What have you watched recently?

fluke

Salt - doesn't have the legs to be a franchise but a decent action flick nonetheless! As an action movie Angelina seemed much more comfortable in this than that Tomb Raider nonsense or Mr. & Mrs. Smith, or Wanted.

The Losers - again another franchise wannabee, and while most of the actors were good in it (I still can't make up my mind as to what Jason Patric was doing - shit acting or just batshit acting). The cartoony feel to it lets it down a bit. Chris Evans was particularly good in it though.

Crazy Heart - Yeah it's The Wrestler 2: I'm A Little Bit Country but the songs are good, Jeff Bridges makes the whole thing worthwhile and Colin Farrell has a small but ace part. Good cinematography too!

questioner

repo men. forrest whitaker in another goggle eyed convincingly menacing role. I really admire him as an actor but im finding that since the last king of scotland he's becoming slightly typecast in his villain roles.

i think jude laws role would have been fair better played by daniel craig circa layer cake, as it is he's not bad but I've seen better.

from about a thirda of the way into the movie it becomes apparent that this is a vanilla sky type flick, the hint is DEAFENINGLY obvious

Tomohawk

In the last 2 weeks We've watched...

The Unbearable Lightness of Being with a young Daniel Day-Lewis and even younger Juliette Binoche.

Naked - Mike Leigh, David Thewlis in his best acting role ever...

Saving Private Ryan - Again...

Bullit - interesting cop drama set in late sixties San Francisco.

Star Wars Original Trilogy - Ah sure why not, had to fast forward throught the Ewok scenes though in the third film.

Swimming with Sharks was on last night too. Go Buddy Go!

Das Kitty

AssaultedPeanut wrote: »

Mysterious Skin - Brilliant, but a rough one to watch

We watched that last night. Yeah it was a tough enough watch in parts but I thought it wasn't telling me anything I didn't already know about the subject. I think after seeing Happiness it's hard to be well and truly shocked IYKWIM? It was good but I don't think it'll stay with me.

So we've been busy with films this week. As well as the above we have seen...

Inception really enjoyable and thought provoking, and what a score! I was in heaven.

Salt I found it really dull.

The Expendibles - some decent fight scenes, basically I ignored the plot so it couldn't piss me off. The scene with Stallone Willis and Arnie was just cringe!

MagicMarker

JFK - Absolutely incredible movie in every way, jumps straight into my ''best movies ever'' list. Donald Sutherland's and Kevin Coster's monologues in particular were stunning.

Caprica

The Secret in their Eyes.
From Argentina, winner of this year Oscar for Best Foreign Film which was a bit of shock. A brilliant movie, gripped right from the beginning, some great performances. Nice twist at the end. Hightly recommended

La Vie en Rose
Marion Cotillard won best actress oscar for this role. A superb performance. I didn't know a lot about her apart from Je ne regrette rein. The movie jumps back and forth in time which I found a bit confusing in places. It built to a very powerfull and emotional end.

Amelie
I forgot how great this movie was, a wonderful performance from Audrey Tatou. It has a real gallic charm..It cheers you up no end, really enjoyed the music, and the travelling exploits of the gnome.

In my Fathers Den
Seen this in the cinema a few years back and really enjoyed it, so decided to rent the DVD. Really good movie, I didn't see the end coming. Good performances from all the cast. Would really recommend this. Guy (played by Matthew Mc Fadden) comes home to NZ after nearly 20 yrs. for his dads funeral and a few family secrets come out.

Toy Story 3D
Brilliant, would just be as good in 2D did not see to many 3D effects. Great story and a nice end to the story, found it a bit sad at the end though.

Shrek Forever After
Approach this with my hopes slightly lowered after the dissapointment of Shrek 3 and was pleasantly surprised. Not as good as the original but entertaining none the less.

