What have you watched recently?

MagicMarker

jaykhunter wrote: »

The Wolf (2010)Benicio del Toro's the main character, and really is just 'there'; nothing special or endearing about him.

He was too busy wondering where his 250 MILLION pieces of gold were.

JohnK

NapoleonInRags wrote: »

I thought it was one of the most moving films I've ever seen - almost brought me to tears and that's saying something believe me. Do you have kids John? Maybe that makes a difference for how it resonates with different people.

Nope no kids here...

Maybe I've just seen too many movies and read too many books where the protagonists are fleeing across some kind of wasteland in a desperate struggle to survive against the odds but my feeling when it was over was that of blandness. Nothing stood out to me as being particularly memorable or noteworthy. Putting some spoiler tags here for a comment on the ending:

Now I was thinking towards the end that they might have a variation of the ending to The Mist and I was half expecting the boy to shoot himself at the very end due to the conversation between himself and his father where the father said he'd have nothing left to live for should the boy die when he had the fever by the beach. Now a very dark ending like that would have had me sitting up and taking notice rather than what we got with the almost happy ending where the boy goes off with a full family. Now that I think of it I guess I felt the ending was a bit of a cheat given the hopelessness that pervaded the rest of the movie.

fitz0

Das Boot - The Three hour cut, not the super long extra bonus cut. I was a bit wary going into this having heard so much praise heaped upon it. But I need not have worried, it's fantastic. Honestly, one of the best films I've seen this year. I'll probably check out the 5 hour cut after seeing this, there's just so much in it.

The pacing is fantastic, with the ending being the one truly climactic ending I've had the pleasure of seeing in far, far too long. The acting for the most part was superb, I've heard criticisms that it was overacted but I found it to be perfectly fitting especially given that most, if not all of the actors, were unknown and stayed unknown after the film. It's hard to tell that the whole film was dubbed because of the camera noise or somesuch.

Overall I'd easily give this 5/5 - Excellent film.

Shryke

Recently watched too bleak films.

The Road was up first. I had read the book and knew what to expect, and got exactly that. The film was good but nothing brilliant rather like the novel. McCarthys most easily digestable work. I don't think cinema will do such a good job translating Blood Meridian. The heavy prose are what make that book the almost biblical masterpiece I think it is.

The Book of Eli was just boring. It failed from the first in what it should have strove to do. It didn't grip, it didn't entertain. I had to watch it in three sittings because I was that bored. I felt like I should have had some knitting with me to keep me occupied. The film itself wasn't terrible but with such a great cast (alright, mostly Gary Oldman) I expected better.

kart

Robin Hood (2010) - Visually intriguing and interesting, but lacking the deepness in storyline and Kate Blanchett as lady Marian is unbelievably dull and boring - she makes this otherwise good movie sink, badly.
In the end of the movie it tells us: "And so the legend begins". Well, thanks for mentioning, otherwise i wouldn't have known that the legend will begin AFTER the movie ends and the reason we didn't see any of it was just because it wasn't there ..YET!
Mark Strong was awsome, Crowe was not bad either.

Date Movie (2006) - I hope none of my friends finds this movie funny.. if they do i will seriously ask them to see a doctor. I wonder how many drinks u need for seeing any fun in this sorry excuse for a movie. Probably enough to pass out just to escape the horryifying experience of sitting though this ****.
I have only one question left. Alyson Hannigan, why on earth did u take role in there? You couldn't possibly need money THAT bad?

The Bucket List (2007) - Wonderful piece about two strangers brought together by fate at the darkest time of their lives. Sentimental and sad, yet a flick that gives you positive boost of energy, a will to go on and be a better person:) A must-see for everyone who are getting a bit depressed when the hard times kick in.
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman - can't go wrong there! Nicholson did make me feel that i had seen that movie and that character already... well, i probably had, he just plays his typical role character again. It isn't annoying tho, just a lil' deja vu.
Good ending!

fillefatale

Total Eclipse, directed by Agnieszka Holland (The Secret Garden), explores the self-destructive relationship between the infamous French poet Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis). There were some good moments, enchanting cinematography. Ultimately, for me, the film was half an hour too long, it dragged and my nerves were frayed trying to keep up with Leonardo's 'bad boy poet' persona. I didn't really understand some Verlaine's motives either, they behaved like two overgrown schoolboys.

