What have you watched recently?

Rabidlamb

Patsy fyre wrote: »

Watched Inception for the first time recently.
Simply could not understand it at all.
Even watched it a second time which makes it worse.
Just dont see what all the hype is about.

Well I bloody loved it so people are different I guess.
Thought it was stunning, ticked all my boxes.

Anyway, I'm cut & pasting this from The Descendants thread.
Watched it last night.

Some will have caught this in the last few days.
The UK release date is the 27th of Jan, no word on Irish date.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_descendants_2011/

It has a similar pacing to Sideways & that will please some.
Clooney is as reliable as ever but Golden Globe winning, I don't believe so.
Wife's in a coma, daughters are tearaways, big financial decision pending & revelations come to light.
It could have been smaltzy with the wife coma angle but the director steers us clear of that.
The elder daughter is the standout as you see her grow throughout the piece.
Avoids the Hollywood ending.

Overall, 3/5.

charlie_says

Bridesmaids.

Lot's of laughs peppered by a few crap bits. Some really funny parts.

The fat actress in it was hilarious.

Tony EH

krudler wrote: »

But its got so much explanatory dialogue, they basically tell you everything thats going to happen before it happens, its the only reason Ellen Paiges character exists in it is someone to explain to her/the audience just whats going on.

Exactly. Is it really that hard to follow?

johnny_ultimate

Tony EH wrote: »

Exactly. Is it really that hard to follow?

You'd be surprised how very stupid very many people are.

It is clearly a studio concession Nolan had to make to get his expensive film funded. A small price to pay for a rare ideas-rich, inventive mainstream blockbuster.

blue note

I watched Legion last night - really enjoyed it. I don't usually like those "bad" films, but found myself happy watching it.

I watched On the Waterfront the night before. Very good also. I did kind of find myself waiting for the I coulda' bin somebody, I could have had class... speech.

krudler

Haywire-, awful, awful,awful film. good fight scenes admittedly bookended by the worst script I've heard in a movie in a long time, and some bizarre sequences that dont look finished. cant believe given the talented cast (except the female lead) McGregor, Fassbender, Douglas, Banderas, made this, should have been a dtv movie.

NabyLadistheman

Watched 50/50 last night. Was fairly disappointed with it. Funny in parts but I wouldn't put it down as a Comedy. The potential was massive with such a storyline. It's a really nice story but just not for me

Mickeroo

Watched a few recently.

Puss in Boots: Surprisingly good, definitley a step above the shrek sequels, not quite up to the standard of How to Train Your Dragon or Kung-Fu Panda 2 but enjoyable nonetheless.

Contagion: Very good ensemble cast and does a decent job of showing a more cynical and probably somewhat realistic view of an Outbreak style scenario. Jude Law's character was taken straight from World War Z.Not as good as it should have been but not your typical hollywood blockbuster either. Cracking score from Cliff Martinez too.

Sherlock Holmes - A Game of Shadows: Enjoyed this a lot. I enjoyed the first one a lot too though and this is more of the same. Great chemistry between Law and Downey Jr. Jared Harris was great as Moriarty although I would have liked him to get a bit more screeen time.

Beginners: Thought this was brilliant. Pretty outstanding film from director Mike Mills (Thumbsucker), excellent performances from McGregor, Plummer(surely will get an oscar) and Inglorious Basterds' Melanie Laurent (yum). Its emotionally resonant, quirky without being pretentious and pretty profound in places. Equal parts romance and father/son relationship. One of the best films of 2011 imho.

Ash.J.Williams

I watched "broken glass" starring Hazel O'Connor and Phill Daniels. Dated ovbiously since 1980 but that wouldn't matter to anyone seeking it out. One for the London punk fans.

krudler

Suarezistheman wrote: »

Watched 50/50 last night. Was fairly disappointed with it. Funny in parts but I wouldn't put it down as a Comedy. The potential was massive with such a storyline. It's a really nice story but just not for me

but its not really a comedy, its a drama with funny bits, I thought it was brilliant though

PandyAndy

Warrior

Stars Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte.

Due to different circumstances, two brothers from a broken family take part in an MMA winner takes all competition.

Very good performances from all three actors and well choreographed fights.

8.5/10.

johnny_ultimate

Watched Carpenter's The Thing for the first time (I know, I know). Quite a clever spin on an over-familiar horror formula. It's not quite on the level of, say, Alien but it does probably have the most brilliantly gory creature design I've seen. And the testing the blood sequence is a masterclass in tension.

Mindkiller

The Thing prequel isn't so bad either, as long as you know what you're getting (a run of the mill monster movie). The female lead is a little too pretty and the CG monster effects are corny, but it's a good way to kill an afternoon.

johnny_ultimate

The mere mention of CG monsters instantly repels me :P

I'm a firm believer in more traditional effects work - the artform that died too young - and Carpenter's film is a fantastic advertisement for them. Have never seen an alien creature anywhere near as convincing in recent cinema. Not to entirely dismiss CGI, but there's a physicality to the aliens in Alien or The Thing that are entirely absent these days.

User Friendly

Limitless.

type it into the search engine where lots of reviews were held on it,lots loved it,others thought it was rubbish.

i thought it was very good,really enjoyed it.

