers

Me and Pheebs went to see this on Wednesday. We were disappointed.
6/10

Belmit

31-01-2010, 20:45

The Great Escape

First time I properly watched it from start to finish, rather than catching random bits on TV. Awesome movie with some great moments of tension. Music is top-notch throughout and it never fails to both amuse and break your heart in equal measures. Poor little Donald Pleasance. :)

9/10

Flibster

31-01-2010, 20:46

cheets

04-02-2010, 00:03

Roberta

15-02-2010, 17:22

Youth In Revolt.

9/10. I'm a big Michael Cera fan though.

Belmit

16-02-2010, 13:59

Law-Abiding Citizen

Gerard Butler almost acting for once! Big name actors in this so surprised I hadn't heard of it. A little contrived, but a hugely original plot if rather far-fetched. After half an hour we were already at the point where normally you'd have expected the film to be ending, but this is no typical revenge film. Almost SAW-like in its unravelling, I really relished the scheming and one-step-aheadedness (!) of the main character's plan, ten years in the making.

8/10

Tak

16-02-2010, 14:03

Went and saw The Wolfman on saturday - loved it :) Loads of blood and guts and "jump in the seat" moments :D

Haly

16-02-2010, 15:41

Greenlizard0

17-02-2010, 04:18

Law Abiding citizen was fantastic, almost wanted him to win in the end.

A Place of Light

17-02-2010, 07:24

Law Abiding citizen was fantastic, almost wanted him to win in the end.

It was a definitely, rather than an almost, for me.

Wossi

17-02-2010, 10:02

Eternal Sunshine OF The Spotless Mind.

Would have been a great film if I was getting a running commentary on what was happening and why :angry: I'd like to have watched it without someone pretty much spoiling it so now it's just an okay film :(

Jingo

17-02-2010, 10:14

I don't understand why people insist on telling you what's going on because they have previously seen a film.

When anyone starts speaking during a film I'm particularly engrossed in I ask them to pretend were in the cinema watching the premiere :p

I'll never forgive the smelly plonker at the cinema who, whilst I was queing up to buy my Sixth Sense tickets, walked past shouting : ((spoilers as you never know!))

"I can't believe Bruce Willis was dead the whole time!"

It meant nothing to anyone of course, but about 10 minutes in the whole film was spoiled :angry:

BBx

17-02-2010, 13:14

I'll never forgive the smelly plonker at the cinema who, whilst I was queing up to buy my Sixth Sense tickets, walked past shouting : ((spoilers as you never know!))

"I can't believe Bruce Willis was dead the whole time!"

It meant nothing to anyone of course, but about 10 minutes in the whole film was spoiled :angry:

I HATE that. Aswell:

"Well she is obviously a vampire"

:angry::angry::angry::angry:

BB x

Feek

24-02-2010, 22:12

The Boat That Rocked

I'm a bit of an old anorak so there will be no surprise that I enjoyed this film. The story was a bit contrived but the basis in truth was there, the government did hate the pirates but I don't think the campaign was quite like that to get them off the air.

Of course, Radio Caroline continued after the Marine Offences Act was passed and was later joined in the North Sea by my favourite station, Laser 558 but enough of that.

Good film, great soundtrack although I felt the ending was a little sudden.

8/10

Greenlizard0

25-02-2010, 15:59

New York I Love You

This was recommended by a few people yet still I watched it after some hesitation. The mould of the film isn't one long continuous story but rather several all sharing a common theme; the title gives away what that is. Therefore the film has several directors and writers who give their own short excerpt of their own interpretation of this theme. Portraying the roles are plenty of actors and there are some well known names including Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Shia "OOPPPTTTTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIMMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSS" La Beouf*.

Each little clip is well thought out and for some parts you're given the beginning before having to wait for a conclusion later on. There are a few twists to some of them which I enjoyed. Since dialogue is a key part of this the scripts ensure the whole film is good and the actors have a good go at their parts. They do a good job with various accents as well. *It should be noted that after almost typecasting himself as an annoying loud/shouty teenager (Bobby, Eagle Eye, Transformers I & II) Shia La Beouf does an excellent job in a completely different role.

The score's pretty decent and being in New York you're given a healthy dose of "Blu-Ray" shots from time to time. Unsurprisingly it is a very wet film and like I thought beforehand you can't be in the wrong mood to watch it.

7/10

semi-pro waster

25-02-2010, 22:43

Road House

Starring Patrick Swayze Kelly Lynch Sam Elliott Ben Gazzara

Action film

8/10 Patrick Swayze's finest moment, the magnum opus of his career (and no before anyone suggests it Dirty Dancing isn't even close :p). It's trashy, it's silly and it's no less brilliant for all that - how can you not love a film with such classic and erudite repartee as:
Man in bar: "how about we get nipple to nipple"
Denise: "I don't need you to do that"
You've got to admire a film that is confident enough in its own quality to let that be used.

Treefrog

01-03-2010, 15:23

2012.

Very enjoyable, even more SFX than Independance day, flows along nicely with some nice nice little 'grin' moments.

The bit about how the neutrinos were acting was annoying though!

Kitten

01-03-2010, 15:43

Muban

01-03-2010, 21:53

Avatar 7/10

Yes, it's taken me that long to see it. I found it an enjoyable watch and whilst very pretty indeed there were also parts of the 3D effect that really annoyed me once I had noticed them. Still I paid £8 to see it and didn't begrudge it one bit so it must be pretty good. I won't go into any more detail as I'll do that in the other thread :)

Muban

05-03-2010, 20:41

Alice in Wonderland 3D 7.5/10

It's been a long time since I read the books, but for me it captured the mood of them really well. It helps that I really like Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. I liked the 3D aspect to this film, it helped it but it wasn't the be all and end all and it didn't seem overdone (I think the film would score the same for me even if it were 2D). A surreal fantasy that I would watch again. I feel though it's either going to be a really like it or really didn't film for most though.

IainB

06-03-2010, 11:35

Kitten

06-03-2010, 12:59

Alice in Wonderland - 8/10

Really enjoyed it. Was cleverly done, suitably dark but not so much so that it screamed Burton, especially at the beginning. Loved the Red Queen, HBC played her to perfection, as did Depp with the Hatter. Alice was a good choice, and the cheshire cat was cute too. Anne Hathaway was a bit meh and I'm not sure about Babs Windsor either, seemed the dormouse was missing something, not sure what.

THe 3D effects were superb when she was falling down the hole and during the fighty bits, but as Mubs said, it didn't seem overdone or detract from the movie.

I also liked:

The way they made a nod to the original Alice story, that answered a lot of questions and made perfect sense the way they did it, rather than it seeming like something they'd better do to clarify some stuff that happened

I'd definitely say go see. It's clearly Burton, but that doesn't take over the movie. Definitely a Marmite film, you'll either love it or hate it. And yes, I agree, 'Spoooooooon' is bound to be a big hit ;D

Belmit

06-03-2010, 14:08

City Lights

Considered Charles Chaplin's best film by most (but the first I've ever seen), this is apparently a far less slapstick affair than usual and concentrates on a romantic story.

Maybe slightly spoiled by time in terms of thousands of ham-fisted attempts to mimic the style, there's definitely a charm and innocence to the humour and the romance. By about halfway through, however, I was wondering how this was one of the most revered movies of all time, until I stopped to think that this is pretty much how modern cinema started and I needed to view it as such.

It'll never be one of my favourite films, but it really is superb and deserves its place in the top 100 films. It also has one of the greatest endings I've ever seen, proving that Chaplin was as great a writer as he was an actor. He practically acts the last three minutes with his eyes alone, and leaves us wondering exactly what will happen next with the ambiguous ending.

The last line of the film is particularly powerful, and considering there's only about twenty lines in the whole film (subtitled, as the film is silent) that's some achievement.

Great music too.

8/10

vix

07-03-2010, 17:03

The Grudge

0/10

It's been on the list of recorded things for ages because I thought it would be really scary. Finally watched it last night and I want that time back please. I didn't even jump at any of the too predictable jump bits. most of the time I was tyring to work out which bit of 'time' we were in. I knew the overall story gist but didn't think the film went to many great lengths to explain it. Just didn't make much sense, and as Phil said just seemed like a sequence of scenes designed to make you jump and shocked.

I'm sure the original would be much better.

Belmit

07-03-2010, 23:31

Watched Mr. Brooks again. Review here: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showpost.php?p=289994&postcount=752

Still just as good. Lost a lot of its impact on a second viewing but watching it with someone else there added something.

semi-pro waster

14-03-2010, 23:07

In The Loop

Starring Peter Capaldi Tom Hollander Gina McKee James Gandolfini

Black comedy

8/10 I've watched a few films recently but none I've really felt worth noting until watching this tonight. I didn't really know anything about this before other than having been shown a couple of clips of it and it's damn funny with some truly virtuouso profanity from Mr Capaldi as Malcolm Tucker. There's a good strong cast, the story is solid enough and while it's beyond believable there's enough there in the Yes, Minister tradition to make it a thoroughly entertaining (and perhaps even worrying) watch.

BBx

14-03-2010, 23:18

Up

Wasn't what I expected at all and made me cry. :(

Really good film, but not as good as I thought it would be.

The story of a man who goes on a balloon adventure.

7/10

BB x

Belmit

14-03-2010, 23:25

"I hid under your porch because I love you :("

Anyway...

Casablanca

Hadn't seen it until today but it certainly lived up to expectations. It's a simple love story made complicated by war, corruption and the politics involved. Ultimately, it's about love and sacrifice.

Bogart and Bergman are brilliant, as is Claude Rains as Captain Renault, and it was great to finally hear all the classic lines within the context of the movie rather than just as one-liners.

9/10

Fayshun

15-03-2010, 01:16

Finally got round to watching

Watchmen

It's been a long time since I read the graphic novel, and I think I'm going to have to read it again to compare and contrast but on the whole I thought it was fairly awesome. Loved the fight scenes but I'll never be able to look at a chip fryer, meat cleaver or angle grinder the same way again.

Dr Manhattens johnson!! :shocked:

8.5/10

Fayshun

15-03-2010, 05:39

It's been "Q" at work

Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood as a grumpy and gruff Korean veteran living next door to a Hmong family. Overcoming his prejudices he befriends the son who has lost his way and was about to fall in with local gangbangers.

I want to be like Walt Kowalski when I grow up.

9/10

Lomster

15-03-2010, 15:57

Mubs/Kitten... do you think its not worth seeing Alice in 3d if having to travel to see it in 3d?
We will have to travel to oxford to see it and just wondering whether we might as well just see it on the normal screen?
Really can't wait to see it, I also love Tim Burton films so I am sure I will love it!!

BBx

15-03-2010, 18:38

I didn't notice any huge difference. But then again I was asleep for most of it lol

BB x

Muban

15-03-2010, 19:05

It's nice in 3D for sure, but really it's good enough on it's own merit to see without the 3D I think :)

_dogma_

15-03-2010, 19:07

Wouldn't say Alice and Wonderland is worth travelling to see in 3D. It's good but I don't really think the 3D added much to it.

