What have you watched recently?

Technocentral

Tony EH wrote: »

Belgian.

Flemish.

CyberGhost

Tony EH wrote: »

Belgian.

Corrected.

the_syco

Over the weekend I saw the english (dubbed?) version of "First Squad - The Moment Of Truth" which I found good, albeit a bit short. The plot was original, and I enjoyed it.

Also watched "Puss n Boots" which I found great XD

Next up will be the extended version of Mallrats; nearly 30 minutes extra has been added on.

krudler

The Captains- William Shatners documentary where he meets and interviews the actors who have played Star Trek captains,from Patrick Stewart to Chris Pine. well worth a watch even if you only have a passing interest in Star Trek, particularly for the scenes where Shatner is at conventions, Avery Brooks is a lunatic.

Judgement Day

_LilyRose_ wrote: »

I watched Straw Dogs (2011 remake) today...
A lot of people on the internet seemed to think it was crap when compared to the original, or because the acting/casting, believability and overall story was useless.
I haven't seen the original, but I thought it was good. The whole psychological thing comes across well with the husband and I enjoyed it as a thriller.
Anyone have any thoughts?

I 'enjoyed' the original if that's the correct word for such a grim movie and I'm tired of saying it - would they ever give up on remakes as 9/10 of them are dreadful. Anyway, 'Straw Dogs' without Susan George - I mean, come on!!

Technocentral

Risible film (original), same sort of violence/rape fantasy shiite as Death Wish 2.

Glico Man

After all the talk of Face-Off in the Nicolas Cage thread I decided to give it a watch again for the first time in at least 7/8 years. Despite the Woo-isms and the frankly ridiculous premise of the movie I still enjoyed it.

Nolanger

Seven chances - Buster Keaton movie where he tries to get married and dodges giant boulders (which got ripped off in Raiders of the lost ark).

Paddy Samurai

Black Rain.
Long time since I seen it,but still a good film.

CyberGhost

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

Black Rain.
Long time since I seen it,but still a good film.

"What was that guy's name, Shinshunji...?"

I love the 80s, Asians were better "bad guys" then middle eastern "bad guys" nowadays.

BeerDrinker

The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Great movie. Seen it quite a few times. Defintely recommend for anyone.

Executive Decision (1996)
Havent seen it in years. Its not a bad watch Its interesting to read up that Steven Segal held up production of the movie because of his

death scene

Not wanting to do it as it was in the script. Certainly a bit of a ego manaic. After all he surely read the script before accepting the role.
But Kurt Russel's character shares alot of traits with Jack Ryan's character from The Hunt for Red october too I dont think that was a coincidence :P

Duggy747

Chronicle

Better than expected with some clever usage of the found-footage camera genre. Dragged a fair bit in the middle but an enjoyable, and dark, climax towards the end which I just couldn't shake off the idea of Akira (which ain't a bad thing )

Considering it was made for 12 million I have to commend alot of the effects work. Some did look a small bit ropey but I've honestly seen far worse effects in big-budget movies.

Enjoyable and short at 75 minutes but I think for this kind of movie it fits nicely.

johnny_ultimate

Castaway on the Moon - not a low budget sci fi reinterpretation of the Tom Hanks film, alas, but it shares some similarities (not least some inanimate pals for the main character). Charming if unremarkable South Korean film about a guy trapped on a small Seoul island after a failed suicide attempt, and the girl who is spying on him with a camera but hasn't left her room in years. Simple with a good natured tone, and some funny moments. It's totally predictable yet delivered with lashings of quirk. Wasn't fond of the overly artificial visuals at times, but it's always nice to see a film with a bright colour palette.

GAAman

Cool World I had been meaning to watch this for some time and it happened to be just started when I got home today. I half read the plot awhile ago and picked up on the connection with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and thought it might be some kind of rip off.

