What have you watched recently?

Anyone who has yet to watch Dark Cuty should get off boards and get their hands on a copy of the directors cut.


Heres my thoughts on it from an old thread:
Great Sci Fi is something which we rarely see more than a fleeting glimpse of. Every year we get one or two sci fi films which do decently in cinema before disappearing into obscurity. Very few of them go on to be called classics though every now and again a sci fi film will cross over into the mainstream garnering not only critical acclaim but also commercial success, Blade Runner and The Matrix being the perfect examples of this. Both were films which slowly built into unstoppable monsters and are now looked upon as genre defining pieces of cinema.

One film which has always deserved more than the quiet critical appreciation it achieved is Dark City. Long etched in my top 5 films of all time it is one of the most visually stunning, intelligent and awe inspiring films ever made. Largely ignored upon it's initial release in 1998 the film slowly began to earn an underground following until the The Matrix was released the following year, and sent Dark City scurrying to the dark. The similarities between both films are numerous. Both concern an ordinary man dealing with a world hidden beneath his own and how he alone can save humanity. Visually both are strikingly similar, in fact The Matrix reused sets from Dark city and both share a similar atmosphere, though at the end of the day Dark City remains the superior film, it could even be subtitled the thinking mans Matrix.

The plot revolves around John played by an understated Rufus Sewell, who wakes up in a bathtub one day with no memory of whom he is. Upon discovering a dead hooker in his bed room Murdoch goes in search of his identity. Searching for him are his wife who hasn't seen him in weeks and the police who believe that he is a serial killer responsible for the murder of 6 women.

When approaching the film it really is best to know as little as possible beforehand, as it is one of the rare breed of film which sets out initially to confuse the viewer before slowly drawing them into its world and offering a glimpse behind the curtains. The original cut of the film featured a studio added voice over which gave away several of the films twists before the credits even rolled. Anyone watching the initial cut of the film is advised to mute their TV until Dr. Schreber (Kiefer Sutherland) looks at his pocket watch.

So many reviewers have accused the film of being all style over substance but to take this viewpoint is to completely miss the point. Yes, the film is amazingly stylistic but the entire film hinges on the strong, layered plot which rewards repeated viewings. The newly released directors cut is a joy to watch, it allows the film to breathe and gives the characters more time to develop and slowly become more human before our eyes.The use of effects which rely more on imagination than computer trickery has lend the film a timeless look, as fresh today as it was a decade ago. Alex Proyas eye for detail is unmatched, take any scene, even the smallest most insignificant scene and watch as every part of the screen comes alive.

Remember the last time you sat down and saw something which exceeded all your expectations and truly surprised you? No, well Dark City is a film that will do just this. It's one of the rarest breed of film, it not only challenges the viewer but entertains them at the same time.

The recently released Directors Cut is the way to go for it not only contains the film as Alex Proyas intended but the theatrical cut also. So if you enjoy cinema which does'nt set out to lead you by the hand or enjoy great Sci Fi then you simply cannot go wrong with Dark City.

azezil

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone who has yet to watch Dark Cuty should get off boards and get their hands on a copy of the directors cut.

Can't say I've ever heard of "Dark Cuty", Dark City however is quite good

Last movie I watched was Primer. Interesting movie, I'd imagine not to everyone's taste but I enjoyed it.

jaykhunter

azezil wrote: »

Can't say I've ever heard of "Dark Cuty", Dark City however is quite good

Dark Cuty? It's probably made by the same guys that made Alice in Underpants :P

I have the Director's Cut, i'll let ye guys know how it goes

azezil

azezil wrote: »

Can't say I've ever heard of "Dark Cuty", Dark City however is quite good

Last movie I watched was Primer. Interesting movie, I'd imagine not to everyone's taste but I enjoyed it.

One of the drawbacks of typing on an ipod while watching a film is that sometimes you miss a typo.

BopNiblets

Dark Cutey! Maybe he means Jennifer Connelly?

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Get Low - Moving.

Yeah, Robert Duvall was great in it I thought.

Tony EH

I dunno, I've watched Dark City about 3 times now, First when it came out and the last time was several months ago and it always leaves me feeling underwhelmed for some reason. I'm not sure what it is about it that does that. Perhaps it's the lead? I just don't find him up to the task.