Pebs

15-03-2010, 20:16

Saw Sherlock Holmes last night. Loved it. Could see elements of Guy Ritchie but not as 'typey' as his other films. Enjoyed it lots.

Lomster

15-03-2010, 20:19

Cheers I think we shall see it at the normal cinema then and go pub for dinner after instead :D

Kitten

15-03-2010, 20:20

I could watch that again & again. RDJ just gets hotter the older he.. er.. gets :D

I'd agree with the girls, while It's great in 3D i'm sure it will be fab in 2D too. I always try to see 3d in 3d to get the whole experience but Im sure you'd love it anyway if it's a pita to get to.

Fayshun

15-03-2010, 21:35

Cheers I think we shall see it at the normal cinema then and go pub for dinner after instead :D
:thumbup:

Fayshun

15-03-2010, 21:36

I could watch that again & again. RDJ just gets hotter the older he.. er.. gets :D.

I can't wait for Iron Man 2, it looks all kinds of awesome and RDJ is perfect as Tony Stark.

A Place of Light

16-03-2010, 19:16

I can't wait for Iron Man 2, it looks all kinds of awesome and RDJ is perfect as Tony Stark.

Couldn't agree more. It's the definitive example of perfect casting IMHO.

Kitten

16-03-2010, 21:34

Me too! *squeaks* RDJ is one of the only actors that leo & I appreciate in equal measure for very different reasons! :p

A Place of Light

17-03-2010, 19:47

Me too! *squeaks* RDJ is one of the only actors that leo & I appreciate in equal measure for very different reasons! :p

Every now and then you see an actor that has just gravitated towards the perfect role for them. Watch Two and a half men and try to imagine anyone better suited to the lead than Charlie Sheen :D

Kitten

17-03-2010, 20:56

I've seen it and I can't! I also think the Queen of Hearts was the role Helena Bonham Carter was born to play in AiW.

NokkonWud

18-03-2010, 09:40

Me too! *squeaks* RDJ is one of the only actors that leo & I appreciate in equal measure for very different reasons! :p

You for his acting talents and Leo for his looks?

BBx

18-03-2010, 09:59

Saw 6

Typical of the Saw franchise starting off with a gruesome scene more blood and gore etc etc . I read moviespoilers while Rob was watching, so I knew what was coming up next, but tbh I guessed from the start.

I actually hate the lead guy, he's such a slimy skank. Shame he didn't pop his clogs. I always end up thinking when did they get the time to create all of these rooms and the traps... would have taken years.

Apparently there is another one coming out this year. Fun times... not. Its actually quite sickening to think that a person came up with all of these ideas. Probably worse that we actually choose to watch it :/ oh well.

6/10 for the 'clever' if not predictable storyline.

BB x

leowyatt

18-03-2010, 11:33

You for his acting talents and Leo for his looks?

yeah baby :x

Belmit

19-03-2010, 09:47

LA Confidential

Only seen this once before, not long after it came out, so had forgotten most of it/not appreciated it fully.

Everyone is brilliant in it. Great story, well-paced, awesome characters. A lot of the time it felt like it had been filmed decades earlier, and not just because that's when it's set! Has a real classic feel to it, as I'm sure was the intention.

Great ending too!

10/10

Belmit

20-03-2010, 20:58

Fight Club

I'm guessing most of you will have seen this by now! I'll never forget seeing it for the first time in the cinema. Went in with no expectations and having not read the book, and had my mind blown. Wish I could erase the memory of this film so I could watch it again without knowing the ending.

So many good films I'm seeing right now going through the IMDb top 100.

10/10

Del Lardo

21-03-2010, 18:59

Men Who Stare at Goats
Yet another film that seems to rely on a cast of superstars rather than actually being good. The story doesn't engage and frequently drags for no discernible reason. Acting is fine as you would expect from the cast but when it finished I was left wondering why I had just wasted 90 minutes of my life and not gone with my instinct after 20 mins and turned it off.

3/10

Fayshun

31-03-2010, 20:55

Another Q night at work last night...

The Core.

Turned it off half way through, it was crap.

Tripe

1/10

Harry Brown.

Michael Caine as OAP vigilante who's had enough of the chavs and gangstas on his London estate. A gritty, British Gran Torino.

Excellent.

9/10

Max Payne

Having missed playing the games, I didn't know much of the backstory which I am led to beleive was ignored.

Alright

5/10

No Country For Old Men

Thought it was a bit slow and dragged in places. Javier Bardem was awesome as Chighur, despite the crappy haircut ;) Loved Tommy Lee Jones as the laid back sherrif too.

Bloody

8/10

Lomster

31-03-2010, 21:48

Ponyo 7/10
I found it a little slow to begin with but once it gets going its fantastic just like My neighbour Totoro.
A little boy finds a fish but it wasn't just any old fish it was a magical fish which licked his blood to heal his cut and the blood made her magic powerful and she turned into a human!!
Its a love story of how the fish and the boys friendship grows!!
Josh has already seen it before we went to see it at the cinema :p and he kept telling me to good bits were coming up!! ;D

Goose

01-04-2010, 22:35

Harry Brown.

Michael Caine as OAP vigilante who's had enough of the chavs and gangstas on his London estate. A gritty, British Gran Torino.

Excellent.

9/10
I've just watched this, based on your score, and thoroughly agree. Loved it.

Feek

02-04-2010, 15:00

I've just watched this, based on your score, and thoroughly agree. Loved it.

I just did the same, very good indeed.

Belmit

02-04-2010, 15:53

Been watching a few films recently - too many to give proper reviews to! Just scores.

Der Untergang (Downfall) - 9/10

Das Boot (miniseries) - 9/10

El laberinto del fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) - 9/10

Watchmen - 9/10

The Prestige - 9/10

12 Angry Men - 9/10

The Green Mile - 10/10

The Apartment - 8/10

Reservoir Dogs - 9/10

Raiders of the Lost Ark - 9/10

Forrest Gump - 7/10

And currently watching Once Upon a Time in America.

That's a lot of quality films!

Edit: Once Upon a Time in America - 9/10

Jonny69

02-04-2010, 21:18

Hang Em High. Epic.

Kick A$$ is supposed to be good. A mate from school who I used to share movie time with recommended it.

Garp

02-04-2010, 21:32

Law Abiding Citizen

Others have mentioned it, so I won't go into any detail. 9/10. Awesome film, rather dark, and like others I found myself rooting for him. The extras on the rental DVD were quite interesting, a chat with a few legal experts covering the law behind it, explaining "Yes the system sucks, but here's why."
One thing that got rather glossed over in the film was why the DNA evidence wasn't able to be used. Essentially the police investigating screwed up badly, and the comparative DNA was taken from Darby without permission or judges authorisation, they described it as the police grabbing you at the side of the street and forcing a sample from you.

A great job by this relatively new director (one feature film under his belt, and a bunch of music videos)

Kitten

03-04-2010, 14:49

Inglorious Basterds. 9/10 for me. Love Tarantino.

cheets

03-04-2010, 20:29

Shutter Island 6/10 weak

Belmit

04-04-2010, 00:27

Shutter Island 6/10 weak

Really? I'm going to watch it again before I score it but I'd already give it a higher score than that. Having worked out what was really going on I still found it extremely clever how it played out, especially thinking back over scenes I'd already seen having got to that point.

Maybe it helped that I knew nothing about the film before I saw it except that Leonardo DiCaprio was in it. Didn't even know it was a Scorsese film until the credits.

Glaucus

04-04-2010, 11:46

2012

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From Roland Emmerich, director of The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, comes the ultimate action-adventure film, exploding with groundbreaking special effects. As the world faces a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, cities collapse and continents crumble. 2012 brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors.

Usually I love these sort of films, cheese, bad acting and action. Usually score them far higher than anyone else. But this I just could not get into.

3/10

divine

04-04-2010, 11:59

Maybe it helped that I knew nothing about the film before I saw it except that Leonardo DiCaprio was in it. Didn't even know it was a Scorsese film until the credits.

Definitely, I was the same.

Go back and watch the trailers now and I think they give a bit too much away and probably would have detracted from my enjoyment a fair bit.

Belmit

04-04-2010, 15:25

M

Amazing film, and so far ahead of its time it's scary. Peter Lorre plays a childkiller being hunted by police. When they start getting heavy-handed and investigate too far into the criminal underworld the criminals take it upon themselves to find him instead.

Performances, direction, editing, story... everything is wonderful.

10/10

Fayshun

04-04-2010, 23:36

Malice in Wonderland

Lom typed the wrong thing into Demonoid... Actually, it's a grown-up twist on the Alice in Wonderland story.

Danny Dyer is Whitey, the cabbie who's late. The Cheshire Cat is late night DJ Felix Chester, Harry Heart the homosexual gang boss recently released from prison hostinghis "coming out party" is the Red Queen (geddit?!?)and Mad Hattie is the madam of the mobile brothel.

Apart from the cheesy reunion at the end, I liked the dark twist on AiW.

7/10

Belmit

05-04-2010, 12:08

A Clockwork Orange

I'm really not a fan of Kubrick. That said, I can understand why this film is as revered and as controversial as it is/was. Malcolm McDowell is excellent in it.

8/10

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Don't like Charlie Kaufman either. 'Being John Malkovich' was great but I find his work very difficult to access on the whole.

Solid performances and suitably disjointed. I like the idea of moving memories around and trying to combine them to avoid them being erased, and the special effects when this was happening were very good. A satisfactory ending, but it felt like the sub-plot was leading to nothing right up until the very, very end. Probably intentional but I found waiting for it to be a bit grating.

Still, 8/10.

A Place of Light

05-04-2010, 12:18

BBx

05-04-2010, 13:06

This weekend we watched:

Push

Which wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be :( couldn't stop thinking Heroes rip off all the way through.

6/10

Old Boy

Soooo many people have told me that this is a good film. Its quite dark and arty but wasn't as good as I was hoping. I've seen a couple of Jap/Korean films so knew what to expect, but was a bit disappointed.

7/10

The Happening

Nothing really happens.

3/10

We have Be Kind Rewind and Role Models to go - lets hope they are a bit better. Hurrah for Blockbuster's 5 for £5 rentals ;)

BB x

A Place of Light

05-04-2010, 13:10

I enjoyed role models.
It did what it was supposed to.
I like both of the leads and the chemistry between them works well. It had me laughing in all of the right places and it passed the acid test. If I'd feel uncomfortable watching it with my mum in the room, it's a good 'un ;)

BBx

05-04-2010, 13:40

Ahh ok thanks for the heads up... won't watch any of them with my boyf's parents tonight then!

BB x

Kitten

05-04-2010, 14:53

I vaguely remember Be Kind Rewind. Was alright as I remember, but nothing special. Nice little movie though.

Oh and I may have said this before but it's worth saying twice. Do NOT under any circumstances watch the opening 5 minutes of 'The Invention of Lying' with any little 'uns or people you'll be embarrassed in front of. The following isn't a spoiler btw it happens in the opening scenes of the movie.

