What have you watched recently?

paulosham

I thought 50/50 was pretty ****. We Need To Talk About Kevin was good but my favourite lately has to be Martha Marcy May Marlene, great performances from all involved.

Warper

Fishooks12 wrote: »

+1

It annoys me that people who don't get it resort to the typical lazy "it's pretentious" remark without offering any worthwhile critique

Who said its pretentious? Its just plain crap. If i wanted to watch half an hour of the solar system i'd watch Discovery.

Warper

paulosham wrote: »

I thought 50/50 was pretty ****. We Need To Talk About Kevin was good but my favourite lately has to be Martha Marcy May Marlene, great performances from all involved.

We Need to Talk About Kevin is very good plus Snowtown - depressingly bleak but a great film.

ReacherCreature

Warrior.

Sensational stuff. Brilliant. Unreal scenes, great acting, direction and it flowed really well. I didn't want it to end.

The fighting scenes were stand out. The crunching punches were so visceral, I found myself rewinding scenes.

Can't wait to let it sink and rewatch it soon.

Fishooks12

Warper wrote: »

Who said its pretentious? Its just plain crap. If i wanted to watch half an hour of the solar system i'd watch Discovery.

Plenty of people

Can you give any real reason as to why it's 'crap' apart from simplifying it in an attempt to belittle it?

AnnyHallsal

My response to Tree of Life was that it's a different way of telling a story through film. We're used to very traditional narratives that aren't at all like what life feels like as you live it. Tree of Life used image and sound to communicate feeling, to suggest thought. I thought it was beautiful, interesting and moving.

I even liked all the universe/dinosaur stuff. I thought it put the circumstances of an ordinary family within the broadest context of all, the beginnings of life on earth, and it made me think about how conservative most film-makers are. I loved Malick's ambition and innovation.

2001 was panned when it was released. Tree of Life belongs in that tradition, while remaining a very different film. I don't know if it's a 'masterpiece' or not but I know that I remember it more clearly than most films I saw this year.

e_e

I haven't seen any other movie that communicates the enormity, importance and emotional weight of everything. I was floored by it and the film lingered for days afterwards.

It's really the opposite to pretentious, because all Malick is saying is "this is what I believe". You either choose to accept it or not but people just assume that the director is putting himself on a pedestal when it's really more honest than that. "Pretentious" has become the word people use when they pretend they don't have nothing to say.

Mindkiller

The last 20 or so minutes of 2001 are probably still the most mindblowing 20 minutes of special effects I've seen. Anyone who thinks that Space Odyssey is just a load of lights and models floating around with no intrinsic meaning or artistic merit is a bit of a dunce tbh. I'm looking forward to watching Tree of Life when I get the chance

AnnyHallsal

Mindkiller wrote: »

The last 20 or so minutes of 2001 are probably still the most mindblowing 20 minutes of special effects I've seen. Anyone who thinks that Space Odyssey is just a load of lights and models floating around with no intrinsic meaning or artistic merit is a bit of a dunce tbh. I'm looking forward to watching Tree of Life when I get the chance

Same guy did the Tree of Life effects - Trumbull, of Silent Running fame.

e_e wrote: »

I haven't seen any other movie that communicates the enormity, importance and emotional weight of everything. I was floored by it and the film lingered for days afterwards.

It's really the opposite to pretentious, because all Malick is saying is "this is what I believe". You either choose to accept it or not but people just assume that the director is putting himself on a pedestal when it's really more honest than that. "Pretentious" has become the word people use when they pretend they don't have nothing to say.

I agree it's not pretentious. Quite the opposite. I found it an emotional rather than an intellectual experience. I think Malick set out to tell a story about a family in the grandest context of all, the history of the universe, and he did it by focusing on the feel of a set of moments. It's, I suppose, a poetic or impressionistic approach, and surely there's room for that alongside the thousands of conventional films released every year.

That_Guy

Moneyball: Really enjoyable film. I liked that it was a film based on baseball behind the scenes moreso than on the pitch which was a nice idea. Fantastic film and would definitely recommend. Anyone else think the song the daughter sings sounds like that Jason Mraz song "I'm Yours"?

Green Zone: Basically Jason Bourne in Iraq with Brendan Gleeson doing a questionable American accent. Instantly forgettable but enjoyable action film all the same.

