What have you watched recently?

Sad Professor

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Watched this last night too. Same as yourself, had been waiting an age to watch it, and its DVD availability has been limited to a boxset where I already own the rest of the films :pac:

Saw it on Netflix and jumped. Unfortunately, the picture quality is sub- VHS: I know the film was lo-fi to begin with, but this is a ridiculously poor transfer.

But the strengths of the film shine through. It moves at a thoroughly engaging pace, the characters are very well drawn (from cruel to contemplative), and everything is handled with a real casualness and honesty. Great soundtrack too.

It's a real shame that after this, Together and (to a somewhat lesser degree as the warning signs had begun to appear) Lilya 4 Ever Moodysson disappeared up his own arse.

I watched it on Netflix as well, and yeah, the quality was terrible. The film looked like it was shot in 16mm, so it would probably look pretty good (albeit very grainy) if there was a decent DVD, but most of the releases are non-anamorphic or lack English subs.

Re: Moodysson, I've heard that about his recent output alright. Prior to watching this, I'd only seen Together and Lilya 4 Ever which I thought were excellent. Have you see Mammoth with Michelle Williams? I was under the impression that was a return to form. It's on Netflix as well, so I might check it out later.

Skinfull

Get him to the Greek. Although I should say I tried to watch it, rather than recently watched. I missed the first 15 mins, and turned it off after an hour and oh man it was a struggle to last that long! Horrible, horrible collection of unfunny gags that cumulated in the appearance of Lars Ulrich (the last straw for me).

Why why why did this get so much attention when other better movies get swept aside.

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

Re: Moodysson, I've heard that about his recent output alright. Prior to watching this, I'd only seen Together and Lilya 4 Ever which I thought were excellent. Have you see Mammoth with Michelle Williams? I was under the impression that was a return to form. It's on Netflix as well, so I might check it out later.

Haven't seen Mammoth - had always heard very mixed things about it. A Hole in My Heart, however, is genuinely one of the most obnoxious pieces of crap I've ever had the misfortune to endure. Almost entirely worthless film, and baffling that it's from the same guy who made films as warm and charming as Together and ****ing Amal. Couldn't bring myself to watch Container, which is apparently more 'experimental' still.

I like Lilya 4 Ever, but I do think it's actually quite basic and formulaic beneath the very strong direction.

Tony EH

'The Cruel Sea'

Remarkably accurate portrayal of the "U-Boat war" from the British POV and all the more interesting because it was made at a time when historical accuracy wasn't at the top of the agenda in war films, although British war films have always been a bit more even handed than their Hollywood counterpart in that regard.

Jack Hawkins is the captain, first of a flower-class corvette (Compass Rose) and then of a larger castle-class corvette (Saltash Castle) and is charged with convoy escort in the Atlantic, the Mediterranean and then in the Arctic. His job is to hunt down the U-Boats that have been attacking Allied shipping. Donald Sinden also appears as his first officer, in his debut role and a young Denholm Elliott too is in the cast.

'The Cruel Sea' is great example of "getting it right" when it comes to making films about the war, although it was toned down somewhat from the source material. There's no jingoism, no flag waving and no nonsense going on here. Everything is played straight and it does a very good job of showing what life was like aboard an escort vessel during WWII.

Even though it was made nearly 30 years before, it's an excellent companion piece to 'Das Boot', which excels in showing the war from the opposite side.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joUDAD3GB3g

Judgement Day

Last night Terminator .3. Rise of the Machines (2003) - have it on DVD and still one of my favourite sci-fi movies that I keep coming back to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeC-lGnajT0

WHIP IT!

Wrath of the Titans (2D)

Just....... woeful...

Hobite

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Wrath of the Titans (2D)

Just....... woeful...

So, it is not worth to go to cinema to watch this movie?

WHIP IT!

Hobite wrote: »

So, it is not worth to go to cinema to watch this movie?

In my opinion... most definitely not... just saw it in cineworld... thought it was awful, cannot for the life of me figure out what Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were thinking.

Hobite

WHIP IT! wrote: »

In my opinion... most definitely not... just saw it in cineworld... thought it was awful, cannot for the life of me figure out what Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were thinking.