Watching Jennifer Garner and Ricky Gervais discussing the fact that she might just nip upstairs and 'finish herself off because she was masturbating when he arrived' nearly finished me off. He replies with 'Awkward'.

Not as bloody much as it was for me with my 93 year old Nan and my Mum both sat there next to me and the remote an interminable distance away! I think the word masturbating was used about 11 times in that short space of time. Horrifying!

Rest of the film was ok but not as good as the one where he played the dentist.

Kitten

05-04-2010, 14:55

Jackie Brown 7.5/10

Never seen it before. Clever little plot and you can see the Russ Meyer influence on Tarantino clearly in the casting and dressing of Pam Greer, but it felt less satisfying than the other Tarantino movies. I think it's because I'm fed up with Sam Jackson playing the same character over and over again (he probably hadn't when this came out) so I had no 'rapport' with him. Or De Niro. I'd say it was more Res. Dogs than Pulp Fiction.

Haly

05-04-2010, 15:18

You're right kitten, Ghost Town was much better than the Invention of Lying :) Invention of Lying was a nice concept though.

I feel quietly pleased that my Mum's so laid back :D Although when we saw Zach and Miri Do a Porno at the cinema, she did really embarrass some teenage boys just in front of us. At the end she stated that she'd expected to see more sex scenes in the film and was slightly disappointed that it wasn't as crude as she was hoping.
They turned round and looked mortified when they saw who'd said it ;D

I've been trying to watch films that I wouldn't normally watch lately so last night I/we attempted to watch Twilight and The Strangers.

Twilight was incredibly slow with some very wonky dialogue. Admittedly it may have improved but after 45mins I really wasn't very interested and was worried I might fall asleep instead! So switched to The Strangers.

40mins in that got switched off too as absolutely nothing was happening in it. I assume it was trying to build up tension but I really didn't care for the couple and was just hoping they'd hurry up and get killed :p

Tonight will be a break from trying out new films. I'll be watching The Informant with Matt Damon which looks quite good.

semi-pro waster

05-04-2010, 15:27

The Boat That Rocked

Starring Michael Hadley Charlie Rowe Lucy Fleming Philip Seymour Hoffman

Comedy

7/10 It's just good silly fun, not a film to change the World although arguably the subject matter did and it's got a great soundtrack as you might expect. Lots of good strong performances and there's a bit of entertainment to be had working out where you've seen some of the people before.

Kitten

05-04-2010, 15:29

You're right kitten, Ghost Town was much better than the Invention of Lying :) Invention of Lying was a nice concept though.

I feel quietly pleased that my Mum's so laid back :D .

As you know, your Mum is like mine, she embarrasses me with the frankness of some of the stuff she says (it's like role reversal!). But my Nan. Sheeesh. That was embarrassing ;)

Forgot to say, watched Up and Wall-E again while I was in Germany. Over time, Wall-E still definitely has a huge edge over Up, there's something about it that just touches me, something that makes me feel so sad and happy all at the same time, wheras Up is just, I guess, a nice, sweet, funny movie (Kevin the bird is amazing). Although I do have one thing to say to anyone who's seen 'Dougs Big Adventure' on the DVD extras:

I am sitting in the hole. I am sliding down the hole. It is dark in the hole. My pack is in the hole too

;D

Haly

05-04-2010, 15:30

As you know, your Mum is like mine, she embarrasses me with the frankness of some of the stuff she says (it's like role reversal!). But my Nan. Sheeesh. That was embarrassing ;)

;D

I still haven't seen Wall-E. Loved Up though :)

A Place of Light

05-04-2010, 16:51

The Strangers

That's easily one of the worst movies I've ever been unfortunate enough to sit through.....and trust me, I've seen some serious bilge.

Garp

06-04-2010, 19:28

Saving Private Ryan

Oh dear.

I'm not going to rate this one because I honestly couldn't make it more than half way in to the film before I turned this pile of dung off. I don't get why all the fuss was made about this movie 12 years ago, but honestly once you get past the superb opening sequence on Normandy beach, the rest of the film is pap. There are sections of dialog that are improvised, badly; or just appallingly written as to come off awkward and unnatural. Dodgy attempts at humour mixed in to what generally appears to be a serious film (e.g. taking stone out of boot which causes a wall to be knocked down and a bunch of germans revealed). All round it just felt like an awkward beast that didn't really know what to make of itself. Not long after they met the wrong Pvt. Ryan I decided I couldn't cope with any more and turned it off.

Belmit

06-04-2010, 19:40

It's A Wonderful Life

It's A Wonderful Film

10/10

Haly

08-04-2010, 12:07

Shutter Island

Really enjoyed it. Always a sign of a good film for me if I spend the 30 minute drive home discussing it and figuring out different interpretations of it :) Definitely one I want to see a second time.

Kitten

08-04-2010, 15:53

How To Train Your Dragon (3D)

Didn't know what to expect. Would have to say 10/10. Very unusual for me to give top marks, but I can't see how it could have been any better.

Clash of the Titans

7/10. Decent enough, but no real spark. Mostly British cast though and the acting is very good. Sam W is a good Persius too, and the nod to the 70's 'God' outfits/look was nicely done. Didn't see it in 3d though as friend can't see 3D. Will see it in 3D next week probably.

vix

11-04-2010, 09:46

Stardust

Had it recorded for a while. Have to say it's my kind of film, interesting cast (I heart Clare Danes), cute theme, funny and sad bits. Probs not your cup of tea if you don't like fantasy films :p

8/10

Kalifornia

Watched it as it happened to be on last night, fairly good if a little dated now.

7/10

Garp

11-04-2010, 11:04

A Place of Light

11-04-2010, 12:59

Predator

"Bunch of slack-jawed faggots around here. This stuff will make you a god damned sexual Tyrannosaurus, just like me"

Cheesy, bad dialogue, awesome alien.

+Arnie

8/10, always good for a laugh.

Hawkins: [to Billy] I was going down on my girlfriend and said 'Sheesh, you got a big pussy. Sheesh, you got a big pussy.' And she said, 'Why did you say that twice?' And I said 'I didn't.'

Watched it again a few weeks back. Classic 80's action movie. :D

A Place of Light

11-04-2010, 13:00

Kalifornia

Watched it as it happened to be on last night, fairly good if a little dated now.

7/10

I watched Kalifornia after a friend recommended it to me as being a good comedy.
I don't see him anymore, the berk.

A Place of Light

13-04-2010, 17:45

Surrogates

Disappointed. Far too much in common with iRobot (they even had the stones to cast the same actor as the father of all robots/surrogates). A waste of Bruce Willis IMO and his lacklustre performance is well below his abilities.

It wasn't a bad film, it just wasn't a very good film either.
6.5/10.

Jingo

17-04-2010, 22:27

The Departed

Classic Scorcese returns in a very pacy, well written and reassuringly violent 'US crime' number that somehow slipped past me in 2006.

The arguably-overused flickering between shaky hand held perspectives and rapid-fire shot sequences was screaming 'overedited' at my analytical brain, yet about 1/2 way through I caught on at the simply genius matchmaking between the camera work and character emotives! :D

I'm sure the plot holes could be explored and critiqued over a pint or two, but the film's enormous cast, peppering of subtle humour and the sheer pace at which it zooms along leaves me not particularly bothered! I am entertained says the brain! ;D

For it's genre, 9/10 :)

Pheebs

18-04-2010, 10:09

Kick Ass

Stupendously awesome. Best film of 2010. Canny do a full review as rushing out to swimming, but go see.

9/10

Going to see Clash of the Titans tonight too. Mega!

Pickers

18-04-2010, 12:55

Remember Me

Not my typical type of film, but I went not expecting to be enthralled. Turned out to be very good, and I now actually quite like Robert Pattinson as an actor (Didnt realise he played Cedric in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" till recently too!).

Hadnt heard much about the film before hand, so the plot was totally unknown, and, well, I was surprised. Bit of a tear jerker with some tense dramatic moments to be honest; makes you realise you have to appreciate and make the most of what you have, whilst you have it.

In summary:
Good acting
Good cast
Original plot line
Kinda clever in places
Food For Thought film

8/10, which is high for me considering its not my usual taste!

Edit: Look out for young actress "Ruby Jerins", I reckon she's gonna be huge in the future.

Pheebs

19-04-2010, 18:01

Clash of the Titans:

Okay. I didn't read any reviews about this before going to see it and had really cool expectations! I remember watching the original as a kid and loving it so was all like "YEEEEEEEEH!!" over it.... but sadly it was a big pile of disappointing poopness.

Characters: Bland, poorly built on, wooden. The witches REALLY annoyed me. And their eye. It was... like car crash TV. The actors truly flumped up all of that scene IMO.
Script: Absolutely diabolical
Acting: Because of the script I think any actor would have struggled making it look good. All the same, it was really theatre groupish. Poorly directed speech - very "you say something and then pause... and then I'll say something". URGH! Lack of facial muscles in some of the band that went out too - that's a HUGE MOFO (poorly CGI'd) SCORPION in front of you!! Try and look remotely scared, not just like your Mothers just told you off for not eating your greens! MORONS!
CGI: Not great - it's all a bit tacky and looked super dooper green screened. I saw it in 2D... may be it would have been better in 3D? I don't think so though.
Costume Design: Some lovely ideas but it looked STUPENDOUSLY tacky. The gold looked plastic and the costumes were just all too... rigid. In films set in eras like this I LOVE costume designs... this just looked all to spanking new with a bit of make up on it if it needed to be dirty.
Make up: As costume design, was super amateuresque at times. People who had been in battle suddenly emerged with poorly smeared black faces. It all felt a bit like a bad halloween attempt.
Story Line: Well it had so much potential... and FAILED! Epically in my mind. The whole presentation of it was dull, uninventive and disappointing.

Really didn't like it. I tried to like it so much but it just was pants. I wasn't aware it had poor reviews either and was dead excited.

Gutted.

I was so bored half way through I just curled up in a ball in the cinema and went to sleep.

To me... it was like opening a lovely Lindt chocolate and *KNOWING* it can be nothing but voluptuous meltingly gorgeous, divine and perfect... only to bite into it and realise it's a turd.

2/10

Oh and STUPID ENDING! THat's not what happened in the original you big bunch of wussy-americanised-muppets!

Garp

19-04-2010, 19:58

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

8/10

Kari and I watched this last night. I spotted it on Netflix's streaming queue and knew I'd heard good stuff about it from BD peeps.
What a lovely little gem of a movie. First time in ages I've actually tried to cheer on a film character "Go on Nick, don't be stupid!", "Ditch him, Norah!."
That said Michael Cera annoyed me. That bland thing almost made it seem like he was just mechanically reading his lines at some point.
The gum thing totally grossed me out.

I would say 9/10 but -1 for Cera and his wooden acting.