Leaving
Kristen Scott Thomas gives another great performance. She plays a wife who leaves her husband for the guy who was painting her house. We see the final scence at the beginning and the rest of the movie builds towards to it. You can be guaranteed in whatever KST appears she will steal the show.

johndoe99

watched "The Horseman (2008)" last night, one of the most brutal films I've ever seen:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060255/

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi443746073/

loved the scene

where he tied hooks out of one of the guys testicles and well you can imagine what comes next...

jaykhunter

From Within (2008)

OK, imagine The Ring. Now instead of watching a tape, and it kills you, you witness a suicide, and the 'ghost/demon from within' leave the suicide victim, enter you, and makes you kill yourself. It's an indy film (part of the horrorfest series I think) and I'd say it was the best of the indy horrors -- but that's not saying loads. It has John Connor from the Sarah Connor Chronicles, and "Eddie", Chander's temp roommate from Friends. Pretty basic horror, lots of "how can this scare/demon manifest itself", surprisingly good special effects (for it's budget/being an indy flick) but average story, characters, writing. Although the same idea could be re-written into a better movie. OK execution, but you aren't missing anything by not watching this. A little over average because it does try hard to be better, and the preacher's son character was an interesting antagonist. I'd give it a solid 5.5/10.

budgemook

Defendor
Very good. A bit like Kick Ass but in a darker sort of way. Woody Harellson great as a nut case as usual. Not quite as good as Kick Ass but a little bit more realistic. Woody does some Oscar worthy stuff with his eyes.

Cop Out
Muck. That Tracy whatever fella from 30 rock is awful annoying and Bruce Willis isn't much better in this one. Terrible story, terrible jokes. Especially when

Tracy is doing scenes from loads of famous movies, Bruce is naming them all until Tracy says yippe-kay-ye and Bruce says he never say that one. Ha. Fcuking. Ha.

Expected better from Kevin Smith.

Cantona's Collars

The Final Destination-terrible movie,how many times can they rehash this story?
Paradise Lost-actually not too bad for a tale that's been told a thousand times,good looking kids get stuck in Brazil and you know the rest....

The Volt

Watched True Romance last night, really enjoyed it. Haven't seen Badlands yet though.

crazygeryy

johndoe99 wrote: »

watched "The Horseman (2008)" last night, one of the most brutal films I've ever seen:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060255/

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi443746073/

loved the scene

where he tied hooks out of one of the guys testicles and well you can imagine what comes next...

Dead Man's Shoes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419677/

another brilliant movie along the same lines.i will watch the horseman tonight.

johndoe99

crazygeryy wrote: »

Dead Man's Shoes http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419677/

another brilliant movie along the same lines.i will watch the horseman tonight.

I've seen that a few years back, highly recommend that one too.

Dempsey

budgemook wrote: »

Cop Out
Muck. That Tracy whatever fella from 30 rock is awful annoying and Bruce Willis isn't much better in this one. Terrible story, terrible jokes. Especially when

Tracy is doing scenes from loads of famous movies, Bruce is naming them all until Tracy says yippe-kay-ye and Bruce says he never say that one. Ha. Fcuking. Ha.

Expected better from Kevin Smith.

Well the entire film is suppose to be a skit of every film from that genre, you were expecting it to do something different? Ya, that lad from 30 Rock is annoying

mikhail

Dempsey wrote: »

Well the entire film is suppose to be a skit of every film from that genre, you were expecting it to do something different? Ya, that lad from 30 Rock is annoying

So was Hot Fuzz. So is The Other Guys. Parody films can be funny. Cop Out isn't.

MiloYossarian

Ya, I agree, Cop Out isn't funny. The only thing that I can say in its defense is that it wasn't as horrific as I thought it was going to be. And renaming it from it's original title "A Couple Of Dicks" is itself a massive cop out.

I watched a couple of films over the last few nights. One was Scott Pilgrim which I'm not going to count because the audience was so terrible that I couldn't in all honesty say I saw that film.

Another was a small film called Rocket Science. It's the film in which Anna Kendrick was discovered. It's small but really good. I enjoyed it a lot. It's worth watching if only for the main characters older brother. The best way I could describe this film, tone, characters and whatnot, is to say that if I didn't know any better I would have sworn it was one of Wes Anderson's earlier efforts. I think it's the guy that directed Spellbound first scripted release.

Another was Wet Hot American Summer. I hadn't even heard of this until I saw it on a list of films that Micheal Cera said were worth watching. It's basically a low budget kind of parody on eighties teenage flicks. It is really funny and well worth watching. Especially just to spot the who's who in the cast who nearly all have recently had a lot of success. (Elizabeth Banks, Paul Rudd)

I watched Centurion just there. It's good, I enjoyed it but it made me feel old because there's a lot of hacking people up in it and I kept exclaiming loudly and going 'EWWWWwwww' And at one point, after a man cut off another mans head and THEN cut off his arm I said out load, shaking my head to the negative, 'That's clearly unnecessary.' When I was younger I would have loved all of that.

