What have you watched recently?

Renn · 07-03-2012 3:09pm

Not a complete remake at all. Has elements of a few different films but entirely stands on it's own. Influences include Melville, Hill, Friedkin and Mann imo.

Mickeroo · 07-03-2012 3:17pm

Apparently Michael Mann's early movie Thief bares a lot of resemblances to Drive going by what a few folks said on the netflix thread. Ain't watched it yet myself.

07-03-2012 5:27pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Apparently Michael Mann's early movie Thief bares a lot of resemblances to Drive going by what a few folks said on the netflix thread. Ain't watched it yet myself.

There are some slight similarities but Drive also has some similarities with Heat and a dozen other films. Thief is well worth a watch, one of the all time greats and it features what is in my opinion one of the finest moments in the history of cinema.

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

Bassboxxx · 07-03-2012 6:02pm

Mickeroo wrote: »

Apparently Michael Mann's early movie Thief bares a lot of resemblances to Drive going by what a few folks said on the netflix thread. Ain't watched it yet myself.

+1 on this. Seen the 2 of them quite close to each other not aware of any possible similarities. To say there's some slight similarities is imo, a bit of an understatement. Apart from the stories running nearly parallel, some of the set up of the scenes in Drive look to be taken directly from Thief (or other films like it). Didn't see Driver (yet) so can't comment on that.:(

Loved both of them by the way.

Finneen · 07-03-2012 6:54pm

Continental divide - John Belushi visits a woman in the mountains who's studying eagles.

mikhail · 07-03-2012 7:06pm

FLOOPER wrote: »

Loved Drive but it's a complete remake of Driver with Ryan O'Neil.

Sure, and The Passion of the Christ was a remake of The Matrix Revolutions.

Stinjy · 07-03-2012 9:00pm

I know this isn't new but just watched Notting Hill, and it is actually my new fave. film..

also saw the Descendants, its alright, think it could have the potential to be a lot lot lot better, but it was good as is

07-03-2012 9:26pm

Stinjy wrote: »

I know this isn't new but just watched Notting Hill, and it is actually my new fave. film..

You'd best watch more films if that's the case.

sporina · 07-03-2012 9:53pm

50/50 - watched it last night - my god - had such potential and i liked the main actor but jesus, the psychologist character??? what was the script writer thinking of????? terrible!!

krudler · 07-03-2012 11:17pm

sporina wrote: »

50/50 - watched it last night - my god - had such potential and i liked the main actor but jesus, the psychologist character??? what was the script writer thinking of????? terrible!!

shush, she's ****ing adorable

Stinjy · 07-03-2012 11:21pm

Deleted User wrote: »

You'd best watch more films if that's the case.

I know , believe me I know.. I'm never in the loop but screw it I eventually get around to watching them :L

johnny_ultimate · 08-03-2012 1:45am

Hard Boiled - hearing Gareth Evans wax lyrical about this at the Raid screening gave me the push I needed to finally watch this. And you can see where Evans got his inspiration. A ludicrous, stylishly directed slice of brilliant nonsense. Bar a couple of superb action scenes, I was surprised at how long it took to get the story in gear. But once Chow-Yun Fat and Tony 'Chef Salad' Leung meet up, the film picks up some serious gears and their fun interactions are a welcome counterpoint to the OTT action. The final, hyper-extended action scene in a hospital is inspired though. Fully aware of its own insanity, tongue-is-firmly in cheek and the efforts to rescue a ****load of babies from a maternity ward are endlessly entertaining. Michael Bay could learn a thing or two about excessive explosions from Mr. Woo (playing himself here too!).

A rollicking good time, in pretty HD on Netflix too! Fans of this will adore The Raid.

Mickeroo · 08-03-2012 9:36am

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Hard Boiled - hearing Gareth Evans wax lyrical about this at the Raid screening gave me the push I needed to finally watch this. And you can see where Evans got his inspiration. A ludicrous, stylishly directed slice of brilliant nonsense. Bar a couple of superb action scenes, I was surprised at how long it took to get the story in gear. But once Chow-Yun Fat and Tony 'Chef Salad' Leung meet up, the film picks up some serious gears and their fun interactions are a welcome counterpoint to the OTT action. The final, hyper-extended action scene in a hospital is inspired though. Fully aware of its own insanity, tongue-is-firmly in cheek and the efforts to rescue a ****load of babies from a maternity ward are endlessly entertaining. Michael Bay could learn a thing or two about excessive explosions from Mr. Woo (playing himself here too!).