Kitten

19-04-2010, 20:41

:shocked:

Sam Worthington confirmed the sequel during in the premier in London and also confirmed a trilogy of the movie, "Clash of The Titans 2" will be released in November 2011.

Noooooo!

Belmit

19-04-2010, 23:30

Let The Right One In

No idea what to score this. May need to see it again. It's like someone took Twilight and thought 'How can we make this quite good?'.

Dymetrie

20-04-2010, 09:31

Let The Right One In

No idea what to score this. May need to see it again. It's like someone took Twilight and thought 'How can we make this quite good?'.

I think I agree with you there, it was very arthouse/surrealist at times, and I think that there was too little in the way of backstory, eg:

The bit with the 'inappropriate' shot of Eli...

It wasn't until reading up on the story that Mrs Dym found out it was actually a castration scar and not lady bits!

A good film, but somewhat odd...

Belmit

20-04-2010, 10:22

You know, I didn't even clock that. Now one of the lines in the film makes a bit more sense...

Glaucus

20-04-2010, 10:24

Triangle
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The passengers of a yachting trip in the Bermuda Triangle are struck by mysterious weather and must jump to another ship only to experience greater havoc.

1/10
Thought this looked like a good idea for a film, with looped time, triangle and a merry cellest type boat. However it was just boring, in fact I started tidying the house up halfway through.

Paranormal Activity
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Katie (Katie Featherson) and Micah (Micah Sloat) are a twenty-something couple who've just moved into a new home in San Diego, California. Katie has an interest in the paranormal and believes that malevolent spirits have been following her since childhood, though Micah is not so easily convinced. However, after several nights of loud noises and strange happenings, Micah starts to agree with Katie that some sort of ghost may have followed them to the new home. After a paranormal researcher tells the couple he can't help them, Micah decides to take control of the situation and sets up a battery of video cameras so if a spirit manifests itself, he can capture its behavior on tape. Once the surveillance cameras are in place, Katie and Micah bring in an Ouija board in an effort to talk to the spirits, a move that deeply offends the ghosts. Paranormal Activity was the first feature film from writer and director Oren Peli.

1/10
What a load of rubbish, it does not get in your head, it is not scarry, there isn't even any jumpy parts. utter crud. Why do Americans love these type of films. Is it due to the bible belt and as such get scared by someone just saying demon.

Garp

20-04-2010, 20:55

:shocked:

Noooooo!

Its become a standard thing with contracts, everyone gets signed up for x number of films depending on the success of the first. IIRC the main Shrek voice actors all signed up for 8, and the 4th is going to be the last one. Actors like it because it's guaranteed work, plus they can negotiate for a larger pay.
I don't tend to trust that sequels are coming these days until the cameras are rolling :)

Kitten

20-04-2010, 20:59

There is to be a Shrek spin off though - Puss is getting his own movie :D

_dogma_

20-04-2010, 21:21

In Bruges.
Colin Farrell was yummy as usual. The funny moments were laugh out loud funny. There's lots of gore and guns and it's a really entertaining movie.

8.5/10 :)

Flibster

20-04-2010, 21:37

I don't tend to trust that sequels are coming these days until the cameras are rolling :)

Not to worry - the 23rd Bond film has been indefinitely postponed.

Can't say I'm upset by that. They've evidently realised how bad the last 6 have been. :D

semi-pro waster

22-04-2010, 13:33

Let The Right One In

No idea what to score this. May need to see it again. It's like someone took Twilight and thought 'How can we make this quite good?'.

I think I'd go with an 8/10, it's a pretty good film, a bit surreal but considering the budget was negligible and Scandinavian cinema isn't exactly burgeoning it's a worthwhile film to search out.

Greenlizard0

22-04-2010, 17:58

Why do Americans love these type of films. Is it due to the bible belt and as such get scared by someone just saying demon.

More than likely. It's a strong influence on films in general which nicely leads me onto...

Agora

This stars Rachel Weisz as Hypatia of Alexandria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia_of_Alexandria), who was an astronomer and philospher who while trying to decipher the workings of the celestial bodies, has to try and deal with the increasing influence of Christianity over mostly Paganism and Judaism.

The film unsurprisingly is quite violent at times and doesn't seem to hold back with it's bluntness. Early Christians are shown to be very barbaric, often fighting those who have a different view point to death (sound familiar?..). Like some Jewish people who thought that The Passion of the Christ was antisemetic, a pro Christian group has had a go at this, and it wasn't able to find a distributor in the USA and Italy.

It's a pity really as this film is actually quite good. The acting by all members of the cast is pretty strong and the score supporting them is excellent. There are unsurprisingly lots of 'Blu-Ray shots' in this and the CGI of the old city of Alexandria is well done.

6.5/10

Kitten

22-04-2010, 20:24

Early Christians are shown to be very barbaric, often fighting those who have a different view point to death (sound familiar?..).

Sounds like BD....

/runs

BBx

22-04-2010, 20:59

The Hangover

Takes a while to get going, but once its does it pretty funny :) I still don't get...

how the matress got on the roof?!

7/10

BB x

Kitten

22-04-2010, 21:06

hhmmmm

I thought that they locked him and the mattress on the roof as a joke and then forgot about him?

Haly

22-04-2010, 21:38

What kitten said :)

Seen it about 4 times, brilliant film and excellent fun :D

Greenlizard0

23-04-2010, 14:58

Sounds like BD....

/runs

BD?

semi-pro waster

23-04-2010, 15:07

BD?

Unless I'm totally misinterpreting I think Kitten is jokingly referring to this forum.

divine

29-04-2010, 17:06

Iron Man 2

Brilliant. Awesome film. If you liked the first one, you'll love this.

Go see it.

A Place of Light

29-04-2010, 18:38

Iron Man 2

Brilliant. Awesome film. If you liked the first one, you'll love this.

Go see it.

Been looking forward to this one.
Good to hear it's as good as the hype.

Haly

29-04-2010, 18:43

Excellent news :) I'm seeing it on Tuesday and really looking forward to it :D

divine

29-04-2010, 18:46

I managed to get to a 13:45 showing too, which was brilliant as all the kids were still in school. There were about 12 people total in the screen, was awesome :D

The film really is very good, the start I liked a lot and they handled the changeover of Rhodes' actor just right I think.

I really want Iron Man 3 now, it better happen! :p

Kitten

29-04-2010, 21:24

Going to see this tomorrow, can't wait!

HuminaHuminaHumina

Tak

29-04-2010, 22:01

I really want Iron Man 3 now, it better happen! :p

*nods*

Just got home - loved it :D

Garp

29-04-2010, 23:29

Doesn't get released here until the 7th :(

divine

30-04-2010, 00:08

Apparently there is a post credits part to the film, I didn't see it but a head ups for those of you going in the future.

A Place of Light

30-04-2010, 18:18

Apparently there is a post credits part to the film, I didn't see it but a head ups for those of you going in the future.

Same as the first one then?
I remember reading the review on IMDB and thinking "where the hell was Sam Jackson in Iron Man?"

Tak

30-04-2010, 18:39

I think only half a dozen people got up when the credits started rolling; everyone else stayed and waited :p We missed the post-credit bit for the first film so had learnt our lesson.

Wossi

01-05-2010, 10:49

Race To witch Mountain

Watched it round the parents last night, cheesy as all hell but an enjoyable way to lose 1 1/2 hours and it was a quick 1 1/2 hours, time seemed to fly. It helps that I like The Rock as an actor as he's like Jason Statham, you know exactly the kind of film you'll be getting.

Need to get hold of the originals for nostalgia purposes now.

8/10

The Fourth Kind

Was hoping for a scary film about alien abductions, turned it off after 5 minutes as I didn't realise it was slightly based on a true story and was intersped with actual recordings and footage.

1/10

Daybreakers

Vampire film with Ethan Hawke where the vampires are in the majority and have Human Farms where the humans are bled dry to feed the vampires.
Not sure if I really liked it or not or just liked the idea behind the film, it was a great concept but I don't think they managed to pull it off that well.

5/10

Legion

Paul Bettany as the Archangel Michael who is trying to save an unborn child. Was quite freaky in places and a different twist on survival horror.

I did like:

the fact it was angels that were possessing people to kill everyone, I always wondered who thought that angels should be all nice and happy considering God was known for his wroth.

Just in case someone hadn't seen it.

I did note that there is a possibility for a sequel though.

7/10

Fayshun

01-05-2010, 21:10

In preparation for IM2, I have the soundtrack in the car. It's awesome.

Del Lardo

01-05-2010, 22:44

Avatar (2D)

Never got round to watching it at the cinema so thought I'd pickup the Blu-ray for some in home viewing.

It's certainly visually spectacular and it's quite amusing to see effects that would certainly work well in 3D look silly in 2D. I wasn't expecting much from the story line and I wasn't disappointed, the plot was as 2D as the Blu-ray (see what I did there, clever init ;)) but moved along at a much faster pace than I expected for the 2.5 hour running time.

I suspect that in 3D at the cinema this film would blow your socks off (well visually anyway) but in 2D at home it's let down by a 'meh' story.

5/10

Glaucus

02-05-2010, 08:31

Iron Man 2
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With the world now aware of his dual life as the armored superhero Iron Man, billionaire inventor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces pressure from the government, the press, and the public to share his technology with the military. Unwilling to let go of his invention, Stark, along with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and James "Rhodey" Rhodes (Don Cheadle) at his side, must forge new alliances -and confront powerful enemies.

9/10

Absolutely amazing sequel and great blockbuster. Bit of cheese, a bit of laughter, a bit of eye candy (especially Scarllett, but then she is always amazing) and a lot of action. everything you need in a balanced quantity.

The sequence at the end of credits is not worth the wait

for the end credits for the end credits

It's just thors hammer and is in relation to the nick fury film out next year. Which has iron man and several other superheroes in

Feek

02-05-2010, 20:03

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
Rubbish! I don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't what I got. It seemed like a forced series of set pieces. I gave up after about half an hour.

Del Lardo

02-05-2010, 20:52

Sex and drugs and rock and roll
I don't know what I was expecting

I think the clue is in the title ;)

Feek

02-05-2010, 20:59

Heh heh. Good point :)

Belmit

03-05-2010, 11:32

Hot Tub Time Machine

Not bad, some laugh out loud moments. Even though it's clearly a brainless comedy though there's just too many ridiculous time-travel plot holes to excuse - even worse than the Austin Powers stuff. Crispin Glover is clearly only in it as an homage to Back to the Future and I've no clue why John Cusack agreed to be in it at all. There's no attempt to even explain why the hot tub is a time machine, and poor Chevy Chase is the elderly repair man who obviously doesn't know either, and gets no laughs at all. A sad day.

Most of the laughs come from Rob Corddry, who I'd only ever seen in small roles in similar comedies. He gets some great off-the-cuff lines, one about John Lennon especially made me roffle. Some of the funniest moments come about from his reaction to Glover's character and a particular situation.

This was clearly a film based on one single idea of a hot tub being a time machine, then a plot was constructed around it. Poorly. No effort seems to have been made to hide this and only a decent amount of characterisation manages to steer the film away from complete disaster.

