What have you watched recently?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

scott pilgrim..... this is the worst movie ever made

like..
I'm personally offended by how awful it is.

Harrocks

Black Death. Desent movie and really recreated the gloomy atmosphere of that time in history.
Devils Playground What a waste of 90mins ill never get back one to Avoid

The Volt

Capturing The Friedmans - Wow!

RNL

September

Elephant 7/10
Gus Van Sant 2003 USA Rewatch
Engrossing and provocative, if not entirely satisfactory. Would have benefitted from even greater formal rigour, less of what is apparently arbitrary dramatic content, and a less studiously non-committal and more openly inquisitive tone.

Aftermath 7/10
Nacho Cerdà 1994 Spain Rewatch
Extremely morbid gore/shock piece, with a quite effective sense of nihilistic horror. However, that theme might've been more effective without the necrophilia, which is unintentionally quite amusing.

Darkness/Light/Darkness 8/10
Jan Švankmajer 1989 Czechoslovakia Rewatch
Endlessly rewatchable and satisfying short. Certainly an allegory of Stalinist repression, though of what kind and with what degree of specificity I'm not sure.

Meat Love 7/10
Jan Švankmajer 1989 UK / USA / West Germany Rewatch
Cute, funny, ambiguous short.

Flora 7/10
Jan Švankmajer 1989 USA Rewatch
Punchy and grim visual 'gag' of sorts. Probably another anti-Stalinist allegory.

Food 8/10
Jan Švankmajer 1989 Czechoslovakia / UK Rewatch
More inimitably cryptic social commentary.

Che: Part One 8/10
Steven Soderbergh 2008 France / Spain / USA
Excellent, authentic-feeling depiction of guerilla warfare, bolstered effectively by interspersed recreations of Guevara's UN address.

I'm Here 5/10
Spike Jonze 2010 USA
Irritatingly twee, sentimental short with just enough of a vaguely critical edge to be worthwhile.

Certified Copy 7/10
Abbas Kiarostami 2010 France / Italy / Iran Cinema
Dramatically masterful, and entirely engrossing for its duration, even if it ultimately doesn't amount to a whole lot. A touch too enigmatic for its own good perhaps.

Rogue 7/10
Greg McLean 2007 Australia / USA
Well-made, perfectly servicable eco-horror with a few standout moments.

And Your Mother Too 8/10
Alfonso Cuarón 2001 Mexico
Works very well as a film of juxtaposed parallel halves; part political polemic, part nostalgic road movie.

Frozen 7/10
Adam Green 2010 USA
Very well-directed 'single location' piece with likable characters. Succumbs to some of the pitfalls inherent to its premise but overall is successful. The wolves are excessively central to the proceedings given the film's title.

Chloe 5/10
Atom Egoyan 2009 USA / Canada / France
Erotic thriller that begins well and maintains a sense of intrigue, then mostly squanders it when the plot twists in a less interesting direction.

A Room for Romeo Brass 8/10
Shane Meadows 1999 Canada / UK
Funny, unique and unassuming, with a fantastic performance from Paddy Considine.

Taurus 2/10
Aleksandr Sokurov 2001 Russia
Fastidiously dreary, dramatically cadaverous portrait of Lenin's last days. Simple-minded and plainly reactionary, as I'd expected.

Metropolis 9/10
Fritz Lang 1927 Germany Cinema / Rewatch
Actually very naïve and conservative politically, to my surprise, but a sci-fi classic.

Persona 9/10
Ingmar Bergman 1966 Sweden Rewatch
Dramatically contrived, but beautiful and visually adventurous. Constitutes a particular 'art film' paradigm.

Hellraiser 8/10
Clive Barker 1987 UK Rewatch
Imaginative and bizarre supernatural horror. The first sequel is good too.

The Hustler 8/10
Robert Rossen 1961 USA
Engrossing portrait of a self-destructive urban outsider.

Orson Welles: The One-Man Band 6/10
Vassili Silovic 1995, Germany / France / Switzerland
Fairly interesting documentary about Welles's unfinished projects. Openly hagiographic though.

The Innocents 9/10
Jack Clayton 1961 USA / UK
Very beautiful and effectively unnerving. Stuck in my mind for a long time afterwards.

The Fly 8/10
David Cronenberg 1986 USA Rewatch
Maybe the quintessential Cronenberg film. Exceptional fusion of authentic dramatic content and heavy allegory.

The Omen 9/10
Richard Donner 1976 UK / USA Rewatch
Eerie and gripping theological horror in the form of a perfectly paced race-against-time mystery-thriller. Always impressive and enjoyable, and full of compelling ideas (including one of a malevolent, fatalistic pantheism, adapted and secularised for the Final Destination films).

