What have you watched recently?

SarahBM

The Untouchables

What a great film. I cant believe I have not seen it before.
They dont make em like they used to! thats for sure. This is a real popcorn flick. Best Kevin Costner film I have seen.
Everyone loves a good gangster movie, but the Untouchables has to be one of the best!!!
Classic!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

watched airplane and the naked gun last night. airplane wasn't nearly as hilarious as I remember, found it quite slow and kinda dull in places actually. Naked gun was just fantastic though, easily as lolworthy as I remember

Benny Lava

A Clockwork Orange: Good, a bit disturbing at times.
The Omen (1976): Not great.
Primal Fear: Good.

Burning Eclipse

The Last King of Scotland.

Thought it was excellent, and Whitaker was just brilliant... One of the best performances I've ever seen. Thought James McAvoy was really good too!

Ruu_Old

The Roaring Twenties: Good film, Cagney and Bogart team up again. Cagney returns from the war and into bootlegging but ends up in trouble.

Mike Litoris

Benny Lava wrote: »

The Omen (1976): Not great.

Ah ha!! I was never a fan of this but found the remake to be excellent. Have you seen the remake, what did you think of it?

I cant be the only person on the planet to have enjoyed the remake more than the original.

questioner

the square

australian film noir, i enjoyed it. couple of good twists, couple of clunkers but all in all a good show id say a fairly positive 7.5 /10

baileymay

"Peacock"... Cillian Murphy pretends to be his own wife. AMAZING.

Da Shins Kelly

Recently watched Let The Right One In. So good.

Also saw Piranha 3D a few nights ago. That was epic for entirely different reasons!

naughto

robbin hood

kick ass

Cobraverde

"How The West Was Won" on Bluray, in Smilebox-vision, on my home theatre + beer and Rizzlas.

Paddy Samurai

Watched it tonight.Good film ,well worth a look.

An investigation of the massacre of 24 men, women and children in Haditha, Iraq allegedly shot by 4 U.S. Marines in retaliation for the death of a U.S. Marine killed by a roadside bomb. The movie follows the story of the Marines of Kilo Company, an Iraqi family, and the insurgents who plant the roadside bomb.

Nick Broomfield's new film is a fact-based recreation of the Haditha massacre in Iraq, using ex-Marines and Iraqi survivors

mike65

The Sign of Four (1982) Ian Richardson as Sherlock Holmes in foggy London town. An ever so hammy/melodramtic delight.

magma69

Juno was on the box the other night.

Very underwhelming. How it won an oscar is beyond me (well, not really, as the oscars are a bit of a joke). There was nothing that stood out at all about the movie. The characters lacked substance. Michael Cera's (who I do like) character was a completely stereotypical nerd, with his silly tic-tac quirk :rolleyes:.

The movie also show scenes with music and no dialogue/interaction too frequently. They totally overkilled it. The should be used sparingly to get the full effect.

To be fair to Ellen Paige. She did put in a good performance and there was some chemistry between her and Jason Bateman. All in all a big disappointment. If I watched it with no expectations, I guess I wouldn't be so let down. 5/10

Goldstein

The Insider
I was so impressed with this one, and dismayed that it's not in the IMDb Top 250, that I'm looking at my 5 nominations in the best movie nominations thread to see what I can displace.

Pacino was outstanding and Michael Mann delivers yet again. Collateral, Miami Vice (I thought it was a fantastic movie but I seem to be the only one ), and now (for me) The Insider.

seraphimvc

watched Jonah Hex the other day, oh lord :pac:

GirlOfGlass

I watched This Is England yesterday as there was a big hype over it because of the new TV series.
I really enjoyed it, as for the TV show though, not sure if it's gonna live up to the movie's standards.

filmfan

The Other Guys - Really silly but great for a giggle

The Last Exorcism - Had high hopes for this one but it really didn't hit the mark for me, wasn't scared at all:(

Sad Professor

Goldstein wrote: »

The Insider
I was so impressed with this one, and dismayed that it's not in the IMDb Top 250, that I'm looking at my 5 nominations in the best movie nominations thread to see what I can displace.

Pacino was outstanding and Michael Mann delivers yet again. Collateral, Miami Vice (I thought it was a fantastic movie but I seem to be the only one ), and now (for me) The Insider.

+1

The Insider is a magnificent film. Easily Mann's best imo. It's a great story. It starts out about big tobacco but becomes about big media. It's also one of the most visually impressive films I've ever seen. Most of the film consists of dialogue and phone conversations. In the hands of a lesser director this material would easily have turned out like a tv movie. But Mann composes every shot with an incredible attention to detail. He uses every tool at his disposal to get into the head of Wigand and make sure the film never looks bland. Almost any scene in this film could be broken down and shown to film students as an example of great filmmaking.