This would only be a 5/10 movie, except that for some unknown reason established actress Jessica Paré goes topless in a jacuzzi for about thirty seconds in a brief cameo. That's worth a point... almost two.

6/10

Oh, and Lizzy Caplan, in a minor role, just proves that she's wasted on films like this.

Wossi

03-05-2010, 13:41

The Hangover

Wasn't sure what to expect with this but was pleasantly surprised by it, a lot funnier than I imagined and not as many cringe worthy moments as I thought.

8/10 as Heather Graham flashes her bits so gets bumped slightly.

BBx

03-05-2010, 13:49

Yeah we watched this recently ^^^ once it got started it was actually quite good - reminded me of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a bit too.

BB x

Desmo

03-05-2010, 21:01

Avatar

Watched this this afternoon after missing it at the flicks. Yes the story is nothing new and full of cliches but I really liked it. The pace was just right and kept everything interesting even though it was mostly predictable. Not quite sure why there had to be a love scene in it although I was expecting their hair to intertwine and start shagging ;D Having said that, I really like the way they connected with the creatures and the planet.

7/10

Burble

03-05-2010, 21:12

The Hangover

I watched it on the Eurostar a week or two ago and thought it was woeful. Predictable, cringe worthy and a total waste of hard drive space.

Just goes to show that one mans meat is another mans poison.

1/10

Zirax

05-05-2010, 23:28

Kung fu Hustle

Just watched this again after a few years and it still cracks me up now. Essentially it rips the piss out of all the stereotypical fighting films that have been released. Throw in some cracking special effects and some just plain stupid moves, "ah the toad style of something something" ;D

"I don't care if you are a kung fu master, you're still a fairy..... and why are you wearing red pants?" ;D

Gangsters all dancing in unison, just bonkers.

9 / 10 Just for the laughs and the plain madness of it all.

p.s. the dub is lame, make sure you watch it with the subtitles.

Garp

06-05-2010, 00:10

Kung fu Hustle

I watched Shaolin Soccer purely because Kung Fu Hustle is so good.
Sadly it doesn't compare :( Where in Kung Fu Hustle there was at least some kind of sense behind the goofy stuff, Shaolin does lots of random humorous things that don't make sense and as a result just aren't that funny.

Snuggle Ferret

09-05-2010, 18:38

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

A lot darker than the last one I watched.

7/10

Belmit

09-05-2010, 19:26

All About Eve

Very entertaining if dialogue-heavy. A young actress infiltrates a Hollywood veteran's life and gradually becomes the star herself. Well played out and a great performance by Bette Davis.

8/10

Rebecca

Alfred Hitchcock directs this eery insight into a young socialite's whirlwind marriage with an older man (Lawrence Olivier) seemingly obsessed with his dead wife. Arriving at the marital estate she finds the staff repelled by her and feels hugely in the shadow of the previous lady of the house. Some nice twists and turns and great psychological storytelling. Brilliant directorial flair too. Joan Fontaine is stunning.

9/10

The Silence of the Lambs

Great adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel. Everything about it is great.

10/10

Garp

10-05-2010, 00:36

Iron Man 2

8/10

Everyone is great, well acted, especially Mr O'Rourke (wish we could have had more screen time with him, but that wouldn't have suited the story.)
Story is solid, but nothing revolutionary.

Credits are about the longest I've ever seen and the post credit scene only told us what was known about already, Thor is in production: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800369/

Feek

13-05-2010, 22:34

Män som hatar kvinnor

Or

Millennium: Part 1 - Men Who Hate Women

Or

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

This is a Swedish language film based on the book by Stieg Larsson.

It's superb. Really good. There are couple of changes compared to the book, but it's a long book so there's a lot to get in. The film is not your typical fast paced Hollywood action movie, it's quite slow in places but some of the scenes are somewhat horrific and a bit shocking.

The characters are excellent, the actress playing Lisbeth Salander has got her physically down to a tee and she plays the introverted, almost autistic role very well indeed. Michael Nyqvist as Mikael Blomkvist reminds me of a somewhat battered Daniel Craig and is again superb in the part.

It's a long film at nearly two and a half hours and I've seen two different versions of the subtitles, some of which are quite amusing in their English translations. There's one scene with a few words in spoken English which are also subtitled and the subtitles don't match up with the speech. I chuckled.

I'm hearing rumours that there's going to be a Hollywood remake of this. I'm not looking forward to that considering some of the names put forward to play Lisbeth - I've seen Scarlett Johansson mentioned and this is to play someone described as short, anorexic skinny, very plain. Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Johnny Depp are also rumoured to be involved. I hope this doesn't happen or at least if it does then they stick to the plot and get more appropriate actors. Ikea Knightley would fit the physical description of Lisbeth fairly well although I don't know how tall she is.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Get this, watch it. Enjoy it.

BBx

13-05-2010, 22:39

Ikea lol.

Have heard good things about the film and book.

BB x

Glaucus

14-05-2010, 10:44

Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
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Robert Ford joins Jesse James's gang, only to become resentful of the legendary outlaw and hatch a plan to kill the fastest gun in the West. I couldn't even get to teh end, it is such a long film, where nothing happens. Got about 2hours in and gave up, it's 2hrs35 :o

1/10 arty over any substance what so ever. Boring and far to many scenes with people just staring at each other.

Feek

14-05-2010, 13:03

I thought it was great!

A Place of Light

14-05-2010, 18:40

Zombieland.

8/10.
Really enjoyed it. Nice narrative.
What is it with dry humour and gore-fests? :D

Haly

14-05-2010, 20:58

I saw St Trinians 2 the other day.

That was 2hrs of my life I can never have back :(

1/10

Also saw Hot Tub Time Machine which was very formulaic but quite entertaining.

6/10

Tonight is the turn of Up in the Air which I've seen before but really enjoyed :D

Jhadur

15-05-2010, 20:02

Tonight is the turn of Up in the Air which I've seen before but really enjoyed :D

Watched this a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it too :)

semi-pro waster

23-05-2010, 16:38

Death Proof

Starring Kurt Russell Zoe Bell Rosario Dawson Vanessa Ferlito

"Grindhouse"

7/10 It's trashy, it's a bit meandering (will someone please remind Tarantino that good editing of a film makes it better) and it's just plain silly in lots of places yet despite that I enjoyed it as I do most Tarantino films.

Von Smallhausen

23-05-2010, 17:11

The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

Awesome. 10/10

Garp

23-05-2010, 18:50

The Last Starfighter

8/10

Classic, cheesy fun. College age kid stuck on a trailer park, going nowhere fast, completes an arcade machine (with the entire trailer park, mainly old gray wrinkly folk, all gathered around him cheering him on?!)

Arcade machine turns out to be a recruitment device for the universe's space patrol and it's up to our hero to save the universe from the evil forces out to destroy everyone.

Briggykins

23-05-2010, 21:11

Being a bit behind, just watched 2012. Not sure if it was meant to be a comedy, but that's what it was. 2/10, except for the bit where they flew the animals in.

Haly

23-05-2010, 21:43

;D Yeah it really is bad!

Garp

24-05-2010, 02:49

Captain America

I saw this was on Hulu streaming (US only, unfortunately :() so grabbed a watch this afternoon.

This is the film from 1990, a rather low-budget affair with mainly unknown actors.

So awful... it's great. Bad acting, bad FX, awful fight sequences, cheesy dialogue, possibly the worst version of Captain America ever conceived. I LOVED IT.

Glaucus

24-05-2010, 10:40

Law Abiding Citizen
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An everyday guy decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets his family's killers free. His target: The district attorney who orchestrated the deal.

9/10 OMG this is stunning. a Bit gruesome and absolutely crazy. Pure awesomeness.

Pickers

25-05-2010, 06:48

Saw Hot Tub Time Machine last night.
Whilst I agree the storyline is not that brilliant, I really REALLY enjoyed the lgight heartedness of this film.
It was totally a zone out and gross out film with some parts that I laughed at that I cannot explain why!
As a film, it did kinda suck; as part of an entertaining evening, it was excellent! Basically if you saw it as a series of comedy sketches, then it was fine. If you wanted an enthralling plot, you'd have wasted your time.
After a day of work, I wanted entertaining, and it served!

8/10

Von Smallhausen

25-05-2010, 09:59

Hang 'Em High.

Not Clint Eastwood's best western but good nontheless.

7/10.

Belmit

25-05-2010, 10:25

Kick-Ass

I'm not sure what to make of this - it feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be. It's trying to partly be a superhero/action movie, partly a Superbad type comedy, with some social commentary and a lot of violence. But it's also quite sinister in parts.

I enjoyed it but not half as much as I thought I would. I think I thought it was going to be smarter than it was, but in parts it almost embraced the clichés it was trying to parody. Something just didn't feel right about it but I don't know what.

6/10

Flibster

27-05-2010, 19:07

Not seen it yet - but off to see American - The Bill Hicks Story (http://www.americanthemovie.com/) tomorrow at the Price Charles Cinema with a director Q&A.

Looking forward to it. :D

Briggykins

28-05-2010, 22:27

Watched A Serious Man, the Coen Brothers latest, a comedy-drama about a Jewish chap and his family. Only watched it after the wife misread the blurb on the back and thought it was a comedy about a man who gets advice from three rabbits, rather than three rabbis*.
Well, it was mostly terrible. There were a few bits that made me laugh, though mainly in a Jim Carrey 'haha look at his expression' kind of way. That would have been okay if the drama part was up to much, but the plot was rendered meaningless by the abysmal ending. Just when the film started to get interesting, it ended.
The film is really well-reviewed, and if you're a film nerd you might enjoy it (it is, as even a film philistine like myself can tell, very well shot). Certainly all the film nerds on IMDB are talking about all the symbolism and the deep meaning behind it. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like any of them can give any examples. So I'd have to give it no more than 3/10.

* This actually happened

BBx

30-05-2010, 10:48

We watched Pathology last night. It was ok, had it not had Peter Petrelli from Heroes in it, it wouldn't have been a selection. Bit of a cross between Flatliners & Crash.

Was a good 5 4 £5 selection from Blockbuster.

7/10

BB x

Matblack

30-05-2010, 10:52

Book of Eli

Pretty rubbish tbh

5/10

MB

A Place of Light

31-05-2010, 00:41

Morris: a life with bells on.

Liked it a lot.
8/10.

BBx

31-05-2010, 09:30

The Notebook - really lovely film :) 9/10

One Missed Call - i didnt really 'get' it :/ 5/10

We r halfway thru Michael Clayton as we got bored & went to sleep :/

BB x

semi-pro waster

31-05-2010, 17:08

Inglourious Basterds

Starring Brad Pitt Melanie Laurent Christopher Walts Eli Roth

War drama

7/10 It's completely over the top and silly but there's somewhat less violence in it than I was expecting, well acted pretty much throughout too. I've got to repeat my plea from the previous post, will someone please remind Tarantino how to edit, that's nearly two and a half hours of my life spent with that film.