Usually the names of these actors atracts me to watch movie. However, I have made mistake when I went to watch films with Nicolas Cage - Drive Angry and Season of the Witch. The later was feeeeee, actually I left, didnt watch.

Ok, thanks, I will keep in mind about Wrath of the Titans.

Technocentral

Tony EH wrote: »

'The Cruel Sea'

./QUOTE]

Great movie, if you haven't already seen it you should also check out another great 50s Brit war movie; "Ice Cold In Alex" again its quite a progressive film in its treatment of the Germans and not a revenge fest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaJ5UBi4z2c

Mal-Adjusted

WHIP IT! wrote: »

In my opinion... most definitely not... just saw it in cineworld... thought it was awful, cannot for the life of me figure out what Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were thinking.

that's a shame. the original is one of my all time favorites and i thought the remake was decent enough.

any chance you could tell us what you thought was bad about it please? (without giving away spoilers if i do end up going to it)

cheers

WHIP IT!

Mal-Adjusted wrote: »

that's a shame. the original is one of my all time favorites and i thought the remake was decent enough.

any chance you could tell us what you thought was bad about it please? (without giving away spoilers if i do end up going to it)

cheers

I was just very disappointed in it altogether. I'm not familiar with the original or any further guises of this movie so maybe it will in fact appeal more to fans of the series. I really feel Neeson and Fiennes sleptwalked through their roles, Edgar Ramirez, who plays the main character's brother, was very poor and, I hate to say, but there was several moments that had the audience just laughing out loud at bits that weren't supposed to be funny.

The two redeeming performances you might say, came from Bill Nighy and Toby Kebbell, who offered some light comic relief here and there.

Unspectacular, seen-it-all-before type stuff. Pity.

Tony EH

Technocentral wrote: »

Tony EH wrote: »

'The Cruel Sea'

./QUOTE]

Great movie, if you haven't already seen it you should also check out another great 50s Brit war movie; "Ice Cold In Alex" again its quite a progressive film in its treatment of the Germans and not a revenge fest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaJ5UBi4z2c

"Worth waiting for"

I've seen it so many times, I could act in it. Brilliant film.

MagicMarker

Judgement Day wrote: »

Last night Terminator .3. Rise of the Machines (2003) - have it on DVD and still one of my favourite sci-fi movies that I keep coming back to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeC-lGnajT0

hahaha, very good.

Wait, you were joking, yes?

tim_holsters

Drive. A seemingly effortless display of cool from Mr. Gosling but fans of Mad Men (which really should be everyone) steel yourselves.

Judgement Day

MagicMarker wrote: »

hahaha, very good.

Wait, you were joking, yes?

Nope - I like all the Terminator movies - even the Christian Bale one! I like Arnie in most of his movies. What do you not like about "The Rise of the Machines"?

Syferus

Re-watched The Thing (1982) last night, it is one of my favourite films of all-time. I know it was a well-worn source, I know Alien was a more influential take on this story, but The Thing is better because it is such a wonderful concotment of John Carpenter at his peak, Ennio Morocone scoring (one of the few times Caroenter didn't composing the music himself) and Kurt Russell giving the definitive action hero performance. It had just enough levity to stop it from becoming a depressing slog and the supporting cast of characters were drawn in bold lines and a very large number were instantly distinguable, something that's more of an achievement than it's given credit for.

Sure, there can be plotholes picked, laughs made at the expense of some of the facial SFX models used, but if anything it's become more ethereally scary and foreboding removed from the time of the techniques used in it.

"Yeah, f**k you too."

Comic Book Guy

Not seen the original The Thing in donkeys years but loved it at the time. Can still remember bit at start where Kurt kills the chess game with whiskey "Cheeky Bitch" .

Had "Gerry" on the planner for an age so gave it a go this evening. I'm sorry but thats 2 hours i wont get back. Interesting idea but delivered as absolute dung.

grohlisagod

The Hunger Games. Decent film. Interesting concept. Woody Harrelson is excellent as the contestants mentor as is Stanley Tucci as the TV presenter.

However, there is a pretty blatant cop out on the writer's path which completely changes the whole direction on the film which really annoyed me. The shaky camera effect got a little tiresome also. As a result it only gets a 6/10 from me.