A rollicking good time, in pretty HD on Netflix too! Fans of this will adore The Raid.

I can't believe you've only watched that for the first time now! It's a classic! Give The Killer a look too, its not as over the top or anything but its pretty good.

D'Agger · 08-03-2012 11:04am

sporina wrote: »

50/50 - watched it last night - my god - had such potential and i liked the main actor but jesus, the psychologist character??? what was the script writer thinking of????? terrible!!

Thought she was brilliant in it - she bounced off the character Adam unbelievably well imo and some of their sessions saw him reveal how he was properly coping with the illness - rather than just joking around with Seth Rogen all the time.

Don't think the movie would've been the same without her tbh!

Sad Professor · 08-03-2012 11:43am

Hard Boiled is great fun, but I do think some of stuff at the end with the babies is a bit too ridiculous.

MJ23 · 08-03-2012 12:14pm

I watched 2001 : a space odyssey recently. Very strange film, really enjoyed it. I'll have to watch it again sometime.

johnny_ultimate · 08-03-2012 12:18pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

Hard Boiled is great fun, but I do think some of stuff at the end with the babies is a bit too ridiculous.

I loved that stuff, so hilariously silly. The 'trousers on fire' bit was a very funny punchline

Brendog · 08-03-2012 12:20pm

I watched "Michael".

Absolutley creepy. Couldn't help spend the entire next day running the fact that this could be happing in any house I walk past.

Funglegunk · 08-03-2012 12:22pm

Brendog wrote: »

I watched "Michael".

Absolutley creepy. Couldn't help spend the entire next day running the fact that this could be happing in any house I walk past.

John Travolta creeps me out too.

FLOOPER · 08-03-2012 3:10pm

Driver v Drive

Renn wrote: »

Not a complete remake at all. Has elements of a few different films but entirely stands on it's own. Influences include Melville, Hill, Friedkin and Mann imo.

Sorry Renn but have to get back to you on
this.

The similarities are just too great in my humble opinion.

OK which film am I talking about here?

Film starts of with a shot of driver waiting outside a place that has just been robbed. Checks his watch. Baddies get in and a staggered chase through city ensues.

The driver is a quiet, smouldering, very cool character, that lets his gait and demeanour do all the talking. He's the kind of guy that looks like he's a real push over but you'ld be so wrong. He has no qualms about who he tells is the real boss when he's hired. If they're over time on a job; that's it then he just drives away. Simple.

He's a real loner but has a penchant for one particular girl who may or may not be his downfall. He lives alone in a cheapish apartment with very minamilist surroundings and little personal possessions.

He's played by the latest Hollywood blond/sandy haired heartthrob and his entire word count for the movie is 350 words.

He gets involved in a job he really probably shouldn't and goes against his instinct in taking the job.

It turns out bad. People are killed by his hands and by his decision to take the job.

It doesn't matter. In the end, that's who he is. He doesn't get the money in the end.

He turns and rides off into the sunset to start another life in another place.

Fin

Granted plotwise it's a lot different but it's more a vehicle to carry the character of the driver.

In the same way that Safehouse is completely different to The 3 Days of the Condor but essentially it's a remake; just "3 days" is much better and tighter written movie than Safehouse.

That's just what I think anyway.

Finneen · 08-03-2012 5:09pm

Captain Kronos vampire hunter - Hammer horror from the early 1970s. All right but no classic.

Kylo Ren · 09-03-2012 6:30pm

An American Werewolf in London

For the first time. Enjoyed it over all. The Transition scenes are amazing.

Finneen · 09-03-2012 6:51pm

Pressure - British film from the 1970s about a young English lad who can't get a decent job because he's black and has trouble with the family because he's not black enough.

krudler · 09-03-2012 8:19pm

Keno 92 wrote: »

An American Werewolf in London

For the first time. Enjoyed it over all. The Transition scenes are amazing.

still inifinitely better than the cgi tranformations in any modern werewolf movie. check out The Howling as well, it came out around the same time as AAWIL and Rob Bottin's work on it was fantastic.

grohlisagod · 09-03-2012 9:48pm

Watched Oldboy the other night. Wasn't sure what to make of it after an hour or so but the last half hour is fantastic. Very good film overall.

Loved how Lee's finger cocked in the flashback when he commits suicide.

crazygeryy · 09-03-2012 10:47pm

The station agent.
I thought it was really good.i wasnt expecting much but I really liked it.