Muban

31-05-2010, 19:49

Not seen it yet - but off to see American - The Bill Hicks Story (http://www.americanthemovie.com/) tomorrow at the Price Charles Cinema with a director Q&A.

Looking forward to it. :D
How was it? I'm thinking about booking myself tickets to see it mid June.

BBx

31-05-2010, 22:17

Michael Clayton was :/ 3/10

Also watched Be Kind Rewind, which had the potential to be a lot better than it was 5/10

BB x

Flibster

01-06-2010, 13:24

How was it? I'm thinking about booking myself tickets to see it mid June.

Very good indeed. It's not a film of his stand up, it's a documentary about his life with some of his comedy included in that to show how his act evolved. There is some of his material that I've never seen before included - and I thought I had pretty much everything...

Starts at a very young age and has some of his friends and fellow stand ups talk about him. Goes deeply into his drugs and alcohol stage too and then his cancer.

The animation used on the still images is very clever and works very well to illustrate things without distracting from the interviews with friends and family.

Here's the trailer
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Q&A session afterwards was very good, not just with the directors, but via the wonders of Skype video calling - Steve Hicks. Talked a lot about how the family feel that he was more popular in the UK than USA, how they feel about 2 brits making a movie about Bill and also about Bills influence on comedy.

For me, it's one of the best documentary movies I've seen in quite a long time. Well worth going to see.

Also, where the directors appear to show the film, they do ask before the film is shown how many people are aware of Bill's work. Normally it's only about 30% of the audience. They were quite surprised that it was around 75% in the Price Charles Cinema.

Muban

01-06-2010, 17:29

Also, where the directors appear to show the film, they do ask before the film is shown how many people are aware of Bill's work. Normally it's only about 30% of the audience. They were quite surprised that it was around 75% in the Price Charles Cinema.
Wow, really? That's surprising, I thought most people would know of him. He was 4th in the 100 Greatest Stand-Ups (channel 4 poll).

Mind you I've always been the sort of person that only goes to the cinema when a film I really want to see is on, I never just go to the cinema. There seem to be loads of people who just go to the cinema irrespective of what is on though, maybe they make up more of the audience than I thought!

BBx

04-06-2010, 23:12

We just watched United 93.

Incredibly powerful film. Totally shocking and hard to believe 9/11 was 9 years ago.

BB x

Matblack

05-06-2010, 09:35

Unthinkable

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0914863/

This is a good film but it's a hard watch. The excellent Michael Sheen plays a terrorist who has planted bombs around America, he is captured and core of the movie surrounds just how far the US will go to stop the bombs exploding both on a faceless committee level and on a very personal level.

This is not a film for the squeamish but it has a very strong message. I really enjoyed it and I recommend it, someone on IMDB raised the question why it didn't get a wider release but when you see it it becomes quite clear that the film will make a lot of people very uncomfortable with regard to what might be going on somewhere in the world right now.

9/10

MB

Haly

05-06-2010, 10:51

Sounds interesting and Michael Sheen's consistently great.
Never heard of it before but looks like it's out to rent soon so think I'll pick it up then.

Kitten

05-06-2010, 17:04

Shrek 4

Same sorta stuff, but Puss is hardly in this one. Quite a Faustian twist - very much a moral tale of 'be happy with what you've got!' Not as good as 2 (obviously) but some funny moments & the kids will love it!

Death at a Funeral

quite farcial (in the true sense of the word) and definitely worth a watch. Very English & some cracking WTF moments!

8/10

semi-pro waster

05-06-2010, 17:18

Trainspotting

Starring Ewan McGregor Ewen Bremner Jonny Lee Miller Kevin McKidd
Drama

9/10 It's just a fantastic story with some very humourous moments - well acted and a powerful narrative to drive it on. I've had a hankering to re-watch it for a couple of weeks and it didn't disappoint in the least, I also like that there's no attempt to modify the accents or make it easier for the viewer to understand (subtitles in club aside or the full subtitling that apparently went on in America).

Flibster

06-06-2010, 00:54

Tonight, I switched my brain off and watched Kick-Ass

You really need to switch your brain off for this one. Completely ridiculous and loud... and I really enjoyed it.

It's a touch long for what is really quite a silly movie, but it doesn't really feel it. Nicolas Cage puts in a normal performance for him. I really believe that at times his only rival is Keanu.... Reeves.... for sheer uselessness. The rest of the cast are pretty good though. Hit Girl in particular is great fun.

It's over the top and a piss-take of all of the other super hero movies and I love it for that. :D

8/10

Greenlizard0

06-06-2010, 10:57

Shutter Island

I watched this last night and enjoyed it a lot more than seemingly others did.

One of the reasons why I like 'mainstream' actors is their versatility across different roles. Di Caprio does really well in his, playing an investigative agent who goes to a mental asylum after a patient goes missing. It was bit weird seeing the girl from Dawson's crack on it as well.

8/10

Matblack

06-06-2010, 13:29

Dawson's crack

Is that a gay porn movie?

:p

MB

Greenlizard0

06-06-2010, 20:00

Is that a gay porn movie?

:p

MB

Being straight, it'd be less torture watching one than Dawson's Creek. :/

;D

Matblack

06-06-2010, 21:56

Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins aka Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Mildly distracting dross

5/10

Matblack

07-06-2010, 09:31

Heartless

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1220214/

Directed by Phillip Ridley and set in East London this is the story of a young man who has coped with a disfiguring birthmark on his face since birth and how he interacts with society. The story is a dark fantasy which dips into horror and if I wasn't aware that Ridley wrote this himself I'd have sworn that it was written by Clive Barker. This is a well acted film but it feels flawed in some way. That said the premise is good enough to forgive the relatively slow progression and lack of character development. Some good actors in this including appearences from Eddie Marsan and Noel Clarke (writer of 4321 and ex Doctor Who companion). I would describe this as a very slow rollercoster of a movie and if you like interesting gothic horror in a comtempory setting or you are a fan of Clive Barker then this will probably appeal.

8/10

MB

Muban

07-06-2010, 23:51

Well thought I'd watch Cloverfield. Disappointing on so many levels. After having seen it I think it had great potential, but it just failed to deliver. Unlikeable characters I wasn't really bothered what happened to, they showed too much of the (not very) scary monsters (I would have preferred if they had left most of that to your imagination, it would have been much scarier). The lack of backstory or any follow up plot after really meant that they had to get the characters and their story right but I really didn't care what happened to them. I kept watching thinking at some point it would improve but it just seemed to.............

It was shot well, I liked how it was still watchable but you could still believe it was shot by someone who was there. It probably holds the world record for the amount of times someone says 'Rob' in a film though :p

Oh and I'm such a bad person, I was so relieved when Hud finally got it. Yeah he didn't deserve to die but he just irritated me from the get go and all the way through.

So from me a generous 5/10.... It should have scored much higher

Matblack

08-06-2010, 08:51

Garp

08-06-2010, 18:43

Dym and I watched Cloverfield on a TV rather than in the cinema, and both of us were glad by the end of it. Even on a small screen I was feeling slightly motion sick in places, let alone seeing it on a large screen. Would definitely not have coped with that.

Haly

08-06-2010, 22:58

A Single Man

Fantastic film. Not an easy watch but powerful. Stunning art direction also.

Colin Firth greatly deserved his Oscar nomination.

9/10

Greenlizard0

10-06-2010, 16:06

Extraordinary Measures

Brendon Fraser is a family orientated father whose two children unfortunately suffer from a lesser prevalent form of muscular dystrophy. Like all dystrophies it's extremely handicapping not only for the children who run through a very low life expectancy, but their surrounding family too.

Each night Fraser stays up looking through medical journals in the hope that he can find something that his own doctors have perhaps missed. One night he happens upon a research doctor (Harrison Ford), who miles away in Nebraska has theorised a new treatment it seems. However like getting all drugs from that primitive stage to something suitable for human patients requires overcoming a lot of hurdles...

Being that it's based on a true story it's kind of obvious early on what will happen at the end. It's not a bad tale and therefore it's an obvious choice for mainstream Hollywood. I get the impression it was easy to find a strong cast for this reason.

The story was well told though, even if the script is a little weak and felt slightly drawn out in places. There were very left-wing points of view about the topics on hand, i.e. the drug industry, their profits vs. the patients that they supposedly work for. They were in my opinion over emotionally wrong a lot of the time, but at least the film countered that with the true nature of actually developing a drug.

Brendon does really well as the increasingly panicky father and so does Ford as a battered research doctor. Their two big egos frequently clashed and you could see Fraser especially pulling out all the punches with his acting.

The score was heavy with the violins and flute which made the film a bit wetter than needed. Even though this was supposed to be a deep and emotional film a few 'Blu-Ray' shots were still included for good measure.

6.5/10

Belmit

10-06-2010, 16:34

Sounds virtually identical to Lorenzo's Oil (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104756/).

Greenlizard0

10-06-2010, 18:10

Sounds virtually identical to Lorenzo's Oil (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104756/).

I've not seen that but aye, it certainly looks like it. That's what I was saying, it's a Hollywood script all over and not very 'new'.

Goose

10-06-2010, 20:28

A Single Man

Fantastic film. Not an easy watch but powerful. Stunning art direction also.

Colin Firth greatly deserved his Oscar nomination.

9/10
I'm watching right now, it's really striking a chord with me.

BBx

10-06-2010, 22:26

Sex and the City 2

It was ok. Wasn't amazing, but work took us all out so I didn't pay to see it... and I had champers. Just basically an extra long episode of the show.

6/10

BB x

Haly

16-06-2010, 12:10

The Ghost

Nicking IMDB's summary because I'm lazy :p
An unremarkable ghost-writer has landed a lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang, the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, Lang has retired with his wife to the USA. He lives on an island, in luxurious, isolated premises complete with a security detail and a secretarial staff. Soon, Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal with international ramifications that reveals how far he was ready to go in order to nurture UK's "special relationship" with the USA. But before this controversy has started, before even he has closed the deal with the publisher, the ghost-writer gets unmistakable signs that the turgid draft he is tasked to put into shape inexplicably constitutes highly sensitive material.

Really quite intelligent, multi-layered thriller. Good acting all round. Shame it didn't do better at the box office although I'm not surprised it didn't.

9/10

Jonny69

17-06-2010, 12:12

In no order over the last few weeks:

Hotrod - Awesome road movie.
Two Lane Blacktop - Awesome road movie.
Blade Runner final cut - Just awesome, don't need to say more.
Anatomy For Beginners - Gross out.

All watched on my iPod nano. I think AFB needs a bigger screen to see the grossness in full detail though :p

volospian

18-06-2010, 08:13

Two Lane Blacktop - Awesome road movie.

I watched this a while back. It was always one of those "you're into cars and HAVEN'T seen Two Lane Blacktop???" films, so I thought I'd better watch it. I thought it was tedious.

Mind you A Clockwork Orange was the same. Everybody banged on about it being awesome and when I watched it I nearly fell asleep.