GAAman

Comic Book Guy wrote: »

Not seen the original The Thing in donkeys years but loved it at the time. Can still remember bit at start where Kurt kills the chess game with whiskey "Cheeky Bitch" .

I always thought he said "Cheatin bitch" which for me was funny as hell because it is a machine so it probably just beat him and he got pissed off.

Anyway I watched Killing Bono tonight and I really enjoyed it was very funny.

Skinfull

GAAman wrote: »

I always thought he said "Cheatin bitch" which for me was funny as hell because it is a machine so it probably just beat him and he got pissed off.

Anyway I watched Killing Bono tonight and I really enjoyed it was very funny.

Pretty sure that is what he says for the very reason you mentioned.

Watched Dawn of the dead last night, 1978, Romero and boy I forgot how much fun it was! Great craic. also an early morning trip to Ikea this morning made me realise how good it would be to camp out in during the impending apocalypse!

Also watched Hobo With a Shotgun and ended up turning it off before the ending. Boring, not funny, not great gore or gratuitous enough.

Sad Professor

The Incredible Hulk — I've been a while getting around to this. These Marvel adaptations bore me tbh, but I found this very watchable and prefered how they portrayed the Hulk. However, it still pales in comparison to the Ang Lee film, which I still think is one of the most underrated comic book movies of recent years.

Turtyturd

John Carter: I really wanted to enjoy this but it was just it was so much of a struggle. It would probably benefit from another watch but I don't think I will be in any hurry to watch it again soon.

Your Highness: I like Danny McBride in Eastbound and Down, I like James Franco in Pineapple Express, I like Natalie Portman in V for Vendetta, I don't like any of them in this. Bad concept and a script which lacked any big laughs.

mcmacness

Just watched Red State with two of my friends, thought it was a good enough film. The guy that plays the head of the church Michael Parks was very good in it we all thought. Not sure is he a very famous actor or anything but he was really impressive.

A couple of nights ago I also watched Shark Night- it was a ridculous premise for a film, but it was kind of funny how far fetched it was, it was like the sharks were on crack or something.

Saw The Help last week, I read the book before, loved the book and I did enjoy the film, my friend who has never read the book cried at the film. The actors are fantastic in it and although I am a fan of Meryl Streep and haven't seen The Iron Lady, I do think that Viola Davis was robbed at the Oscars.

Am reading the Hunger Games books at the moment, bought the first one yesterday and I'm nearly finished. I bought the second and third today. I am hooked already Going to see the film on Tuesday so hopefully it'll live up to expectations.

Tindie

Evidence (2011)

Okay, First half of the movie is very slow, a bit like The Blair witch project, we get to know about the 2 Guys and Girl and soon after they get fed up with the guy who's is recording everything and start to arguing most the of time.

The second half of the movie felt like I went to one movie to another movie.

The second half of the movie was bloody fantastic. Action packed until the very end of movie, even after the Credits , I was on the edge of my seat, Jumping here and there I actually screamed !

Really good movie, I loved it!

7/8 out of 10

The Devil Inside (2012)

This movie seem to had some really bad reviews from around the world

I had to check out cause I thought would be much better then the The Last Exorcism (2010)(Which I hated)

I have the same feeling about this movie, both of the movies had some- what of the same plot and ending for both movie were really bad, However for me this is just marginally better then The Last Exorcism (2010)

The first think is that all the scary parts of movie were already been in the trailer, if you seen the Trailer you have already see most of the movie.

Those seem really scary in the trailer when it's added with the rest of the movie, those scary scenes seem to feel a little flat and I did not find them scary at all!

When the movie really get a little interesting that when the movie ends out of the blue, I know a lot people did not like that but for Me a I burst out laughing!

This movie did have some Descent acting and then was once scene that was not ruined in the trailer, which took me by surprised.

This movie is NOT the worst horror movie ever made (Maybe it's one the worst Exorcism and Found footage movie out their but that's about it!),

There a lot more bad movies out there that have got higher rating then this!

I give this movie 4 out of 10!

The Thing (2011)

I am huge fan of The John Capeter The Thing, it's second favorite movie of all time! , Which was a remake of The Thing from another world, which I have not seen yet!

I was not sure how this movie would turn out, there seem to be some mixed reviews about, some good feedback but mostly negative reviews.

