What have you watched recently?

Nemanja91

MickShamrock wrote: »

Due Date. Enjoyable. When I saw the trailer I initially thought that they were remaking "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" which wasn't the case, but there are a few similarities.

Yeah I saw that last week, was enjoyable.

helimachoptor

Alien on E4 now

bnt

Saw Howl at the IFI, Saturday lunchtime. It's about "beat" poet Allen Ginsberg (James Franco), the poem of that name, and the obscenity trial that took place surrounding it. Franco is very convincing as Ginsberg, especially in scenes of him reciting the poem, some of which are accompanied by decent, if slightly repetitive, animation.

The court scenes are the highlight of the movie for me, which says something since Ginsberg was not present at them. Instead we have David Strathairn and Jon Hamm (Mad Men) as opposing lawyers, Bob Balaban is excellent as the judge, and witnesses include Jeff Daniels and Mary Louise Parker. Parker, as prim English expert Gail Potter, gets the best line of the movie. "I spent three years re-writing Faust." (Court audience laughs.) "It's not as funny as you think." :pac:

But the big drawback of the movie, for me, was Ginsberg himself. If Franco's portrayal of him is at least partly accurate - and by all accounts it's pretty good - then Allen Ginsberg was a nasty piece of work during that period (1955-57). A clueless dilettante, full of himself, writing "poetry" that doesn't scan unless you're stoned. Maybe you had to be there, back when a few swearwords could cause genuine shock and attract district attorneys like flies to a turd. Fifty-plus years on it all seems so fake and self-aggrandizing, and (to me) not really worth a movie.

krudler

American Gangster, hadnt seen it in a while, enjoyable movie. Washington is relaiable as always and Crowe is good, but Josh Brolin steals the show as Detective Trupo.

losthorizon

Watched The Kings Speech an excellent film although I think its probably painted a rose painted picture of the events and of King George the 6th as well.

Avatar - What can I say -> One of the worst films I have ever seen. I cant even imagine a child would have been interested in the outcome of James Camerons silly film. Even worse than Titanic. 0/10

UrbanSea

0/10? You must have been watching the ads.

Watched Taken again last night,picked it up for 3 euro in HMV. Love it.

BopNiblets

All Star Superman
Not too bad if you like the animated DC stuff, good music.

Inside Job
Documentary covering the economic crash a few years ago, narrated by Matt Damon, very well put together even though some of the same kind of material appeared in Michael Moores Capitalism: A Love Story (I think).

The Mad Hatter

losthorizon wrote: »

Avatar - What can I say -> One of the worst films I have ever seen. I cant even imagine a child would have been interested in the outcome of James Camerons silly film. Even worse than Titanic. 0/10

I'll agree that Cameron's candy-fest is pretty bad and massively overrated, but I wouldn't go as far as 0/10. For all the clunky dialogue, broad characters and photoshopped-to-death visuals, it's McDonald's for the mind, but it's no Catwoman.

Nolanger

Superman 3 - stupid and funny.

irishh_bob

losthorizon wrote: »

Watched The Kings Speech an excellent film although I think its probably painted a rose painted picture of the events and of King George the 6th as well.

Avatar - What can I say -> One of the worst films I have ever seen. I cant even imagine a child would have been interested in the outcome of James Camerons silly film. Even worse than Titanic. 0/10

i could never get past the redicolous science behind the movie , the movie is set a mere 150 years into the future yet we are led to believe that man has managed to travel to a planet 45 trillion miles away

Sad Professor

irishh_bob wrote: »

i could never get past the redicolous science behind the movie , the movie is set a mere 150 years into the future yet we are led to believe that man has managed to travel to a planet 45 trillion miles away

Well it is science-fiction. And in fairness to Cameron, he spends more time considering the factual science than most. No FTL, no artificial gravity generators, and the interstellar ship we see at the start is supposed to be very close to what a realistic deep space vessel would be like.

MagicMarker

irishh_bob wrote: »

i could never get past the redicolous science behind the movie , the movie is set a mere 150 years into the future yet we are led to believe that man has managed to travel to a planet 45 trillion miles away

What was the world like 150 years before man walked on the moon?