50/50: Excellent film that really tugs at the heart strings yet knows exactly when to be serious. The only thing I don't like about the film is Seth Rogen's character. He plays the same character in nearly every film I've seen him in. A stoner trying to get laid except in a whole new story. Apart from that, it's fantastic and definitely warrants a visit to the cinema.

azezil

Dream House. I felt the trailer gave too much away, while it could have been an unoriginal predictable movie it just turned out to be kind of a boring movie instead.

That_Guy

azezil wrote: »

Dream House. I felt the trailer gave too much away, while it could have been an unoriginal predictable movie it just turned out to be kind of a boring movie instead.

I think Jim Sheridan wanted his name removed from the film because the final cut was so bad.

stampydmonkey

Columbiana - Absolute gack..turned it off after bout 30 mins

The Art of Getting By - Good enjoyable film about a pre graduation student lacking any motivation and his relationship with those around him. Easy watch and really enjoyed it. Quite cringe worthy in parts. Good soundtrack too

Used Cars - Spielberg film staring Kurt Russell as a used car salesman and his efforts to save his dead employers car lot from being taken over by his rival across the road. Hadn't seen it in donkeys years so was great to see it again.

QDog10

Arthur Christmas: a christmas cracker of a family movie.. A gem..

crash davis

Nolanger wrote: »

The true classic version was made in 1951.

Have to disagree with you there. The 80's version would be my fav.

The Liquidator

Meloncholia, very strange film, not what I was expecting at all but quite good at the same time.

Warper

The Liquidator wrote: »

Meloncholia, very strange film, not what I was expecting at all but quite good at the same time.

The ending is brilliant in it.

Watched Julia starring Tilda Swinton as a hapless alcoholic who gets involved in an abduction of a child. Started off great but lost its way a bit and is too long. Still worth a look.

crash davis

Tintin: Visually/technically brilliant with some great set pieces but ultimately a nothing kinda film, due in no small part to a wafer thin plot and characters that I really didn't care about. The last action scene is a let down too.

Do you think they could use this new technology to make an Indiana Jones flick with a young Harrison Ford and a decent script?

johnny_ultimate

Mon Oncle - delightful comedy from Jacques Tati. Full of visual invention, lovingly extravagant art design and a distinct Gallic charm throughout. Seems ahead of it's time in its biting pastiches of modernisation. My first real Tati film - after last years The Illusionist - but looking forward to checking out more on the strength of this. Always great to see a comedian who can tell a great joke through framing, colour and sound effects!

bnt

I finally got to see Quadrophenia this evening: one of those legendary films that everyone assumes you've seen, but I hadn't. The story is really simple, in a good way. Young man in the 1960s gets involved with the Mods in London. I didn't know much about them. They were like rats - cowardly as individuals, but slightly dangerous in gangs. The "Mods vs Rockers" riots in the Brighton area were the cause of media panic at the time, but look like a walk in the park by modern standards.

I saw Jimmy's journey as a "trip" of a sort, in four phases: the anticipation, the high, the comedown, and the hangover. The fashions and the scooters are out of date now, but the themes of teenage alienation and thrill-seeking are as powerful as ever.

psychward

bnt wrote: »

I finally got to see Quadrophenia this evening: one of those legendary films that everyone assumes you've seen, but I hadn't. The story is really simple, in a good way. Young man in the 1960s gets involved with the Mods in London. I didn't know much about them. They were like rats - cowardly as individuals, but slightly dangerous in gangs. The "Mods vs Rockers" riots in the Brighton area were the cause of media panic at the time, but look like a walk in the park by modern standards.

I saw Jimmy's journey as a "trip" of a sort, in four phases: the anticipation, the high, the comedown, and the hangover. The fashions and the scooters are out of date now, but the themes of teenage alienation and thrill-seeking are as powerful as ever.

I caught the end of it after the punch up in Brighton. I couldn't find anything in common with the main character. He quit his job and then seemed to go live on the streets in a pretty hostile world and seemed to be self-sabotaging his own prospects for happiness. There just didnt seem to be any excitement or teenage thrill seeking or anything interesting in just wandering aimlessly about as he did after quitting his job as he also lost his friends and family. I'm not sure how credible the music was either as ''The Who'' album Quadrophenia was released in 1973 but mods and rockers seem to have been an early 1960s phenomenon.