How wrong that thought was! I mean yes it is live action mixed with cartoon ala WFRR but this is WFRR as I read somewhere "on acid". It stars an unbelievably young looking Brad Pitt (Even his voice sounds really young) and Gabriel Byrne with that ropey american accent of his.

Yes it is dated, yes it is sloppy, yes you can see Pitt's eyes are about 2 inches above the eyes of the cartoon character he is speaking to. But I thought it was decent.

As a side note, it was also a reminder of how feckin hot Kim Basinger was

tim_holsters

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Really enjoyed this one, quite fantastic and such a stellar cast. The cold war is hot, I repeat the cold war is hot.

Boo Radley

Melancholia. Truly chilling piece of cinema. The premise, that of a rogue planet, is frightening and much more terrifying than an asteroid doomsday film, even if only because of the scales involved.

I felt it really brought home the consequence of the true and total destruction of Earth. Not like the aforementioned asteroid scenario where the planet remains and there is a possibility, however slim, of survivors.

Dunst's character was well portrayed and left me with an uncomfortable emotional duality where

I was sympathetic towards her suffering but at times detested her actions which resulted from her illness.

The scene where she basked naked in the glow of Melancholia was wonderfully conceived and brought the point of what the film was about home.

As mentioned above

the total physical destruction of the planet was poignant. All life on Earth destroyed, all invention, art, good deeds and bad gone forever. No record of any event or accomplishment remaining, apart from whatever may have been sent into deep space like Nasa's golden record or satellites. The history of an entire planet erased. I felt it was much more emotive than the destruction of the planet in Star Wars, for example.

The final scene

with Melancholia hurtling towards Earth, filling the sky with its scarred face

was terrifying and actually made me shudder. I won't be forgetting that experience quickly.

It was well paced for the subject matter and refreshing to not see an 'Armageddon'-esque frantic film where they are racing against time.

It's certainly worth a look.

FoxT

Rembrandt's J'accuse - Peter Greenaway

Greenaway constructs a story around 'the nightwatch' - one of Rembrandts famous paintings. The story itself is highly speculative, but the movie as a whole is very interesting for anybody who has in interest in art. 4/5


Lost in Translation: - Married Middle aged man, fading movie star, (Bill Murray) travels to Tokyo to star in some advertisements. He meets young lady (Scarlett Johanssen) who is having marital issues of her own, in a Tokyo hotel. Semi - romantic story. Not comedy, not drama, Rottentomatoes rate it highly, I'd just about give it 3/5

Lust, Caution: Set in/about WWII timeframe, love/lust between a chinese freedom fighter & japanese commander. The movie is too long. Nevertheless once it gets going it is erotic, tense & has a great but tragic ending. 4.5/5

bmck

Thank you for smoking.

Not a comedy but really sharp, witty, satirical stuff. Nick Naylor is the spokesman for big tobacco. Heroic defender of a disenfranchised conglomerate Sympathic to the plight of the sweat-shop foreman, the logger, the baby seal poacher. Strong cast. Really liked this one.

later12

That_Guy wrote: »

War Horse:

I went into this film with seriously low expectations because all I had been hearing were negative reviews from friends and family.

I don't really get the hate directed at it all. I rather enjoyed it. It's far from Spielberg's best work but it's a rather decent film.

My main gripe is that not once did I feel anything for any character that crossed paths with the horse whatsoever as it changed hands well to often to gain any sort of bond with the on screen character.

The windmill scene where the two brothers who are caught retreating from the war and are subsequently shot didn't irk any sort of emotional response with me whatsoever because they weren't on screen long enough.

That was my only negative thing to really say about it in what was an enjoyable film overall.

I just got back from War Horse tonight. I blubbed like a girl the whole way through it.

I agree with you on feeling only a loose emotional attachment to some of the characters (in my case, I felt it most closely with Albert).