So I had to check this movie my self, I know a lot people are comparing this to 1982 Version, which is understandable, it shouldn't really be compared with that version as it was in 80's, a lot change since then, so as movie industry as change since the 80's.

I judge this movie on its own, I did not compare it with the 1982 version, I Knew the effect will NEVER Been the same, as the effect in that movie are one in a blue moon.

This movie introductions character and little character development, this movie as gorgeous Mary Elizabeth Winstead (I can help the fact that In love with her since i saw Her in Final Destination 3, I think was great in this movie as was rest of the cast.

I really enjoyed watching this movie , I found it really good , the movie did really take long to start off, there were right might of jump scenes in this movie in the movie and that did try to add a bit of dark humor into the mix , which really well.

The first Death was really questionable, the effect was little odd at first as the movie went on and I did enjoy the other really good effects, Which I was not expecting at all.

The effect are no were near as good as 1982 to version, there were no were near the worst effect I have seen in other movies1 (Yeah, I know broke own rule here!)

I really had fun watching this movie, PS(I did see The Devil inside day before this movie, which is really bad movie) 7 out of 10

Last week
Scream 4 (2011)
not seen since last year, it as final come on Sky TV in Uk.

I still really enjoyed it again, i think it fit in perfectly with the rest of the series and i found it a lot more fun then 3rd movie in the series.

The only downside was that, it did not feel darker then others movie in series, the other seem tad more darker, they did make this a little bit to funny as the other movies had dark humor,This felt like a bit of a comedy at times.

It was great have old cast back and the new cast were really good as well, When i first saw this movie, I had no idea who the killer was, I was thinking it someone else!, It did shock me at first but in the end in kind a of made sense for that person to be the killer!

Overall , I give this movie 7 out of 10

Syferus

Well, The Thing 2011 does invite comparison to the 1982 version, it painstakingly filled in all the visual clues left at the Norwegian base when McGready and the doctor were exploring it. It was one of the few ideas for a prequel that made sense, actually.

johndoe99

watched the Ghost Writer last night, been a long time since i've been glued to the TV watching a movie, i'm not a fan of Pierce Brosnan, but he was great in this, best mystery/thriller i think ive ever seen:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139328/

mikemac1

Pope Joan

Historical film, I thought it was very good
I enjoy that genre

Iain Glen is a brilliant actor
Just terrifying as the village priest who abuses his family

crazygeryy

deadly pursuit(aka shoot to kill)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096098/

i saw it years ago and im sure i thought it was very good lol it was ok but very dated and the acting isnt great.the best thing about it is they hired 4 or 5 actors who normally play bad guys in movies.one of them was the killer and you didnt know which until 3/4 the way in.nice idea.

bnt

chickenbutt wrote: »

Poltergeist. I really dislike scary movies but this is the only one I can watch and not get too freaked out when I try to sleep!

I've been watching this today for the first time in 20+ years, and I didn't pay that much attention then, but this time I am, and I'm noting various things here as I watch. As with E.T., Spielberg, put a lot more in to the film than just the straight story. The various ways in which the characters respond to the supernatural events are, if anything, more interesting than the events themselves. If I encountered a "supernatural" presence, you can bet I'd want to figure out how it works, maybe have a little fun with it: I wouldn't go straight in to "scared" mode.

You could write an academic thesis on Spielberg's ambivalent attitudes towards suburbia, and I bet someone already has: the identikit McMansion houses, barbecues and ballgames, space for both kids and adults to play in, the boundary between man and nature, the stultifying drought of creativity, and more.

trivia:
- early on there's a clip on the TV from a "ghost story" film called A Guy Named Joe, with Spencer Tracy saying "either I'm dead or I'm crazy", and getting the reply "well, you're not crazy". Spielberg would go on to remake that film as Always, with Richard Dreyfuss, Holly Hunter, John Goodman and Audrey Hepburn: both Spielberg and Dreyfuss were fans of the film and had talked about remaking it since working together on Jaws.
- both of the actresses playing the Freeling daughters died in tragic circumstances: Dominique Dunne (elder daughter Dana) murdered by her boyfriend in 1982, and Heather O'Rourke (the 6-y.o. Carol Anne) after a medical screwup in 1988 at the age of 12, shortly after filming Poltergeist III.