I think you can get so expectant about something. Everybody hypes it right up and you're depserate to see what's so damn fantastic that everybody simply cannot conceive of a life without it, and when you watch it, it fails to be this life changing experience you expected, so you feel disappointed.

If I had stumbled upon them without hearing of them before, I'd have probably liked them for what they are, and possibly told others to go and see them.

IMO, if you want to watch a road film, watch Mad Max (except 3, that was rubbish).

Jonny69

18-06-2010, 13:58

I watched this a while back. It was always one of those "you're into cars and HAVEN'T seen Two Lane Blacktop???" films, so I thought I'd better watch it. I thought it was tedious.
To enjoy 2LB you need to:

1) be a hotrodder or drag racer.

2) have done a road trip in a car like that.

Then you enjoy that movie :D

Greenlizard0

19-06-2010, 21:04

Remember Me

This film charts the 'adventures' of a couple's coming together as both live their lives with tragedy; the lass part of an incomplete family that poorly copes with the death of its mother, while the lad is clearly burdened after the suicide of his old brother. His family too, carries obvious and plentiful baggage to the point that the father (Pierce Brosnan), a very successful lawyer, appears in the opinion of his son to be distancing himself. he submerges himself in work in an attempt perhaps to avoid confronting his and his family's grief. The soon to be couple meet in a rather typically Hollywood coincidental fashion. However, there's far more to it than that and at this point I won't say any more because it's worth watching and letting the story unravel.

The film deals with tragedy quite seriously but didn't let the viewer forget it was a romantic story either. Often it wavered from one to the other and in the middle the two came together. The tragedy was good as it kept the film grounded while the couple falling together seemed to work like glue. Here it was the strength of the acting that carried it through. All the roles are by experienced actors including and they do very well with the excellent script.

I really enjoyed this film. It's part comedy, part romance, part drama and part tragedy. The music is very positive in places and it looks good in Blu-Ray.

Try and see this film, it's easily the best film I've seen so far this year.

8/10

Belmit

29-06-2010, 09:35

La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful)

Watched this last night and was stunned into silence at the end. This is the perfect film.

The film wouldn't have been made possible without the career of Charlie Chaplin. Roberto Benigni (writer, director, star, genius) has clearly based his style entirely on the former's characteristics and made them his own. The mood of the film, the laughs, the setups, the sheer tragedies that are often only nodded towards... all entirely influenced in this way.

To describe the plot would be to do it an injustice in multiple ways so I won't try here but Benigni never falters for a second in all capacities. To be roaring with laughter as a Nazi officer yells at a bunch of Jewish concentration camp prisoners is something I never thought I'd be doing, but it's the funniest scene in the film and never once detracts from the horror they're facing. That is pure storytelling gold.

Quite possibly my new favourite film.

10/10

Kitten

29-06-2010, 20:47

Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur)

If you liked Amelie/Also Angel-A, you'll love this. In French with English subtitles, but done in such a way that you just *know* that if Hollywood made this, it would be awful, schmaltzy crap. However, the French have done it, and it's just fabulous. Laugh out loud funny, sweet, a cracking reference to Dirty Dancing. Go see, please.

9/10

Blqn_Ilq5kI

volospian

30-06-2010, 12:30

To enjoy 2LB you need to:

1) be a hotrodder or drag racer.

2) have done a road trip in a car like that.

Then you enjoy that movie :D

*shrugs* Drag racing is the only motorsport that counts. OK, I haven't "road tripped" in a drag specific vehicle.... but then I imagine few folks have.

I still think it's a tedious film, the drag scenes were predictable and boring, the social interaction between characters was largly monosylabic. There didn't seem to be much point to the film. It was a bit like watching an amateur documentary of a day at the pod...

Although I must admit, I turned it off after maybe 45 minutes or so... maybe it gets better near the end....

Garp

30-06-2010, 19:32

The Quick and The Dead

Great film, good performances all round from a number of well known actors, even if they weren't so at the time (DiCaprio & Crowe).

Was a little surprised that the sex scene between Stone and Crowe was cut from the US version, which altered the feel slightly. Watching it without makes the film slightly less cohesive, there isn't much time spent developing the relationship between Stone and Crowe so it feels strange when they're refusing to shoot each other, etc.

Kitten

30-06-2010, 22:25

Prince of Persia : Sands of Time

I wasn't sure what this was going to be like, but I was treated to a free(ish) ticket & OMG I LOVED IT!! It's just like what Sinbad and those kind of movies were when I was a kid, but better. The CGI was good, but not overplayed, the acting was excellent & there were elements of 300 (which I also loved) in it. Possibly a little overlong, but still loved it.

8/10

Note to Mr Pitch : Don't EVER speak to me again (offering me sweeties or otherwise ;)) when I am distracted by a very large Mr Gyllenhall in a state of advanced undress. Once is allowed, just, twice, you don't wanna risk it ;D

Will

30-06-2010, 22:38

I really enjoyed it too actually. Reminded me of a few movies merged into one. The girl in it is so so hot.

Knipples

01-07-2010, 07:07

I've got this on DVD, will try and watch it over the weekend, the trailers looked really good.

Zirax

01-07-2010, 12:59

Warrior King - Tony Jaa

I've seen another film of his, Ong-bak so I kind of knew what to expect. I have to say that this takes it to another level :D The plot is thin, Tony grows up with monks who practice Muay Thai and train with elephants. Someone then comes and nicks his elephant. So he goes to get it back. Cue endless fight scenes coupled with some kick ass stunts that he does.

I have to say that the sound effects are spot on. Normally you listen to the sound effect of a bone breaking for example and think 'meh'. In this film they got the deep, dull crack spot on which put my teeth on edge.

You don't watch this type of film for the story, you watch it for the kick ass stunts & fight scenes, which is something this film has in spades.

8.5/10

leowyatt

01-07-2010, 13:05

I can only echo what Kitten said about Prince of Persia : Sands of Time it was excellent.

I was very impressed with Jake's accent too and as Will said Gemma was very nice

Davey_Pitch

01-07-2010, 17:24

Prince of Persia : Sands of Time

I wasn't sure what this was going to be like, but I was treated to a free(ish) ticket & OMG I LOVED IT!! It's just like what Sinbad and those kind of movies were when I was a kid, but better. The CGI was good, but not overplayed, the acting was excellent & there were elements of 300 (which I also loved) in it. Possibly a little overlong, but still loved it.

8/10

Agree with all that. I thought it was a very enjoyable film, really pleasantly surprised by it :)

Note to Mr Pitch : Don't EVER speak to me again (offering me sweeties or otherwise ;)) when I am distracted by a very large Mr Gyllenhall in a state of advanced undress. Once is allowed, just, twice, you don't wanna risk it ;D

Heheh, sorry, don't know what I was thinking :p

Kitten

01-07-2010, 18:35

Wait... he spoke?? :p

;) Oh yeah! His accent was brilliant.

Garp

01-07-2010, 19:03

Warrior King - Tony Jaa

The plot is thin, Tony grows up with monks who practice Muay Thai and train with elephants. Someone then comes and nicks his elephant. So he goes to get it back. Cue endless fight scenes coupled with some kick ass stunts that he does.

The huge long one-take fight sequence is awesome. The plot doesn't completely make sense because they were forced to edit it down to a shorter length and some of the scenes they chose to cut were critical to the story line. They figured it was better to keep certain fight sequences in instead :D

edit: Excuse the poor quality, it's all I can find for now
yXIGP6_fNZk

BBx

01-07-2010, 20:56

Toy Story 3

Brilliant but predictable, got me crying at the end :( I only ever seem to cry at cartoons :/

BB x

Flibster

02-07-2010, 00:19

Michael Jackson - This Is It on Bluray

Weird, seeing the rehearsals for shows that never happened. It's a bit morbid. Also when you consider that they were on the verge of moving it all to the O2 for the final rehersals - so maybe 2 weeks before the shows started? - there was an awful lot of unfinished material.

I'll just put a disclaimer in here that I'm not his biggest fan in the world. I'm of the opinion that he had 2 great albums and then lost the plot... But, when MJ is truly performing at the rehersals, he's superb... but a lot of the time he's mumbling and missing lines to preserve his throat.

It's certainly interesting to see some of the processes that were gone through to refine the show and some of the concepts that were created for it were facinating, the bulldozer, the pole dancers *hello! ;)*, the light robot etc... Shame the only one thats really seen is the robotic spider in the rehersal for Thriller.

But it's all about the man and the music really - and for me, the highlight was Thriller with the full Vincent Price voiceover. I just sat there grinning at that. :D The dancers in full costume and the band in full swing, was just fantastic.

You can feel the love the other performers and crew have for Michael - when he's doing one song and the guys who arent busy all just cheer, whistle and applaud him at the end of it - feels totally genuine. Also you get the sence that Michael is happy up there too. Especially when it's all going right and he actually performs, rather than when he's just easing his way through it, you get the occasional little smile at the end of the song.

The new film segments looked great throughout as well - Earth Song, Thriller and Smooth Criminal - which were to be in 3d as well I think. Thriller certainly was done in 3d.

Overall it was a touch long, and the quality varies - but thats purely due to it being from multiple rehersal sources. Audio quality is generally top notch as it'll have come from soundboard feeds. It's difficult to know what to class this as, it's not really a concert film, it's not really a documentary, it's a kind of behind the scenes snapshot of what could have been.

Zirax

03-07-2010, 23:36

The huge long one-take fight sequence is awesome. The plot doesn't completely make sense because they were forced to edit it down to a shorter length and some of the scenes they chose to cut were critical to the story line. They figured it was better to keep certain fight sequences in instead :D

edit: Excuse the poor quality, it's all I can find for now
[youtube/youtube]

Yep that is one of the cracking scenes that I am thinking of. You do lose some of the sound with youtube compression but there are loads of scenes like this. That does explain why the plot was a bit odd in places, but I am glad they kept all the fight scenes in there :D

Onto tonight

Rocky Balboa

Despite being a big fan of the series for some reason I missed this final outing. So I managed to grab the box set of all 6 for £3 off Amazon.

Adrian has died and Rocky is running the restaurant. There is a new "champ" that everyone hates as he has staged fights (modern boxing anyone??) that in a simulation loses to rocky in his prime. He does display values which show the stark difference in today's modern world. I won't tell you the end, but once that theme tune kicks in and he starts pumping iron :D

7/10 As it is a nice conclusion to the series.

Which brings me nicely to the footnote. I genuinely think that this and the last Rambo film is Stallone's way of saying goodbye. I grew up with Demolition Man, Judge Dredd, Daylight and Stallone is now in his 60s :( I've checked and he is still doing films but I can't see them being the same Stallone we've seen over the years.

volospian

05-07-2010, 08:20

Shrek forever after

Visually, it was nice. I saw it in 2D and I wonder how much better the "world" would be in 3D, as I presume the film was designed to be seen in 3D, as seems to be the vogue now. The story was interesting, if a little predictable. The jokes were a little thin on the ground, certainly for the adults, as it missed that adult sub-humour that was present in earlier outings, but it did have a few great laugh out loud moments.