One thing that's odd about the film is that I'm damn sure I read a similar story in some old American Comic that my dad bought for me way back in the early 80's. Something like a Marvel or an EC comic or along those lines. The comic itself was from the late 50's and had some mad stories in it.

delbertgrady

True Grit - excellent: can Hailee Steinfeld beat Melissa Leo to the Oscar?
Never Let Me Go - reviews have been mixed, but it's a decent adaptation of a superb book

naughto

iam currently downloading dark city directors cut will see how it is

Nolanger

Come back, little Sheba - talky movie about an alcoholic and Sheba (the pet dog) who's gone missing.

Im Only 71Kg

Get Low. excellent film. nice gentle viewing..8/10

cHaTbOx

Bollywood film called 3 idiots , really good , not what I expected .

12 angry men , I don't need to say anything about it really ,it's a classic.

ManofStraw

Just watching Rocky Horror at the moment, forgot how catchy the songs are

NeedaNewName

Platoon in 720p.

Nice.

Zak Flaps

Up In The Air. Liked it a lot. Didn't think I would.

FearDark

It was ok, its getting rave reviews, for me its a 7/10th though. Damon and bridges are excellent.

ValJester

I loved it and now feel like a big girl's blouse.

bnt

I got home quite late last night and ended up watching Private Benjamin with Goldie Hawn. It's one of those films that I thought I had only partly seen, or not paid full attention to before. Now I've watched it from start to finish, I suspect that I did see the whole thing before, but it didn't quite stick in the memory since it seems to end abruptly, with quite a few things up the air about Private Benjamin's future.

The last shot has her walking down the driveway in a wedding dress, after bailing on the French idiot. The Army made her choose between them or him, and she chose him, so was that finally the end of her military career? Or would they take her back if she asked nicely? It's all left oddly unresolved.

These days, when I see a classic movie that holds up, I naturally speculate about a remake ... and Anna Faris beat me to it - but it's gone quiet since last year. :rolleyes:

Caprica

Far from Heaven - Haven't seen this in a few years, forgot how good it was. Julianne Moore plays a Stepford type wife who's life starts to fall apart in 50's USofA. She got an oscar nod but was bet by Nicole Kidman for the Hours for which Julianne got a supporting actress nod. Highly recommend this movie.

Black Swan - I enjoyed this but didn't quite live up to the hype, builds to a fantastic end.

Biutiful - Javier Bardem got an oscar nomination for this so I decided to go see it. Great performance in a good movie. Set in Barcelona but not the one that the tourist board would be promoting.

The Usual Suspects - First time seeing this, found it confusing would need a second viewing or more to understand the complex plot.

ShiverinEskimo

Caprica wrote: »

The Usual Suspects - First time seeing this, found it confusing would need a second viewing or more to understand the complex plot.

:eek:

SarahBM

I was in HMV and picked up When a Man Loves a Woman. I remember my mam mentioning it before, wasnt really sure what it was about, but bought it coz it was a fiver.

Brilliant performances from Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia! I thought it was a great film. really delt with some difficult issues. And the two little girls in it were great little actresses.
next on my list is When Harry Met Sally.

Tony EH

Caprica wrote: »

The Usual Suspects - First time seeing this, found it confusing would need a second viewing or more to understand the complex plot.

Keyser Soze did it.

Tony EH

'One Hour Photo'

Robin Williams shows that he wasn't just a one trick pony when he turned in a super creepy and quite sad performance of loner who works at a photo counter in a large suburban American mall, "Savmart". Seymour "Cy" Parish (Robin Williams) becomes obsessed with a family who has been getting their photos developed by him for the better part of a decade. He's watched them grow, especially the 9 year old boy Jake (Dylan Smith). He and his mother, Nina (Connie Neilsen) are on friendly "business aquaintence" terms with Cy and are one of those snap-happy families, who feel the need to photogaph everything. Consequently they are contstantly getting their snaps developed. Husband Will (Michael Vartan) is only met briefly as Nina tends to do all the shopping.

Cy is somewhat envious of the Yorkin family and fantasizes that he could in some way become "Uncle Cy". But, his fantasies can never become real and he is probably aware of this. But due to a dispute at work, Cy ends up getting fired from his job by his boss Bill (Gary Cole) and things with him and the Yorkin family take a different turn after Cy discovers that all is not as it seems with the happy family.

'One Hour Photo' is a superb story of a slow and quiet decent into a particular madness. Cy is clearly a disturbing character, even from the outset, but Williams plays him with a real discreet menace. A difficult thing to achieve, expecially for a guy like him who is renound for OTT performances. The other actors generally turn in competent parts, but the only other character in the film who really shines is Gary Cole, as Bill, the department store manager. A real "dick" if ever there was one. Cole actually played a similar character in the brilliant 'Office Space', but he was more passive aggressive in that. Here he is just the boss everyone would hate, but in fairness he does have a good case for letting Cy go.