Frankenstein 9/10
James Whale 1931 USA Rewatch
Iconic, and among the best of the classic Universal horrors.

Reds 8/10
Warren Beatty 1981 USA
Excellent historical biography of John Reed. Its least interesting elements concern his tumultuous marriage, but the second half, focusing more on the revolution, is exceptional, despite some overwritten 'mouthpiece' moments (mostly featuring Emma Goldman).

Freaks 8/10
Tod Browning 1932 USA Rewatch
Bizarre and unique morality drama. Dubiously considered a horror film...

Rope 9/10
Alfred Hitchcock 1948 USA Rewatch
Fantastic single-set, one-act suspense drama. One of my favourite Hitchcocks.

The Blood of a Poet 7/10
Jean Cocteau 1930 France
Interesting as a surrealist relic, but doesn't hang together particularly well. Requires deciphering.

Pickpocket 8/10
Robert Bresson 1959 France Rewatch
Formally interesting, and exciting in its studiously remote way.

Land and Freedom 9/10
Ken Loach 1995 UK
Politically razor-sharp, historically sensitive and very moving. Best Loach I've seen so far.

The Revenge of Frankenstein 9/10
Terence Fisher 1958 UK
Tremendously entertaining. The best Hammer I've seen yet.

Dracula: Prince of Darkness 7/10
Terence Fisher 1966 UK
Excellent and creepy until Dracula actually appears, at which point it becomes a bit more routine. Interestingly, this Dracula doesn't speak a single word.

The Last Exorcism 5/10
Daniel Stamm 2010 USA / France Cinema
Ultimately disappointing mockumentary that offers numerous interesting ideas but scuppers its potential in a late reveal (which cribs too much from The Blair Witch Project).

Enter the Void 6/10
Gaspar Noé 2009 France / Germany / Italy Cinema
Vacuous and juvenile, but formally rigorous (if repetitive), and possessed of a singularity of purpose that is frequently impressive and exhilerating - the climactic hotel sequence is both incredibly silly and quite wonderful.

Xala 8/10
Ousmane Sembene 1975 Senegal
Bitingly satirical and witty critique of the neo-colonial Senegalese government.

Winter's Bone 9/10
Debra Granik 2010 USA Cinema
Riveting neo-noir, and possibly the best film of the year. I can hardly pick fault with it.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

just watched rainbow song

very good movie, but so sad

had a very similar feel to hana and alice, all about lily chou chou. shunji iwai is a great filmkaker (although he didn't direct this, wrote/produced)

Ruu_Old

Saw Tron, not watched since I was a young lad. I really liked David Warners character, ruthless and no heart!

Unsure how I feel about the new legacy film coming out, I am not one to get excited about special effects.

Duggy747

Watched Superman 1 again. Ah..........what a nice, good-hearted film. The sister and I grew up loving these films as kids and the 1st one hasn't lost it's charm one bit. (The less said about Superman III & IV, the better)

It really is hard to imagine anyone else filling Reeve's role as he was able to portray a wimpy, twitchy Clark Kent and then a cool-as-shìt Superman at the flick of a switch. Used to love that bit at the end of the movies when he flies outside the planet, looks at the camera, smiles and zips off again

The trivia behind this film is fascinating too, from the titles being the most expensive ever produced at the time to Marlon Brando not learning his lines and reading them off the baby's nappy as he puts Superman into his escape pod. :pac:

Lots of interesting camera tricks they played too like after the scene when Superman & Lois fly together; In one shot she watches Superman fly off from her balcony, there's a knock at the door and it's Clark Kent. What they did was have a projection of Superman fly off and have Christopher Reeves knock on the door. :pac: I love trivial shìt like that.

Next up, Superman II and then Superman II: The Richard Donner cut. 2 films that are wildly different yet have the foundations of the same movie, I recommend watching it to see what Donner (Superman 1 director) had in mind for the sequel. He had 80% of the film shot before walking out on the film, the next director had to reshoot everything (at least 51% new footage) in order to be credited for the film. The same scenes from the theatrical movie that they did keep they just used footage from the different camera angles, plus the Marlon Brando footage that was used in Superman Returns appears in it's original form here

d.anthony

weiland79 wrote: »

Halloween 2 the reboot.

Oh dear what an awful awful mess. Stab,stab rinse repeat.
For a 'scary' movie i found it odd that i wasn't scared or even slightly uneasy at all.
What was rob zombie thinking. Put's me off watching anymore of his movies.
Am currently redeeming the evening by watching Alien,can't believe i've never seen it before.

I thought both the reboot movies were good. I'm a big fan of the old films (apart from Resurrection) but thought the way they delved into the character of Michael Myers was very well done.

Tony EH

...not to mention Brando charging (and getting) a million just to do his scenes! I think he's on screen for about 15 minutes.