The Mad Hatter

Sad Professor wrote: »

Well it is science-fiction. And in fairness to Cameron, he spends more time considering the factual science than most. No FTL, no artificial gravity generators, and the interstellar ship we see at the start is supposed to be very close to what a realistic deep space vessel would be like.

"Unobtanium."

MickShamrock

Machete - Awesome!

Sad Professor

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

"Unobtanium."

Yeah but that's just a MacGuffin. Cameron doesn't even attempt to explain it. It's the design of the ship that is realistic.

I'm not defending Avatar though. As much as I wanted to like it, I preferred it when it was called Dances with Wolves. In fact I remember reading an interview with Cameron years ago in which he talked about how much he loved that film.

SarahBM

watched the 40 year old virgin for the first time last night.

funny film, but I wouldnt add it to my collection or anything

The Mad Hatter

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah but that's just a MacGuffin. Cameron doesn't even attempt to explain it. It's the design of the ship that is realistic.

Even maguffinium would have been a better name, though. Calling it unobtanium is writing that's so lazy it's almost arrogant. Such a shame they didn't put as much time and effort into the script as they did into the visuals. (I found the crude allegories to the Iraq war equally irritating.)

irishh_bob

MagicMarker wrote: »

What was the world like 150 years before man walked on the moon?

the moon afaik is 250 thousand miles away , not four and a half light years

Mike Litoris

I'm about 20 mins into The Mechanic. I cant take much miore of its awesomeness.:rolleyes:

ShiverinEskimo

Never Let Me Go - Morbid

Up-n-atom!

Got a few classics in over the weekend.

Don't know why it took me so long to watch Raging Bull. The dvd's been sitting up in my room for a couple of years and I just never bothered. More's the pity that de Niro only seems interested in making Fockers movies these days...

Got in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes this afternoon as well. Can't beat a Howard Hawks film for great one-liners.

krudler

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

Even maguffinium would have been a better name, though. Calling it unobtanium is writing that's so lazy it's almost arrogant. Such a shame they didn't put as much time and effort into the script as they did into the visuals. (I found the crude allegories to the Iraq war equally irritating.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium

not made up at all, a real scientific term.

The war thing I'll give you, although Aliens is just one massive allegory on Vietnam.(gung ho military getting obliterated by indiginous population)

The Mad Hatter

krudler wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unobtainium

not made up at all, a real scientific term.

Only as a concept, not as a mineral in the middle of a forest. I've heard before that it wasn't a term invented for the film, but what does that matter?

The war thing I'll give you, although Aliens is just one massive allegory on Vietnam.(gung ho military getting obliterated by indiginous population)

Hm, hadn't really picked up on that (though they weren't, to my knowledge, quite as blatant with terminology from the Vietnam war in Aliens - "Shock and awe"? Really? They weren't hitting us hard enough with the allegory already?)

Don't get me wrong, I have no issue with allegory in films (or in anything), but the sort of simple-minded, ham-fisted moralising in Avatar is the kind of stuff I'd expect from a second-rate Disney movie, and certainly not worth the nine-and-a-half hour run-time.

The Mad Hatter

Anyways, tonight's watch has been Paprika. A bit of a head-spinner, this, and it might be worth a second watch. (It was evidently an inspiration for Inception.) Directed by Satoshi Kon of Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers, the character design and animation are gorgeous, but the plot maybe went a step too far.

It involves a trio of scientists experimenting with a new form of technology, which allows dreams to be monitored and participated in by a third party. Meanwhile, one of them is secretly using her in-dream alter-alias Paprika to give psychological counselling to a police officer who is having a recurring dream of a murder. Almost inevitably, some of the devices are stolen, allowing ne'er-do-wells to meddle in other people's dreams. But that's really all by-the-way in the film. It almost throws plot and story completely aside in favour of metaphor and philosophy, and the lead characters are strong enough that we can be interested in their psychologies and stories even if the overall arc makes less sense.

There are some very nice parallels drawn between films, internet and dreams. The opening credits are very cool, and Kon really knows, as he demonstrated in this and Tokyo Godfathers, how to animate a great chase sequence. Definitely an enjoyable film, but to get the most out of it you'll have to concentrate an awful lot or not at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqg3Sw3s9Wg

johnny_ultimate

Paprika is great (albeit as you say slightly muddled), the theme song has been my ringtone for years now! Opening credits are amongst the best credit sequences ever!