This really is not a movie about a horse at all. It's a movie about human beings in a time of crisis and misery: the horse is just the thread of human goodness (a goodness directed at the innocent) which binds all of the characters together. The horse is just a vehicle with which to express a very human sort of kindness.

In that context, the poor development of some of the characters (I blame my disdain for Emilie on her woeful French accent) was disappointing. But this was the only really disappointing aspect of the movie. The cinematography and was outstanding.

However, strip it back to its bare bones and this is a wonderfully told story of humanity at its best and at its worst. Like you, I went to see War Horse with very low expectations; yet I was really moved by the whole thing, and so were most of the cinemagoers around me, I would suggest.

Sad Professor

I went to see Womb starring Eva Green and Matt Smith tonight. A mesmerising and somewhat perverse sci-fi drama about a women who, following the death of her childhood sweetheart, decides to give birth to his clone. This somewhat absurd sci-fi plot is used as the basis for what is basically a reverse Oedipal love story. It reminded me a lot of Birth in places, a film I really liked, except I think this is better as it isn’t afraid to take the idea to its inevitable conclusion. I’m not familiar with the director, but the film is gorgeously photographed and he lets the images do the talking.

joseph brand

The Last Detail. Jack Nicholson and Randy Quaid.

Two navy First Officers have to escort another navy officer to prison, but they have about a week to do it. His crime is so petty, (almost non-existent), the punishment so harsh, that Jack feels they ought to show him a good time before he goes to serve his time.
I found this movie after searching through Jack's filmography. It's a decent movie, but for anyone who likes Jack it's great!

McGrath5

Iron Man I am not much of a fan of comic book films, but lately I am enjoying the whole marvel comics theme in the build up to The Avengers.
This is another one I enjoyed. RDJ is becoming one of my favourite actors.

Nolanger

Neighbors - Belushi and Aykroyd living next door. It was rubbish.

mike65

The Stone Killer (1973) from the Winner/Bronson canon is an old school cop drama about a revenge plot by Mafia on other Mafia using unknown "stone killers" and the somewhat convoluted tracking down of same by the police. A nice bike/car chase complete with crashing through fences and plate glass as one would hope, a bloody massacre in the hotel and some glimpses of early 70s politics and society tensions.

The blood squibs used in the 70s often seemed to be a too bright a shade of red and that's the case here as various characters get cut down by machine guns. The score by Roy Budd sounds like out takes from his work from Fear is the Key.

ricero

tower heist - bad ass 80's mother ****ing eddie murphy is back

MagicMarker

Sad Professor wrote: »

Thomas McCarthy's The Station Agent

Charming and quirky little character-driven film about a trio of lonely misfits who strike up an unlikely friendship. Peter Dinklage (yeah the guy from Game of Thrones) is outstanding in the lead role. I'd probably rate McCarthy's three films (this, The Visitor and Win Win) fairly equally, but if I had to choose one I'd choose this. It's the funniest and most offbeat of his films.

Just watched this, loved it!! This is the kind of movie the Descendants aspired to be but failed imo.

krudler

Jackie Brown on netflix, havent watched it in years, forgotten how good it is

mcmacness

I'm just about to watch Crazy Stupid Love with my friends, they're gone to rent it as I type, have seen it before with my ex and both he and I liked it so I dont mind watching it again. Ryan Gosling is gorgeous and Emma Stone is a good actress I think.

Tipsy McSwagger

The Iron Giant

One of the best animated movies in the last 20 years.

Skinfull

Timer great little movie staring Emma Caulfield. Kind of a play on the normal RomCom but with really smart writing and organic comedy.

Paranormal Entity This is a 2009 attempt to cash in on the Paranormal Activity buzz which is basically the same story. Family consisting of mother, son and daughter are in a house with strange happenings. Some odd camera work, terrible acting and crappy dialogue are accompanied by the requisite off camera bangs and on camera chairs moving. Nothing spectacular, just another hand held haunted house movie. Meh.

I watched both of these on US netflix, through my PS3.