...In Superman of course.

KungPao

I watched Child's Play 2 last night:D

That Good Guy doll is evil I tell ya, eeevil.

Duggy747

Tony EH wrote: »

...not to mention Brando charging (and getting) a million just to do his scenes! I think he's on screen for about 15 minutes.

...In Superman of course.

He got top billing too on all the posters as well as the title credits. :pac:

HarryPotter41

Dempsey wrote: »

Centurion, decent but gets marked down because the Roman soldiers sounded like they were going to a football match in England rather than into war.

The Social Network, a good film but what is close to the truth and what is the fiction will always leave me 'annoyed'.

Red, good film

The Other Guys, some funny bits but alot of crap (story) inbetween whilst you wait.

Wall Street 2, I liked the first one alot but this one is "off", I think if they focussed on the market crash and gekko then they would have done alot better. The half arsed love story had no place in this film imo

Agree with ya on red, good movie if ya like that kind of thing, humour and action and
Malkovich is great in it.

Tony EH

'Aliens'

James Cameron's excellent 1986 sequel to 'Alien' takes the pace up several notches. Gone are the long, slow, suspenseful scenes and in come fast edited action sequences, for the most part anyway.

Sigorney Weaver excels again as Ellen Ripley and this time she has to lead a bunch of the most idiotic "marines" down to the planet where she found the alien of the original film. Along with the action, there's conspiracy too in the form of the shadowy "Company", AKA Wayland / Yutani and their hidden agendas.

'Aliens' is really a war movie dressed up as a space romp. Unfortunately, it's full of the most appalling war movie clichés too. But, these add as much as they take away from the film. Special mention should go to the "war movie coward" Hudson, played by Bill Paxton.

It's probably Cameron's best film by far and unfortunately the last great film of the franchise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjlN-m7CUvA

KungPao

Tony EH wrote: »

'Aliens'

It's probably Cameron's best film by far...

Arnie says Nein!

Sgt. Bilko 09

Crimebusters best show out there

A V A

i watched jackass 3d and thought it was gas !!!!!!!

Mike Litoris

Tony EH wrote: »

'Aliens'
It's probably Cameron's best film by far and unfortunately the last great film of the franchise.

With you there buddy. I just watched the making of on Blu ray. It was a feckin pig of a film to make for everyone bar a few of the actors it seems.

Sagat06

Just watched the 1998 version of Psycho with Vince Vaughan.. WOW and LOL are the only two things I can come up with to describe it

James T Kirk

I read somewhere, Gus Van Sant was asked why he made a scene-by-scene remake of Psycho.
And he apparently replied "so nobody else could."
Hahaha, I hope he said that.

Finally got around to watching Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus. I love that shark! It eats EVERYTHING. :pac:

bnt

Last night I pulled out Dangerous Liaisons for the first time in about 8 years. Made in 1988 with Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves. No swearing, almost no blood, a little sex ... but it has to be one of the nastiest films ever. There was a remake of sorts called Cruel Intentions* but that's the Hollywood version of the story.

Sample dialogue: Merteuil (Close) and Valmont (Malkovich) discussing his plan of attack on Madame de Tourvel (Pfeiffer):

Vicomte de Valmont: You see, I have no intention of breaking down her prejudices. I want her to believe in God and virtue and the sanctity of marriage, and still not be able to stop herself. I want the excitement of watching her betray everything that's is most important to her. Surely you understand that? I thought betrayal was your favorite word.
Marquise de Merteuil: No, no..."cruelty." I always think that has a nobler ring to it.

Keanu plays a clueless young music teacher, and does pretty well in that role. If you've seen The Thick Of It on TV, Valmont's servant Azalon will look and sound very familiar: a young Peter Capaldi. Director Stephen Frears clearly wasn't too worried about authentic period French accents ... :cool:

* 1999, with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, Reese WItherspoon and Selma Blair.

Tony EH

KungPao wrote: »

Arnie says Nein!

'The Terminator' is still a great film, but some of the effects are a real dodgy looking these days. It's the best film of that series though, easily. But, overall 'Aliens' has aged much better.

Tony EH

Mike Litoris wrote: »

With you there buddy. I just watched the making of on Blu ray. It was a feckin pig of a film to make for everyone bar a few of the actors it seems.

Haven't seen that making of. I'll have to take a look.

Paddy Samurai

Watched it again tonight , one of my favourite films. An action packed 152 mins ,its a beautifully filmed 18th century conspiracy/action/mystery with a great story.Vincent Cassel one of my favourite actors is in top form.Samuel le Bihan and Mark Dacacos are also top notch.If you hav'nt seen this one yet,your in for a treat.