D'Agger

krudler wrote: »

but its not really a comedy, its a drama with funny bits, I thought it was brilliant though

Movie of the year for me personally

tim_holsters

Horrible Bosses. Not bad, but don't go out of you're way.

Basq

tim_holsters wrote: »

Horrible Bosses. Not bad, but don't go out of you're way.

Worth it for Charlie Day.. who is excellent in it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCXFKo1UDjQ

keith16

PaulieC wrote: »

Movie of the year for me personally

I must be the only one on here who thinks it's contrived bull! See a lot of good comments about it on here but I just hate Seth Rogen...why does he have to play exactly the same the character in every film?

I watched project NIM on the advice of a poster here recently, defo worth a watch.

Also watched Fargo for the first time recently! Now that's a film! Yeah? Yeah...

Nolanger

Grave of the vampire - impressive low-budget horror film from the early 1970s.

krudler

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Watched Carpenter's The Thing for the first time (I know, I know). Quite a clever spin on an over-familiar horror formula. It's not quite on the level of, say, Alien but it does probably have the most brilliantly gory creature design I've seen. And the testing the blood sequence is a masterclass in tension.

You should watch it with the dvd commentary from Carpenter and Russell, its hilarious, especially the

defibulator scene, Russell is cracking up the whole way through it

. Rob Bottin's effect were years ahead of their time, parts have ages, the human faces are obviously rubber but the dog and other thing effects are still fantastic looking, better than any cgi equivalents.

Mickeroo

bnt wrote: »

Citizen Ruth: bittersweet comedy about a young woman who becomes a pawn in the "abortion wars" in the USA, starring Laura Dern. An early film by Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways, About Schmidt), who's having a little season at the IFI in the run-up to his new film The Descendants. One of my favourite actresses and one of my favourite directors - why had I never heard of this one before?

Laura's character is a mess - we first meet her getting kicked out by an abusive boyfriend, her brother won't let her see the two of her four children who aren't in foster homes, and she gets arrested after passing out behind the same hardware store from which she bought the paint she was huffing. Then she finds out she's pregnant again, meets some radical anti-abortionists in prison, and all hell breaks loose. Some mad pro-choicers get involved too: it's a balanced approach to the issues, if by "balanced" we mean "both sides are equally freaking nuts". :pac:

Watched this last night on netflix! Thought it was really good, definitley closer to Election than it is to About Schmidt or Sideways in that its a straight up satire rather than a meloncholy character study. Great performance from Laura Dern and some good support from the rest of the cast playing a bunch of nutjobs. Liked how the film never took sides on the issues at hand portraying pro life and pro choicers as equally crazy. Solid film with plenty of laughs to be had too.

crazygeryy

Project nim
Boring.

Cell 211
crap and done before.

DanTheMan91

Last night I watched Gran Torino. I taught it was great, really enjoyed it, Clint done a great job playing his character.

Nolanger

Deadly companions - Peckinpah's first movie, with Maureen O'Hara (and her brother). Good but no classic.

Renn

keith16 wrote: »

I must be the only one on here who thinks it's contrived bull! See a lot of good comments about it on here but I just hate Seth Rogen...why does he have to play exactly the same the character in every film?

The guy he's playing was really like that though. So there.

johnny_ultimate

Continuing the catch up game on some 2011 stragglers that keep getting flagged around these parts... Beginners.

Charming and thoughtful stuff for the most part. Three very strong central performances and a somewhat fragmented structure that works really well. There are a few typical quirky indie movie overindulgences - subtitling the dog particularly - but surprised at how involving the the different strands are, and they play off each other in interesting ways.

Only real shame is a mandatory third act romantic complication that I personally didn't really buy into, and just seemed there to hit the predictable story beats. It does lead to a playful take on the old

'run to the airport'

trick though.

But yeah, I enjoyed it. It's a charmer. Huge improvement over Thumbsucker.

darirl

krudler wrote: »

Haywire-, awful, awful,awful film. good fight scenes admittedly bookended by the worst script I've heard in a movie in a long time, and some bizarre sequences that dont look finished. cant believe given the talented cast (except the female lead) McGregor, Fassbender, Douglas, Banderas, made this, should have been a dtv movie.

I just saw it tonight....and what a shockingly bad movie it is. Granted the fight scenes were good but that was it even from the first scene you will notice just how bad the script is.

I do have two parts of the movie which stood out for me..not spoilers by the way..

1) When she wears full camouflage makeup ...while hiding in the bathroom
2) The scene with her and Douglas in the hanger. The tumbleweed in the background goes across the whole screen from left to right, from out in the open to behind and under the jet, classic

Sad Professor

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing

Documentary about film editing that includes interviews with loads of great editors and directors - Scorsese, Spielberg, Scott, Murch, Menke, Kahn, Schoonmaker, Tarantino, etc. Some of the examples it gives aren't the best, and James Cameron tells a story about cutting one frame out of every second of T2 in an attempt to get the length down that makes him look like an absolute idiot, but overall it's very interesting.

skeleton_boy

500 Days of Summer - Fun and somewhat original romantic comedy.