SarahBM · 09-03-2012 11:33pm

Sherlock Holmes - the one with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.

better than I thought. a bit of fun. not as good as the BBC series though.

OldeCinemaSoz · 10-03-2012 12:20am

The Olde Dear gave me a few gems
over last weekend.

CARRY ON DOCTOR, CARRY ON BEHIND, CARRY
ON ABROAD...

Totally humourous.

I love the series.

krudler · 10-03-2012 12:24am

OldeCinemaSoz wrote: »

The Olde Dear gave me a few gems
over last weekend.

CARRY ON DOCTOR, CARRY ON BEHIND, CARRY
ON ABROAD...

Totally humourous.

I love the series.

liked em when I was a kid, but now they belong in the "horribly aged British slap and tickle humour" bin along with Benny Hill.

Jennina · 10-03-2012 1:32am

We're moving again and I can't watch tv at the moment, but I still got my DVDs! So lately I watched some of my favorites again:

DOA, all the Harry Potter movies, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and Alice in Wonderland...

OldeCinemaSoz · 10-03-2012 1:32am

I can't wait for JACK CARTER ON MARS

It's gonna be THE BIG MOVIE I think
which RTE can ONLY HOPE TO SCREEN.

:cool:

Birneybau · 10-03-2012 2:53am

OldeCinemaSoz wrote: »

I can't wait for JACK CARTER ON MARS

It's gonna be THE BIG MOVIE I think
which RTE can ONLY HOPE TO SCREEN.

:cool:

You Wha'?

mikemac1 · 10-03-2012 5:29am

The Grey

Loved it, thought it was realy good

Judgement Day · 10-03-2012 10:18am

"Nightfighters" (1960) at long last I tracked down a copy of this rare movie - it only ever made it to VHS and never appears for sale these days. The movie is set in Ireland in 1941 with the IRA coming back to life in anticipation of a Nazi invasion of England. With a star studded cast including Robert Mitchum, Richard Harris, Cyril Cusack, Dan O'Herlihy etc., etc. it's a pleasing enough way to spend 90 minutes. Robert Mitchum does his duty for the cause before his conscience gets the better of him. What it lacks in special effects is made up for by quality acting and attention to detail. Filmed at Ardmore Studios and in County Wicklow.

bnt · 10-03-2012 2:28pm

Hamlet (2000): Ethan Hawke as Hamlet, Kyle MacLachlan as Claudius, Diane Venora as Gertrude, Julia Stiles as Ophelia, Liev Schreiber as Laertes, Bill Murray as Polonius, and Sam Shepard as the ghost of Hamlet's father. Ambitious, abridged version set in modern day New York, where Denmark is a corporation and their castle is a luxury hotel.

Mostly positive, it did a very good job of telling the central story in a clear manner. It served to highlight a couple of things I hadn't quite copped on to in the past, such as the difficult position Ophelia was put in. The Branagh Hamlet (1996) left me with the impression that her downfall was all Hamlet's fault, but this version shows the influence of her protective brother (Laertes) and father (Polonius) in causing her hang-ups about Hamlet. Laertes gets just a bit too close to her for her (and the audience's) comfort at one point, coming across as a little creepy and incestuous. Any wonder she's screwed up?

However, this is where Bill Murray lets the film down a bit. There's a scene in which he confronts Gertrude (Hamlet's mother) and Claudius (Hamlet's uncle, Gertrude's new husband) about Hamlet's craziness, and tells them to tell Hamlet to stay away. Polonius should be angry, emotional, highly concerned about his daughter - but Murray doesn't have the "method" range to look more than slightly annoyed. Polonius' death is also, shall we say, underwhelming.

Not all the modern-day updating makes perfect sense e.g. in the play, Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern take Hamlet to England, carrying orders to "England" that Hamlet is to be killed. Hamlet changes the orders to have them killed ... by editing a text file on a laptop. Just who are these people in England, that Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are executed on that basis? If it was Mob connections, that aspect could have been explored further.

But this is a modern Hamlet, one who ponders life and death while wandering through a New York video store at 4am, wearing a silly woollen hat, with a gun in his pocket. Had the film been made a few years later, he would be keeping a blog, the dust from the World Trade Center would be everywhere, Claudius would watch Hamlet's accusatory video montage on YouTube, instead of in an art house cinema.