I was truly crushed when I heard Kon had passed away, his films were some of the most confident non-Ghibli anime films of recent times. His films had a true sense of identity, unique and clearly the work of an auteur. Hopefully the finished Dream Machine will live up to his legacy. If you haven't seen his other films, definitely check 'em out! Millennium Actress is my favourite of the lot, a gorgeous and emotive journey through Japanese cinema.

The Mad Hatter

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Paprika is great (albeit as you say slightly muddled), the theme song has been my ringtone for years now! Opening credits are amongst the best credit sequences ever!

I was truly crushed when I heard Kon had passed away, his films were some of the most confident non-Ghibli anime films of recent times. His films had a true sense of identity, unique and clearly the work of an auteur. Hopefully the finished Dream Machine will live up to his legacy. If you haven't seen his other films, definitely check 'em out! Millennium Actress is my favourite of the lot, a gorgeous and emotive journey through Japanese cinema.

I've seen Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers (loved the nod to both in Paprika), and they'd both rank among my favourite anime.

Edit to add: He's almost certainly my favourite anime director on the basis of just those three films (much as I love Miyazaki) - his films have a style all their own, and do not deal with small themes. I'm constantly impressed that Darren Aronofsky bought the rights to reshoot all of Perfect Blue so that he could use one half-minute-long scene from it in Requiem for a Dream.

padz

127 hours... not great

HBO president Regan docu,.... great

Anime, vampire hunter D Bloodlust... vgud

....watched the first 8parts of death note reely like it.... anyone know a good shop place to buy anime dvds, never see any on sale in xtravision/gamestop

johnny_ultimate

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

I've seen Perfect Blue and Tokyo Godfathers (loved the nod to both in Paprika), and they'd both rank among my favourite anime.

Edit to add: He's almost certainly my favourite anime director on the basis of just those three films (much as I love Miyazaki) - his films have a style all their own, and do not deal with small themes. I'm constantly impressed that Darren Aronofsky bought the rights to reshoot all of Perfect Blue so that he could use one half-minute-long scene from it in Requiem for a Dream.

Really must watch Perfect Blue again, haven't seen it in a good few years. Also, if you haven't seen his epic Paranoia Agent series it's well worth investing the time in. Extremely complex, but extremely rewarding.

Also, if you haven't seen any of their films yet, you should check out both Mamoru Hosoda's (Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars) and Makoto Shinkai's (5cm Per Second, Place Promised in our Early Days) films. Again, very mature and effective grown up anime directors. Summer Wars is out on DVD soon actually, and while it's fairly messy, it's endearingly so and a hell of a lot of fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD5QiLi2krk

tunguska

First Blood Part II.

Was on 3e saturday night so I decided to give it whirl for old time sake. I was only 10 when I saw it originally but my God, how could I ever have considered this a good movie? Quite possibly the worst film ever made


Bewitched

Switched on the tv last night and here was a Will Ferrell film, so I decided to watch a few minutes of it. I ended up watching the whole lot. The worrying part is I actually enjoyed this movie. It had a kind of old school charm about it. Nicole Kidman normally doesnt do anything for me but for some strange reason I really fancied her in this????? Like I said, worrying.

Ash.J.Williams

tunguska wrote: »

First Blood Part II.

Was on 3e saturday night so I decided to give it whirl for old time sake. I was only 10 when I saw it originally but my God, how could I ever have considered this a good movie? Quite possibly the worst film ever made


Bewitched

Switched on the tv last night and here was a Will Ferrell film, so I decided to watch a few minutes of it. I ended up watching the whole lot. The worrying part is I actually enjoyed this movie. It had a kind of old school charm about it. Nicole Kidman normally doesnt do anything for me but for some strange reason I really fancied her in this????? Like I said, worrying.

When i was a kid i stood outside a local cinema for nearly half and hour just staring at the poster of Rambo...probably got more imaginitative satisfaction from staring at that poster then I did when i eventually became old enough to see it!