BopNiblets

The Twilight Samurai, really great samurai drama, it's not really an action movie, there's only two short fights in it, but it's superb.

kart

The wind that shakes the barley (2007) - Beautiful acting by Cillian Murphy and Padraic Delaney, the rest of the cast was not that good - i constantly felt how hard they were trying to make a face they are not acting, didn't convince me.Very nicely shot, great soundtrack.A fine movie and a gripping story, but there was something missing in it... it didn't teach me anything new and characters were a bit sterotypical - specially the english ones, which was disappointing.The ending was probably supposed to be harsh and very deep, but once again i felt something was missing, it just didn't catch my attention the way it should have.
I think that people might say it is better movie than it is purely because of the issues are so close to everyones heart...
But i do recommend the movie to everyone - if only for the purpose of seeing what the story and feelings were back then.

Duggy747

Just after watching Solomon Kane, enjoyable enough film. Far more hits than misses with a hefty slice of hammy dialogue. I've never read the comics and know zilch about the character but I liked it.

Purefoy was pretty good as SK, it was fairly refreshing to see an action hero have that bit more of a range of personality rather than just a miserable sulking bastard. I couldn't help thinking he sounded like a farmer but I prefered it to the typical out-of-place American accent or well-spoken English accent for a grizzled character.

The usual swords 'n sorcery clìches are here ("These a dark times we live in" What sorcery film doesn't have that line? :pac:)

The feel of a medieval film was captured perfectly with the locations, costumes and all that mullarkey. The let-downs were some relatively unusual editing to the rest of the film in parts and

The big CGI creature at the end which looked like a very cheap version of Megatron. Kinda took away from the rest of the film which kept things pretty much practical

Overall, not a bad film. It's the 1st of a proposed trilogy so if they keep it level for the 2nd film I'll probably keep with it.

Feeona

Just saw In the Loop last weekend. A British Sec of state (played by a fey Tom Hollander) believes that war is 'unforeseeable', which gets everyone in a right state. The star of the film communications manager Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is a Scottish version of Dr Perry Cox from Scrubs, now with added curses and sexist remarks to beat the band :pac:
Great characters, great scenes, and Malcolm Tucker is my new hero

mike65

Now watch the TV series its spun-off from "The Thick of it" (much better than In the Loop)

Watched The Matador (2005) last night, Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear as an unlikely pair in a character study of a hit man and a buisness man down in his luck. Quite nice with some good off-centre laughs and acting.

Renn

No, it's not 'much better than In the Loop'. It's different. It's a tv series. Not a film. Not totally fair to make a comparison tbh. Anyways, both are brilliant.

Renn

Renn wrote: »

No, it's not 'much better than In the Loop'. It's different. It's a tv series. Not a film. Not totally fair to make a comparison tbh. Anyways, both are brilliant.

The only difference is the extended running time. In this day and age there is no real difference between quality cinema and television, often in fact it is the latter which is more impressive and as such to call a TV series better than a film is a valid argument as the series is far superior to the film.

mike65

[palm of the face]

ShiverinEskimo

Deleted User wrote: »

The only difference is the extended running time. In this day and age there is no real difference between quality cinema and television, often in fact it is the latter which is more impressive and as such to call a TV series better than a film is a valid argument as the series is far superior to the film.

Doesn't the series have a slight advantage though in that it doesn't have to introduce, flesh out and wrap up all it's characters in a couple of hours.

Take Band of Brothers vs Saving Private Ryan. Both excellent but BoB was basically a 10 hour plus version of it so it was always going to be 'better'.

Movies should me measured in their own right and shouldn't be compared to other mediums.

mike65

Red Heat (1988) the last of the old school Arnie action movies before he became integrated into the Hollywood mainstream with Twins and Total Recall. Has the IQ of cereal box but moves along well enough to keep your watching. The plot is basicly 48 Hrs
rehashed (Walter Hill directed with his usual subtle stylings).

Renn

Deleted User wrote: »

The only difference is the extended running time. In this day and age there is no real difference between quality cinema and television, often in fact it is the latter which is more impressive and as such to call a TV series better than a film is a valid argument as the series is far superior to the film.