GAAman · 10-03-2012 5:15pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

"Nightfighters" (1960) at long last I tracked down a copy of this rare movie - it only ever made it to VHS and never appears for sale these days. The movie is set in Ireland in 1941 with the IRA coming back to life in anticipation of a Nazi invasion of England. With a star studded cast including Robert Mitchum, Richard Harris, Cyril Cusack, Dan O'Herlihy etc., etc. it's a pleasing enough way to spend 90 minutes. Robert Mitchum does his duty for the cause before his conscience gets the better of him. What it lacks in special effects is made up for by quality acting and attention to detail. Filmed at Ardmore Studios and in County Wicklow.

You mind me asking where you got it? Sounds like a film I would like

Finneen · 10-03-2012 5:19pm

Rancho Notorious - excellent Western about a man who tracks the killers of his girl and joins Marlene Dietrich's posse to track him down. Lots of good songs too. The best Westerns were made back in the 1950s.

Bubblefett · 10-03-2012 5:32pm

Watched Time Travellers Wife hoping for a nice bit of romantic fluff (on the suggestion of a friend).
While I will say it kept me watching and interested in what was going on, I found it a bit weak and forgetable. Not the epic romance I was in the mood for.

SlipperyPeople · 10-03-2012 7:10pm

Birneybau wrote: »

You Wha'?

I think hes talking about this film

mikemac1 · 10-03-2012 7:35pm

Bang Bang Club

Follows a group of four photographers during a troubled time in South Africa. Some vicious acts from both sides, very nasty
There was a short part in Sudan too

Was good

Birneybau · 10-03-2012 8:59pm

hungoverbunny wrote: »

I think hes talking about this film

Really?

SlipperyPeople · 10-03-2012 9:34pm

Birneybau wrote: »

Really?

well maybe not im doubting myself now because usually i've no idea what he was talking about but a google of that john carter throws up that disney film

That_Guy · 10-03-2012 10:32pm

The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn:

Visually it was quite interesting and looked decent enough. The story is ok but it seems very fast paced without any real character background. I watched Tintin the odd time when I was younger and knew he was a journalist but for those seeing a Tintin related film for the first time would be quite confused as it doesn't delve into his background.

As I say, the story is very fast paced. One minute you're in the market in the opening scene and boom, you're whisked away and you're now on a boat.

I don't mind that it's so fast paced and straight to the point but I really didn't find the story that engrossing. It had a few nice set pieces but nothing too breathtaking bar

towards the end when they're chasing the eagle with the third scroll. That was quite impressive looking.

Other than that it wasn't my cup of tea at all.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Remake):

Thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish. I hadn't seen the original film so had no idea what it was about. Was enthralled throughout and I loved Rooney Mara in this.

The runtime is quite long but it didn't feel like it at all and the story never wained and was enough to keep the viewer entertained. Quite enjoyable and would highly recommend.

Odaise Gaelach · 11-03-2012 2:16am

My housemate and I tried to watch Happiness this evening. I think you have to be in a certain mindset to watch it. It being a lazy Saturday evening, we definitely weren't in that mindset.

Halfway through Happiness we gave up and watched Frost/Nixon instead.

CharAdriel · 11-03-2012 7:40am

Saw The Lorax on Friday. I think they finally got Dr. Seuss right. Great environmental message, too.

Patsy fyre · 11-03-2012 9:51am

Seen orphan last night on channel four. Proper scary, freaky freaky film!

Sindri · 11-03-2012 10:00am

Paprika.

A pretty horrendous Anime that I'm not recommending in the Anime thread.

Disgraceful stuff!!!

Miyazaki is Anime done well. There's so much ****e Anime out there it's unbelievable.

barone · 11-03-2012 10:06am

Brendog wrote: »

I watched "Michael".

Absolutley creepy. Couldn't help spend the entire next day running the fact that this could be happing in any house I walk past.

where did you watch it? gf is looking to watch it and has me plagued..

went to john carter.. too long but enjoyable enough, geared up for the sequels no doubt

quickbeam · 11-03-2012 2:03pm

Odaise Gaelach wrote: »

My housemate and I tried to watch Happiness this evening. I think you have to be in a certain mindset to watch it. It being a lazy Saturday evening, we definitely weren't in that mindset.

Yeah, I can see why you'd need to be in a certain type of mood to watch this, but definitely give it another shot some time as it's a fantastic film.

SarahBM · 11-03-2012 4:02pm

The Incredibles. so good! I love Disney Pixar!

What have you watched recently?

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