And I agree about Miami Vice. Excellent film, but I can understand why most people didn't like it. It's really Mann at his purest. There's not much in the way of character-driven dialogue. Most of the dialogue is police procedural stuff. Instead he uses close-ups and choreography to express characterisation. It's a bit different and not what audiences are used to. Nevertheless, I sorta wish Mann hadn't made it. He's a bit too comfortable in the crime genre and needs to branch out more. I'd love to see him do a western. He is also supposed to be working on a film about Robert Capa which will hopefully happen.

Basq

Hard Candy

Been a while since I've seen it, but my girlfriend is a big 'Twilight' fan and the latest in the series was directed by David Slade... who directed 'Hard Candy' so said I'd show him how talented he was before directing dreck like 'The Twilight Saga'.

It's a cracking little film..

I don't care what people say about Ellen Page, there's no denying her performance in this film is powerful. Page is superb in this role.. only 17 when it was filmed. Don't get me wrong, Patrick Wilson is very good too.. but Page plays demented so well.

It's probably a tad too long.. but it's definitely a very interesting film.

basquille

basquille wrote: »

Hard Candy

Been a while since I've seen it, but my girlfriend is a big 'Twilight' fan and the latest in the series was directed by David Slade... who directed 'Hard Candy' so said I'd show him how talented he was before directing dreck like 'The Twilight Saga'.

It's a cracking little film..

I don't care what people say about Ellen Page, there's no denying her performance in this film is powerful. Page is superb in this role.. only 17 when it was filmed. Don't get me wrong, Patrick Wilson is very good too.. but Page plays demented so well.

It's probably a tad too long.. but it's definitely a very interesting film.

I hope you showed your friend 30 Days of Night, an actual film about vampires directed by David Slade.

Basq

Yeah.. my girlfriend's seen '30 Days of Night', but didn't like it. She found it "boring".. she probably mentioned there was a distinct lack of 'glitter' when they floated or something like that.. :pac:

.. for fecks sake!

I remember really enjoying it.. but actually haven't seen it in years. Might pick it up at the weekend at re-watch it. Got 'Hard Candy' in a 4 for €8 deal at CDWOW so that's why I had that lying about.

basquille

basquille wrote: »

Yeah.. my girlfriend's seen '30 Days of Night', but didn't like it. She found it "boring".. she probably mentioned there was a distinct lack of 'glitter' when they floated or something like that.. :pac:

.. for fecks sake!

I remember really enjoying it.. but actually haven't seen it in years. Might pick it up at the weekend at re-watch it. Got 'Hard Candy' in a 4 for €8 deal at CDWOW so that's why I had that lying about.

I adore 30 Days of Night, one of those great films which is perfect on a cold winters night while snuggled up beside a warm fire. Some of the cinematography is sublime, the over head massacre scene being the most obvious. THe sequel is actually looking rather good, plenty of nasty vampire action with no glitter in sight.

Basq

Deleted User wrote: »

I adore 30 Days of Night, one of those great films which is perfect on a cold winters night while snuggled up beside a warm fire. Some of the cinematography is sublime, the over head massacre scene being the most obvious. THe sequel is actually looking rather good, plenty of nasty vampire action with no glitter in sight.

I remember being impressed with Ben Foster in it.. but

can't remember him having a huge role!

Didn't even know there was a sequel planned.. must look it up. Straight-to-DVD jobby I assume. Is Slade involved?

I know the Blu-ray is regularly available quite cheap. Just checked - £6.99 from Amazon. Will give it an order.

basquille

basquille wrote: »

I remember being impressed with Ben Foster in it.. but

can't remember him having a huge role!

Didn't even know there was a sequel planned.. must look it up. Straight-to-DVD jobby I assume. Is Slade involved?

I know the Blu-ray is regularly available quite cheap. Just checked - £6.99 from Amazon. Will give it an order.

Cancel your amazon order, it's 8 euro on blu ray in Xtravision atm, been considering picking it up for a few weeks, gonna take the plunge and double dip on it.

Foster's role is small but pivotal, like most of his smaller roles he steals every scene he's in. THe sequel is Sladeless, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert are producing it under their production house and it does look rather good, it's an adaptation of the follow-up graphic novel. Have you seen the short web-series they did? I can't think of the name of it offhand but it can be found in HMV for 3 euro, it's well worth a watch though the insistence of running opening and closing credits every episode is tiring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4m8maWMpj8

SarahBM

watched Scream 3 last night with my brother. LOL never gets old!

BopNiblets

The Limey
Terence Stamp plays Wilson an old crook just out of a UK prison, goes to LA to avenge his estranged daughters mysterious death.

Stephen Soderbergh film, stylish and good characters.