'One Hour Photo' is one of those films that you may have heard of in passing, but may not have seen. Made in 2002, it did only so-so at the box office, but I think it's one of the better films of the 2000's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOvY76XFkcg

pikaia

Just watched The Troll Hunter,thought it was really good. It is subtitled so maybe its not everyones cup of tea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLEo7H9tqSM

the_monkey

Infernal Affairs - The Departed was a remake of this, great film, maybe not as good as Departed but well worth the watch.


Titanic - Great film, gets a lot of bad press cos of it's cheesy love story
but it's a hell of a lot more then that - gets me really interested in the real history of the ship and its wreck discovery - sign of a great movie.

Otacon

Watched All Star Superman last night. It is an animated feature based on the All Star Superman comic book series.

Having not read the comic, I can only assume it worked better as one, as the film feels disjointed. Some scenes just seem to crop up with no explanation was to why we are here. There are some cameos that appear

Samson and Solaris for example

which happen out of nowhere and confused me further.

However as the plot begins to conclude, the film improves. The voice acting is alright but not a patch on Under the Red Hood.

This is one for fans, not casual viewers. 6/10

Sad Professor

Alien: Resurrection

I hadn't watch this in a while. It's actually not quite as terrible as is sometimes suggested. The main problem with it is that it was totally unnecessary and shouldn't have been made in the first place.

These films are a bit like the Mission: Impossible series in that each director really did their own thing with each film. Cameron mined the first film of all its suspense moments and integrated them into a fantastic slam-bang military action film that bore more in common with The Terminator than with Ridley Scott's original film. Fincher tried to get back to the slower paced suspense of the first film, failed miserably, but still managed to deliver a deeply flawed but interesting human drama.

And with Jeneut the franchise for the first time was directed by someone who realised that he was making a b-movie. This combined with Whedon's script results in a film that doesn't take itself as seriously as it probably should have.

Notorious

Saw True Grit last Friday and it definitely lived up to my expectations. Great acting by Bridges, Damon and Hailee Steinfeld - especially the scene where Mattie was haggling over selling her horses. I loved the locations they used for the shots too.

I've now got to check out the original and the book.

ReacherCreature

Watched Ultraviolet today. It's...um...I really don't know. It's insane - a lot happening with little explanation. The plot isn't developed enough i.e there's little about the actual 'war', the cast are meh - Milla from Resident Evil fame stars and it's practically the same, the head villian is weak and the Six doesn't get enough screen time.

However the action is decent if a little "samey".

Though I especially liked the directors inputs, you could write a decent piece on the references to Nazi Germany in it.

Recommended to pass away a bit but it's far from special.

Basq

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Watched Ultraviolet today. It's...um...I really don't know. It's insane - a lot happening with little explanation. The plot isn't developed enough i.e there's little about the actual 'war', the cast are meh - Milla from Resident Evil fame stars and it's practically the same, the head villian is weak and the Six doesn't get enough screen time.

However the action is decent if a little "samey".

Though I especially liked the directors inputs, you could write a decent piece on the references to Nazi Germany in it.

Recommended to pass away a bit but it's far from special.

Got the Blu-ray in a €5 Lucky Bag from Gamestop.... haven't watched. Don't know if I'll bother!

Watched 'Red' yesterday and one of the first films in a LONG time that I couldn't finish... tired, uninteresting and not even all that entertaining in a switch off your brain type of way. Just terrible!

My girlfriend bought me Rec and Rec2 for Valentine's Day.. true love.. so that and 'Cropsey' are on the cards for tonight.

ReacherCreature

ReacherCreature wrote: »

Watched Ultraviolet today. It's...um...I really don't know. It's insane - a lot happening with little explanation. The plot isn't developed enough i.e there's little about the actual 'war', the cast are meh - Milla from Resident Evil fame stars and it's practically the same, the head villian is weak and the Six doesn't get enough screen time.

However the action is decent if a little "samey".

Though I especially liked the directors inputs, you could write a decent piece on the references to Nazi Germany in it.

Recommended to pass away a bit but it's far from special.

It was botched by the studio, a good 30 minutes or so was cut leaving it something of a orgy for the eyes and nothing more.