It was a very satisfying few days of film, the most satisfying for a long time and I would recommend you watch all of the films I just mentioned. In fact, I order you to watch them. For everyone of them that you don't watch, a bunny dies.

Dempsey

mikhail wrote: »

So was Hot Fuzz. So is The Other Guys. Parody films can be funny. Cop Out isn't.

I didnt say it was funny, I said it was suppose to be a skit, it sounded like the poster was expecting some attempt at originality by Kevin Smith.

budgemook

Dempsey wrote: »

Well the entire film is suppose to be a skit of every film from that genre, you were expecting it to do something different? Ya, that lad from 30 Rock is annoying

Don't care what it's suppose to be. It's still crap which is all I was saying.

Dempsey wrote: »

I didnt say it was funny, I said it was suppose to be a skit, it sounded like the poster was expecting some attempt at originality by Kevin Smith.

Never mentioned originality. I was expecting a film of higher quality from Kevin Smith as most of his other movies are excellent.

The Volt

Watched Annie Hall last night. Such a quotable film

tman

Amelie - a wonderful film, didn't really appreciate it the first time around but loved it for its quirkiness this time...

Inside - decent enough French horror, worth a watch anyway...

DazMarz

Inception last night in the cinema... Cracking film. Might have to go and see it again tho, to see can I make sense of some of the things happening in it!!!:o

Rebel021

Saw the last seven the other night
enough said

DazMarz

Se7en...

What a film...

bnt

This afternoon I took in The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) at the IFI. Made in 1963, it's 187 minutes of Sicilan historical melodrama, revolving around Burt Lancaster as an aging Sicilian Prince, Don Fabrizio Salina. "Prince" meaning more like what we'd call "Count" or "Duke" today, since his kingdom is more like a county, and he has to bargain with other princes to keep things going. The 1861 Italian Revolution is underway, Garibaldi has just landed on Sicily, so the Sicilian nobility has to negotiate its survival in the coming Republic.

It's a very slow film, not for those with ADHD, overdubbed Italian with subtitles, but the rewards are in the scenery, the period detail, and in the performances. Then Claudia Cardinale arrives, complete with heaving décolletage, and soon has men following her around like sheep. Baa!


But Burt Lancaster still holds the film together, despite some Felliniesque battles and rustic humour, culminating in an incredible costumed ball that lasts for most of the last hour, with possibly the most colourful scenes I've ever seen on film. It's a riot, with a few sad touches. It helps to know a little of the history of Italy, which I studied at school. If there's an overriding theme of the film, it's hypocrisy, of the "old boys" promising "change", knowing that "the more things change, the more they stay the same". By the end, you see this sadness creeping up on Salina (Lancaster), as he feels his age in a world he doesn't quite understand any more.

We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.

Martin Scorsese is a long-time admirer of the film and assisted with its restoration, from the badly-cut, badly-transferred version that flopped in the USA, to the version the director originally made. If you've ever seen Scorsese's The Age Of Innocence, you'll recognise some of the style - he doesn't mind anyone knowing the films from which he learned. I'll be looking for the DVD, I think.

staker

Watching Gran Torino.
It's so racist and derogatory yet it's so enjoyable,a throwback to when PC never existed and it's ok to laugh while racism is being blatantly flouted like Eastwood does.
An uncomfortable film at times too though.

ultain

Wacthed 'The ghost' last night..pleasantly surprised, solid little film..feel of hitchcock & Le Carrie to it all together a tidy little flick, worth a view

'The last seven' awful film.

Ruu_Old

Watched the Caine Mutiny, brilliant to see Bogart portray the ships commander, very complex character.

The Volt

Watched Fight Club last night, hadn't seen it before. Really enjoyed it

Also, Cecil B. Demented - guilty pleasure.

irishh_bob

saw shutter island last night , one of those moives which you have to play back over and over in your head , im now convinced that teddy was in fact correct in his assumptions despite what the ( twist ) would suggest

bnt

A quick PS re The Leopard (yesterday): last screening is at the IFI tonight (7:30), and they've had to move it to the #1 cinema due to the demand. I saw it in the tiny #3 cinema, which was packed on a Wednesday afternoon. It's a real Big Screen Technicolor classic.