And the extended running time is one huge advantage in fairness. You really cannot compare both as it makes no sense whatsoever. And the series is not 'far superior'. I think it's become somewhat fashionable to just hyperbole on everything these days. Fact is, if you liked The Thick of It you'll like In the Loop. If you liked In the Loop you'll like The Thick of It. Simples.

ShiverinEskimo

ShiverinEskimo wrote: »

Doesn't the series have a slight advantage though in that it doesn't have to introduce, flesh out and wrap up all it's characters in a couple of hours.

Take Band of Brothers vs Saving Private Ryan. Both excellent but BoB was basically a 10 hour plus version of it so it was always going to be 'better'.

Movies should me measured in their own right and shouldn't be compared to other mediums.

Renn wrote: »

And the extended running time is one huge advantage in fairness. You really cannot compare both as it makes no sense whatsoever. And the series is not 'far superior'. I think it's become somewhat fashionable to just hyperbole on everything these days. Fact is, if you liked The Thick of It you'll like In the Loop. If you liked In the Loop you'll like The Thick of It. Simples.

Saying you can't compare a film to the TV show it's a spin-off from is akin to saying you can't compare a short story to a novel based on said short story. Was In the Loop a film merely produced by the team behind The Thick of it then it would be slightly unfair to compare them but given that both feature the same characters and come from the same writer/director/actors then the comparison is far more appropriate.

I don't understand how finding the series to be superior is hyperbole. It's a valid opinion and one which most people are of. While the film is excellent it does feels like an extended episode of the show and could easily be broken into two parts and aired as a Christmas special. The only difference between the film and the series is the calibre of supporting actors.

Saying that people will like In the Loop if they enjoyed the show is not necessarily true a number of people felt quite let down by the film as they felt that it did nothing new and was just a few episodes run together. Same way in which many Simpsons fans disliked the film.

Also you can't Band of Brothers to Saving Private Ryan in the same way you can compare In the Loop to the Thick of It. If that were the case then you could compare the Wire to Generation Kill as they only connection between both are the people behind the scenes and one or two actors.

Renn

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't understand how finding the series to be superior is hyperbole.

You included the term 'far superior', hence me disagreeing with it.

While the film is excellent it does feels like an extended episode of the show and could easily be broken into two parts and aired as a Christmas special.

So then is it fair to compare, as you say, two episodes to an entire series?

Saying that people will like In the Loop if they enjoyed the show is not necessarily true a number of people felt quite let down by the film as they felt that it did nothing new and was just a few episodes run together.

I'm not sure where you're getting these stats from because I haven't really heard anything like that, only the opposite. And if they felt it was just like a few episodes then surely they'd like the bloody thing? They're looking for anything to complain about by the sound of things.

Javelin77

The band of brothers ending is such a lame idea . When soldiers are asking each others what the hell are we fighting for then suddenly they discover a jewish camp for prisoners. Bla bla bla like if that was the purpose of all american soldiers lame lame hollywood producers.

johnny_ultimate

As a result of playing too much Red Dead Redemption, I've began watching The Man With No Name series again. I've expressed my distaste for Clint Eastwood before, but I can't find a single thing to criticise in these films (maybe poor dialogue-synching, but that's being fussy). Fistful of Dollars is a great introduction, one of the great 'one man going against the odds' films (reminded me of Yojimbo, also fantastic). Effortlessly effective performance from Eastwood, he owns the role. The direction is top notch from Leone, and of course Morricone's score dominates the soundtrack.

The only one I'd seen before (I know, I know) was For a Few Dollars More, and I'd forgotten how truly inspired that film is before watching it again last night. I genuinely feel this is a superior sequel. With two central characters, it could have gotten messy, but both prove equally capable of owning the screen. Lee Van Cleef is a superb addition to the series. The set-pieces in the film totally up the game, particularly the hat shoot out which just wins. Leone's direction seems even more confident, and Morricone comes into his own too - the way the soundtrack blends into the sound of the pocket watch's little jingle is some of the best sound design I've ever seen. Unbearably tense on occasion, funny as hell (Clint popping up to the prison cell with a fistful on dynamite and just smiling ) - close to perfect. Can't wait for three more hours in this world with the Good the Bad and the Ugly!