Probably the only out for vengeance film where he doesn't kill the bad guy at the end!

graceknowsstuff

No Country For Old Men - well, I mean, it's got all those rave reviews and it was great. Really well-paced and fascinating. However, I'm not sure it was exactly my kind of film and I did find myself getting disinterested by the last scene, at which point the

sudden black screen ending

failed to really kill me as I've heard it did for cinema audiences. Anyway.

Rushmore - loved it. Eric Schwartzman is fantastic and Bill Murray is my hero. Wes Anderson can do no wrong, as far as I'm concerned.

There were more, I've been watching a lot of films recently, but I can't even think of which ones...

naughto

watched salt last night some very gud action

angelina jolie is way to skinny in it for my liking tho.

Tony EH

'Rocky III'

'Rocky' was the sleeper hit of 1976 that came out of nowhere to be an Oscar winner that year. Made on an extremely modest $1 million, the Stallone vehicle turned out to be a hugely successful, low budget shock. It not only beat 'Network' at the awards, it recouped it's budget many times over and made it's star (Stallone also wrote it) into an overnight success. Although it's cheapness does shine through in places and the editing is a bit off as well, 'Rocky' remains a very enjoyable film. It's sequel, 'Rocky II' completed the circle (or should have) with a re-match evolving the two main protagonists, Rocky and the World Heavyweight Champ, Apollo Creed. As a sequel, 'Rocky II' did very well to advance the story and it did so using logical steps.

'Rocky III', however, is where the franchise starts to come apart at the seams.

The Rocky story continues with this episode, as we find Rocky still the World Heavyweight Champion. He has defended his title numerous times, made shed loads of money, has been honoured by the city of "Brotherly Love" and is about to announce his retirement when an "up-and-comer" goads Rocky into postponing his plans and fight one more match. Clubber Lang (Mr. T) is an extremely aggressive younger fighter, hungry for the title and with remarkable ease pushes Rocky into getting into the ring with him. Rocky's trainer, Mickey (Burgess Meredith) is reluctant to agree to this fight, but Rocky persuades him. Without giving too much away, all does not go well.

While 'Rocky III' retains the basic formula of the first two movies (Rocky trains, overcomes adversity, then fights) it's a noticeable departure in both character and style. Rocky, who is now rich and living a very wealthy lifestyle isn't the lovable bum from downtown Philly anymore. It's like Stallone forgot how to play him, between 1979 and 1981. It's hard to put ones finger on it, but the Rocky of 'Rocky III' is almost an entirely different character from I and II. His wife, Adrianna (Talia Shire) is a completely different character. Gone is the likeable, retiring and painfully shy girl and instead we have a "dolled up" millionaires wife, who isn't afraid to roar at Rocky when the need calls for it, when previously she would barely raise her voice above a whisper. It's a dramatic change of pace, to say the least and Shire (like Stallone) isn't half as entertaining as she was in the previous films.

In finer form, but looking jaded from it all (both fictionally and realistically) is Burgess Meredith, who returns as Rocky's gravel voiced trainer, Mickey. Adrian's brother Paulie (Burt Young) also turns up, along with Carl Weathers' ex champ Apollo Creed. These three characters at least retain their basic personalities from the former movies. Although Meredith seems to be there to simply draw a cheque.

But, even with the changes in character aside, 'Rocky III' punches well below it's weight. The script calls for some unbelievable contrivance and the central buddy story of Rocky and Creed is a bit hard to swallow. It also leads to some unintentionally hilarious moments, like the "running on the beach" montage, that actually had me belly laughing. The dialogue is turgid and ill thought out and Mr T's Clubber Lang is a ridiculous villain. Mr T, completely unhindered by talent, plays Lang as best he can. But, he just comes across as a slightly meaner B.A. Baracus from the 'A-Team', which is the part that he got as a result of this movie. But, as a character, Lang is wretched. It's not entirely Mr. T's fault as he was plucked from "Night club bouncer" obscurity to play the part. The main problem is the silly writing, penned again by Stallone (although not as successfully this time).

In terms of general quality, 'Rocky III' is a huge step backwards and the series should really have ended with the second one. Stretching the basic formula out this far was bad enough, but it blows the mind when one considers that a IV, V and a VI have been made! Number IV being a truly appalling experience. While 'Rocky III' is "glossier" than I and II, its veneer can do nothing to hide the fact that it's a pale imitation of what's come before. The repetition of Bill Conti's musical cues wears thin as well, even though "Survivor" were hired to provide the famous main theme track.

'Rocky III', despite being a rather poor film, was a box office hit in 1982, earning over $120.000.000 in the U.S. alone. This is somewhat unfortunate in many ways, as it led to a bloated line of follow up movies that were even worse. The shelf life of Rocky was well past it's "sell by" date in 1982 and consequently, it's terrible sequels have been stinking up the entire series for nearly three decades.

My advice to anyone embarking on this series is to enjoy I and II and then walk away.