Clooney George

a rather people test at the Biggie Smalls rap tale. All the major times in his lifestyle get found - no excitement. Not a spot on Risk II Society/Boyz in Da Hood/Hustle and Circulation or the Cary Offer film Notorious

seanybiker

Red dog. Simple film based on a true story about a dog back in the 70s in australia who brought a small mining town together. He travelled all over the place looking for his master who had died. Farted a lot and nobody really owned him.
Sounds crap but I really enjoyed the film. There are a few funny parts in it.

bnt

psychward wrote: »

I caught the end of it after the punch up in Brighton. I couldn't find anything in common with the main character. He quit his job and then seemed to go live on the streets in a pretty hostile world and seemed to be self-sabotaging his own prospects for happiness. There just didnt seem to be any excitement or teenage thrill seeking or anything interesting in just wandering aimlessly about as he did after quitting his job as he also lost his friends and family. I'm not sure how credible the music was either as ''The Who'' album Quadrophenia was released in 1973 but mods and rockers seem to have been an early 1960s phenomenon.

That's kinda what I was getting at - you missed all the good stuff (from Jimmy's perspective) in the first half of the film. You got the hangover without going to the party. :pac:

You also missed the very first shot of the film, which puts the end of the film in perspective.

It shows Jimmy walking back up the hill from Beachy Head in the golden sunset - which implies that he survived and things were going to get better for him. Some have read that scene as implying that he died, and this was "heaven", but we see him doing the opposite of "walking off in to the sunset". It's also a better fit for Pete Townshed's outlook on life - he's not one for giving up.

Mickeroo

Cowboys & Aliens

Only got round to seeing this last night. Had originally been very much looking forward to it but the negative reviews and reaction put me off shelling out for it. Since my expectations had been lowered I ended up fairly enjoying it, its pretty watchable, could have been heaps better of course. I liked that they tried to avoid making it goofy and went for a more serious tone. I didn't really buy Harrison Ford's character arc though and the relationship he had with his Indian servant seemed really forced, would have much preferred if he stayed

as a villain in a grudging alliance with the main hero and turned all bad guy at the end again

Worth watching the once anyway.

Sad Professor

I quite enjoyed C&A as well. I loved the concept. The main problem with the film was the plot. It was very formulatic.

Damon Lindelof did a rewrite of the script and you can definitely see some Lost influences.

That_Guy

Unthinkable: Interesting psychological thriller in which Samuel L. Jackson plays an interrogator forced to use brutal torture techniques in order to find out the location of three nuclear bombs before they detonate.

I moreso found myself questioning my own morals throughout. If I was put in that position of having to interrogate a suspect using torture methods, how far would I go to gain answers and save thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people?

The ending is a little bit crap but a very enjoyable film nonetheless.

Mr.Saturn

Mary and Max

A clay-animation detailing the relationship of two pen-pals, a 44-year-old morbidly obese, OCD-addled New Yorker and an 8-year-old Australian girl
with a birthmark that looks like poo.

Yeah, it's a black, black, comedy with more hints of black, but for all its misery, I came out at the end with something oddly life-affirming, if that makes sense to any of you fine people. A bit like Elliot's other notable work, Harvie Krumpet.

duiggers

Orgazmo

A Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of Southpark) comedy back in the 90s about a mormon who ends up acting in a porno in order to make money for his wedding. Pretty funny film and definetely worth a watch for anyone who liked any of their other stuff.

psychward

bnt wrote: »

That's kinda what I was getting at - you missed all the good stuff (from Jimmy's perspective) in the first half of the film. You got the hangover without going to the party. :pac:

You also missed the very first shot of the film, which puts the end of the film in perspective.

It shows Jimmy walking back up the hill from Beachy Head in the golden sunset - which implies that he survived and things were going to get better for him. Some have read that scene as implying that he died, and this was "heaven", but we see him doing the opposite of "walking off in to the sunset". It's also a better fit for Pete Townshed's outlook on life - he's not one for giving up.

ahhh I see. Now it makes ''slightly'' more sense. Not sure I want to watch the second half of the movie again as I found it kind of depressing but I'll watch the first half sometime. The gang leader working as a bellboy with the uncool uniform in the second half was funny though.