Rate the last movie you watched.

[Kitten]

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]

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]

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]

Originally Posted by Flibster

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]

Originally Posted by Kitten

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]

Originally Posted by Garp

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]

Originally Posted by Flibster

gimp and porky

I honestly don't know which one is which.

[Del Lardo]

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]

Originally Posted by A Place of Light

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]

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