In 1765 something was stalking the mountains of central France. A 'beast' that pounced on humans and animals with terrible ferocity. Indeed they beast became so notorious that the King of France dispatched envoys to find out what was happening and to kill the creature. By the end, the Beast of Gevaudan had killed over 100 people, to this day, no one is entirely sure what it was, wolf? hyena? or something supernatural? Whatever it was, shepherds had the same life-expectancy as the red-suited guys in 'Star Trek'. The Beast is a popular myth in France, albeit one rooted firmly in reality; somewhat surprisingly it is little known to the outside world, and perhaps incredibly it has never been made into a movie. Until now... Based on the true story of the Beast of the Gevaudan that terrorized France in the mid-XVIIIth century, the movie aims to tell first and explain afterwards.

paulosham

I watched The American last night, really enjoyed it. Story was nothing new but you could see it was made by someone who knew what he was doing, slow moving but it had a nice pace to it. It looked great and Clooney was on top form. Some really hot girls too.

ashyle

Watched Channel 4's Dead Set for the first time, it was really good, genuinely scary.

Ciaran_B

I had an Emma Stone double bill yesterday. Starting with:

Easy A

This is a semi-retelling of the book The Scarlett Letter. Like a few other modern versions of classic books it’s set in a US High School.

Emma Stone is an anonymous (although smoking hot) high school student who lies to her best friend about a fictional boyfriend to get out of going camping. Her friend puts her on the spot about this new ‘boyfriend’ and she tells her that they’ve slept together. This quickly spreads around their school and she starts to get a rep as a bit of a skank. Her new found infamy starts to open some doors for her. And soon she’s acting as a sort of prostitute where-by she takes money from boys to let them tell their friends they’ve had sex. Of course things go wrong and people get hurt.

I pretty much loved this from start to finish, I’m a sucker for anything set in an American High School. The cast were fantastic; Emma Stone is excellent, Stanley Tucci is great as her Dad (and a total inspiration for bald dudes everywhere), Thomas Haden Church plays his usual deadpan self as a cool teacher and the rest of the cast are fine. It’s witty and clever and zips along. It had a killer soundtrack and for a film near the end of it’s run the screening I was in was 90% full.

Marks of ten? It’s gets an A.



Paper Man

After Easy A I went and looked for some other Emma Stone films. This was the only other recent one I hadn’t seen and it sounded interesting so I grabbed it.

It’s the story of a middle aged writer played by Jeff Daniels who moves to a remote house in Montauk to work on his new book. While there he strikes up a friendship with a local teenager played by Emma Stone. He’s also accompanied by his imaginary friend, a costumed superhero called Captain Excellent, played by Ryan Reynolds.

Well, this was pretty terrible. It doesn’t really know what it wants to be and the whole thing is a total mess. I never really bought the relationship between Stone and Daniels. Jeff Daniels plays his part like a cross between Harry from Dumb and Dumber and Forest Gump but we’re meant to buy him as a successful writer – yet he’s an adult with an imaginary friend. Emma Stone, though, is excellent. The few good bits of the film are all scenes she’s in. One scene in particular she really kills. There’s a couple of twists near the end but by then I just didn’t care what happened to any of the characters

It looks pretty good, there’s a nice rural America vibe and some lovely shots of wild coasts and cliffs. There’s a real autumnal colour palette used that’s ruined every time Ryan Reynolds appears on screen dressed as a Golden Age Superman, all bright red and blue.

Somehow this has scored 7.1/10 at IMDB but a much more sensible 29% at Rotton Tomatoes. At the start of the end credits there’s a Sundance Labs logo which made perfect sense as the whole thing screams festival fodder tripe.

One to avoid unless you’re a massive Emma Stone fan.

the_monkey

Jaws!!!

I haven't seen it in years, still a great film but the shark looks crappy ... im just back from great white shark diving so maybe im being too picky...

KungPao

the_monkey wrote: »

Jaws!!!

still a great film

Still great and always will be.

the_monkey wrote: »

the shark looks crappy

It always did!

ValJester

Gets the genius,the madness and the implosion of Hunter spot-on.Loved it.

Kess73

Watched Black Death and the remake of Nightmare On Elm Street over the weekend.


Black Death was a bit meh, with Sean Bean's group pretty much a crap version of Clive Owen's gang in King Arthur.


As for the remake of NOES? I had to force myself not to switch it off a few times. So boring and so inferior to the original which is 20 odd years it's senior.

There was no sense of menace from Freddy, and the rest of the cast are ridiculously wooden, and must have been cast only because some of them have slight facial resembelences to more famous actors.


Also why the hell should the viewer actually care if any of the kids die in the film

seeing as there is enough shown in flashbacks to suggest that Freddy was murdered in the wrong due to lies told by the kids when they were younger.

All in all a very poor remake imho that sits near the bottom of the pile of horror remakes from recent years.