After all the Westerns, I also watched the very unusual Hamlet 2 last night. Weird comedy, never really laugh out loud funny (except for during the ludicrous climax, which is up there with the Producers for musical WTFery) but quite witty too. It's silly, and the delivery is odd at the best of times, but as a late night movie it's OK. Catherine Keener proves herself a capable comedy actress, and Steve Coogan is fine as the lead. A strange satire on the typical motivational teacher movie.

ShiverinEskimo

Deleted User wrote: »

Also you can't Band of Brothers to Saving Private Ryan in the same way you can compare In the Loop to the Thick of It. If that were the case then you could compare the Wire to Generation Kill as they only connection between both are the people behind the scenes and one or two actors.

I was more going for the similarites in that they are both set in WWII and are styled extremely similar in terms of the action set pieces and tone.

Tom Hanks and Co even came across Easy Co. in SPR outside of Carentan.

They definately share more of a connection than just the people behind the scenes and one or two actors.

Renn

Renn wrote: »

So then is it fair to compare, as you say, two episodes to an entire series?

If those two episode take the characters and place them in a new enviroment as a standalone story with no connection to the overall arch of the series then yes you can compare.

[QUOTE=Renn;66258510I'm not sure where you're getting these stats from because I haven't really heard anything like that, only the opposite. And if they felt it was just like a few episodes then surely they'd like the bloody thing? They're looking for anything to complain about by the sound of things.[/QUOTE]

People are an odd bunch and when they find themselves paying 10 euro for the privilege to see something near identical to what is on TV then you can understand why they feel short-changed. The film is fantastic but tbh if you're making the transition from TV to Cinema then you expect something different, something which separates it. Bar the addition of Tony Soprano and a few shots in Washington In the Loop could easily be just an episode of the series.

Richard Dower

Finally got to see Iron Man 2 in the cinema, loved it...better then the first, more humour...RDJ was even better then the first. 4.5/5

Zapp Brannigan

Seeing as how I missed it when it was in the cinemas I was delighted to spot A Prophet on sale in HMV yesterday.

Watched it last night and thought it was brilliant. Everything about it, the acting, music, story had me hooked from the start!

ultain

Zapp Brannigan wrote: »

Seeing as how I missed it when it was in the cinemas I was delighted to spot A Prophet on sale in HMV yesterday.

Watched it last night and thought it was brilliant. Everything about it, the acting, music, story had me hooked from the start!

great film:)

kart

Sex and the city 2 (2010) - So... i am just going to say it out straight. This movie is disastrously ****ty. It has no actual storyline, the camera pretty much just follows the characters though a certain time in their life... which is by no means an important time.
Samantha was the only character worth noticing this time and her witty lines offered some good laugh. Apparantly thats all there was.

I was terrified to see that the movie was built up on absolutely nothing but constant change of outfits (too many of them really bad) and series of unlikely and boring events. The most horryfying thing about the sequel was make-up overkill in most scenes. Girls looked scarier than bunch of blood-soaked zombies in several occasions and that is telling something!!! (Hint-hint: elevator scene with Carrie/Miranda/Charlotte)
Sad, sad, sad... that movie should have never been done.

P.s. I liked tv series and first movie a LOT.


Mercury Rising (1998) - I have seen it many times before, just saw it again. The concept and idea are great, but realization comes off just as a typical Bruce Willis action movie. The good wins and bad gets thrown off the roof of scyscraper - what else can u wish for, right? Stereotypical behaviour over and over.
There is a lot to the idea of autistic kid cracking the government super-code. I would have liked it a lot more if they could go more into details of the code, the purpose of it and the story beyond. It seemed that they expected the audience not to care of why the action takes place til it's there. It left me with many questions and no answers.
I think this movie had a good cast. Alec Baldwin playing government agency badass, Bruce Willis being a caring saviour and Miko Hughes as a kid - they did a good job.
But i think it is a good entertainment somehow:)

Sl!mCharles

The Departed: quite frankly jizzable.

The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas: Good movie for sho. I thought maybe the ending could have stretched a bit longer though to do rest of it full justice.

Paddy Samurai

Liked this film alot.Denzel is top notch as usual.One of the better post-apocalyptic films that i have seen.Way better than Waterworld , the postman,Mad Max.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

just finished super troopers, watching beerfest now

excellent movies