All in all, it's an enjoyable romp for the family, although I think the kids will enjoy it more than the adults. It's not as good as the first two outings, but better than the third.

7/10

Kitten

05-07-2010, 16:24

I definitely missed the cat but he's alway been my fave character. Though the big-eyed thing never loses it's charm, nor it's comedy. Thankfully they haven't overplayed it, so it's still great every time :D

volospian

06-07-2010, 12:27

I thought some of the best moments were from Puss, especially his entrance on the glitter ball...

Kitten

06-07-2010, 13:18

Yes I agree I just wish he was in it more. The fact it wasn't so puss-centric sorta took the edge off for me, he's my favourite :) But then they have to leave something for his own movie!!

A Place of Light

08-07-2010, 22:58

BBx

09-07-2010, 13:15

Repomen

Set in the future where replacement organs can be purchased at a price - if you do not keep up your repayments the Union takes back its products.

Starring: Jude Law, Forrest Whitaker, Liv Schrieber

Very gory (as you can imagine) good initial idea... a lot of unecessary footage - the film could have been much shorter.

Jude Law's character narrates in an English accent -which I don't get :/ plus his receeding hairline is beginning to look ludricous.

7/10

BB x

Greenlizard0

09-07-2010, 20:07

Ludicrous hair line, lol I don't know why I find that funny. :p

A Place of Light

10-07-2010, 09:51

a lot of unecessary footage - the film could have been much shorter.
Most movies, IMHO, could lose 20-25% of their running time and be better for it.

Glaucus

10-07-2010, 11:43

Into The Blue

Mz_5mynU574
When four young free divers come upon a legendary shipwreck rumoured to contain millions in gold, they believe their dreams of buried treasure has come true. But nearby on the ocean floor they unearth another, more sinister mystery... The fortune hunting friends make a pact to keep quiet about both discoveries so they can excavate the shipwreck before a rival treasure hunter discovers their secret and beats them to the gold...

6/10

It certainly wont win any awards, but it's perfectly good time waster. Great fish and sea footage and the cameraman loves Jessica Albas crotch, ass and chest in a bikini.

Del Lardo

10-07-2010, 11:49

The Magnificent Seven

The first Western film that I have ever properly watched and I must say I was inspired by Red Dead Redemption :o

I was surprised at how many of the actors I recognised and how much I enjoyed it, bearing in mind it's a 50 year old film it's ages pretty well and the story remains timeless.

7/10

Belmit

10-07-2010, 13:13

I must say I was inspired by Red Dead Redemption :o

Since playing that I've purchased two replica Colts to practice spinning them, and ordered some brochures on ranch holidays.

BBx

10-07-2010, 16:57

Twilight: Eclipse

More of the same.. I read the book before I went so knew what was going to happen.

At this point, I now find Bella incredibly irritating, almost as much as Jacob.

Also there was a new Victoria, who in comparison to the old Victoria was not v scary.

7/10

BB x

Jonny69

10-07-2010, 21:03

Garp

11-07-2010, 02:12

Predators

Adrien Brody
Topher Grace
Alice Braga et. al.

7/10

I went in to see this slightly skeptical but after having heard a few good reviews. Lets be honest, the Predators have got progressively less scary with every movie appearance, and I had fears that this would be yet more of the watering down. The only difference this time being that it's R rated here.

9 humans wake up to find themselves in free-fall with a parachute strapped to their chests, and they land in a jungle. All had the same story, they were just going about doing their normal stuff, they saw a white light and then next minute it's free-fall time baby.

All but one are killers from a variety of races, American ex-black ops turned merc., Israeli Defense Force, Russian spetsnaz, Japanese yakuza enforcer etc. And then there is this random doctor amongst the bunch, totally out of his element.

Fairly quickly the story is pieced together: they're "game" in a hunting preserve for the Predator race and the Predators are out to kill them.

All in all I rather enjoyed it. Adrien Brody is strong as the lead character, appropriately muscular for the role rather than the over-the-top 80s look of Arnie. Alice Braga seemed to be trying to get her teeth into her role, but the dialog let her down, though at least it wasn't a stereotypical woman in action film role (either airhead or ridiculously macho.)

All the actors carry off their roles believably. The film is a little predictable in that you can pretty much peg the death order within a few minutes of them meeting, and to be honest I missed some of the 80s cheesy lines. If you enjoyed the first film you'll probably enjoy this one, though I'm at odds to say whether it's worth seeing it on the big screen or not.

Del Lardo

11-07-2010, 02:13

Westworld. Old classic. DVD rerelease is nicely aged looking which makes it feel more authentic than these ones that have been cleaned up. It's shorter than I remember it, less scary and the plot a lot thinner :D

Love it.

I remember watching it as a kid and it was terrifying. Watched it a few months back and while it was no longer terrifying it was still brilliant.

Del Lardo

11-07-2010, 02:25

So a bit of a film night tonight.....

Date Night
Couple decide that their marriage is a bit stale so have a big date night, crazy stuff happens.

Maybe I was expecting too much from this film given that Tina Fey is brilliant in 30 Rock but I was left with a meh feeling at the end. It's a fun way to spend 100 minutes but don't expect to be blown away.
6/10

Hot Tub Time Machine
4 guys have ****ty lives, go back to the 80s in a Hot Tub Time Machine and life changing stuff happens.

On the surface this is a dire film but I couldn't help but love it. The actors had the decency to look embarrassed about the premise of a Hot Tub Time Machine but then shifted the film into mindless fun.

Go into this film expecting mindless fun and you will not be disappointed, a very good way to chortle away a Saturday night.
7/10

Crazy Heart
Wow, two comedies followed by an anti-comedy. Not my usual genre and I will shamelessly steal the synopsis from IMDB otherwise I will spoil it.

Bad Blake is a broken-down, hard-living country music singer who's had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks way too many times. And yet, Bad can't help but reach for salvation with the help of Jean, a journalist who discovers the real man behind the musician.

Brilliantly acted, poignant with a plot that keeps you engaged for the entire 1 hour and 40 minutes. The sound track is brilliant and while this isn't my usual kind of film I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

9/10

Fayshun

11-07-2010, 08:03

The Hurt Locker

Bomb disposal in Iraq. Every pile of rubbish, every bit of rubble could be an IED. Sgt James disarms them, whilst being a little bit crazy.

It's a bit "Go USA!" and I'm sure a the bomb disposal guys aren't as maverick as Sgt. James is, but I really enjoyed it. I know sand's a bit dull and boring but some of the cinematography is beatiful. I especially liked the sniping scene out in the desert with Ralph Feinnes. The explosions are suitably slo-mo'd.

7.5/10

Kitten

11-07-2010, 13:02

The A-Team.

Hmmmmmm. *chin strokey* Loved the series when I was a nipper.

Not sure. Can you leave your brain at the door? If so, you'll enjoy it. If not, you won't. Did enjoy the bit where they used the original music though it was a nice nod to the series. However was a bit disappointed that they used the original voice over and then used the crappy new music instead of the old in other places. If you like big explosions and ludicrous action pieces (a la James Bond parachuting into a plane) then you'll love this!

Glaucus

12-07-2010, 16:47

:eek: i didn't realise that was out, I can certainly leave brain at the door, what little there is.

leowyatt

12-07-2010, 19:26

It was great I'd give it an 8/10 because it brought back fond memories on the TV series :)

Murdock is excellent and I'd have to say my favourite character especially the way he's introduced into the film.

Knipples

12-07-2010, 19:46

*wants to see this very much*

Greenlizard0

13-07-2010, 20:59

I saw a few movies over the weekend.

The Bounty Hunter

This film stars Gerard Butler in the role of a fairly miserable bounty hunter, who unsurprisingly finds and captures those who have skipped bail. He used to be a police officer but his career has somewhat gone down hill and coincided with becoming divorced. His ex-wife, played by Jennifer Aniston, is a very career minded yet fairly unsuccessful investigative journalist.

One day Butler is asked to hunt her down after she disappears from her court date, to, as it happens meet an important contact she needs for her latest case. It's a fairly big one for her career, regarding the possible cover up of a murder which was reported as a suicide.

This film isn't bad, but is ultimately let down by the tame and predictable script. Butler and Aniston are too well known to take on these roles, and in the case of the former is a massive step down from the brilliant Law Abiding Citizen. They certainly made this film better but isn't really as a whole worth recommending. Aniston in my eyes is still type-casted, and I saw too much of Rachel from Friends in her character.

5/10

Date Night

This film also features a couple, but this time they're married and relatively happy...ish. We get to see at the beginning how it's all a bit mundane and beige in suburbia. The husband and father (Steve Carell) often arrives home late from work and is too tired to really interact with his family as he should. His wife (Tina Fey) too is starting to feel the humdrums of the life they lead. One day, they learn their close friends are about to divorce after going through a familiarly bored phase so they opt to try and improve their current situation. Fey comes down one night in a bit of a honky hooey black dress and Carell decides that the pair head off to dine somewhere nice in New York City for a change. After bloke-ishly disregarding his sat-nav's advice they arrive late, on a Friday evening to a very popular restaurant. Huddling at the bar they hear somebody else's name being called, and after the third time they cheekily nab the reservation. All is fine until they tempt fate by clinking a pair of empty wine glasses...*

*I never knew doing that was bad luck? Huh...

Then the adventures start. During their meal, they're mistaken for the other couple and lead outside to start a game of cat and mouse across the city. Two men think that the couple are trying to blackmail a very powerful governmental person and are after a flash drive containing a few incriminating photos. The couple try and outrun them and this is the premise for the entire film.

Like the previous film there are some schmaltzy moments where the couple realise their affections for each other, but the intertwined story with the action is done a lot better. This again, had quite a predictable and original story but was just told better. The actors played their parts more convincingly and held their roles well.

6.5/10

Jonny69

14-07-2010, 12:11

Metropolis (1927)

This is very interesting, a pre-Nazi German film depicted in a futuristic city. The city is fed by the 'heart machine' which is run by workers who live deep under the city and the rich and successful live above, unaware of the toil, struggle and unrest happening below.

Most enlightening and there is some amazing art deco design work.

I wish I'd seen this years ago but the reconstruction of the original film is very well done.

Belmit

15-07-2010, 22:11

Just watched this too. Great film and so obviously influential on other films. Most recently I think Bioshock can be grateful to Metropolis for its vision of Rapture.

The actress in this as the Machine Man character gave one of the most vibrant and embodied performances I've ever seen in silent films.

Jonny69

15-07-2010, 22:44

The Magnificent Seven (1960)

This is probably one of the most loved and hated of westerns. Thin story line stolen from Seven Samurai, seven Hollywood stars, clean Mexicans and a surprisingly big bodycount.

Absolutely loved it :D

Belmit

15-07-2010, 22:54

I watched Seven Samurai yesterday - will have to check this out soon!

Greenlizard0

16-07-2010, 02:54