What have you watched recently?

christmas2012

I watched incredibly loud extremley close about the 911 thing brilliant film worth watching..

Mackman

Seeing as Ive seen only a few of Hitchcocks stuff, I just watched Rear Window, great movie, one guy in a room but the 1h45 mins flew by.

Looking forward to watching the rest of his movies.

longshotvalue

I just watched "An Education", its total class.. Carey Mulligan is sensational in it..

grohlisagod

8 Mile.

Been meaning to watch it for ages. Decent film. In fairness to Eminem he's clearly not an actor but he has a screen presence and he's better than I expected. The sadly late Brittany Murphy oozes sex appeal.

I liked the disclaimer at the end, "any similarity to real people is entirely coincidental". Sure it is.

Overall, worth a watch.

Tony EH

SarahBM wrote: »

Im on a Lord of the Rings kick!

Getting ready for the Hobbit?

Kolido

Mackman wrote: »

Seeing as Ive seen only a few of Hitchcocks stuff, I just watched Rear Window, great movie, one guy in a room but the 1h45 mins flew by.

Looking forward to watching the rest of his movies.

Great movie indeed. I'm a big fan of Hitchcock also.

If you havent seen them, you should check Rope and Dail M for Murder.

they also use pretty much one location for the entire movie.

Hope you enjoy the rest of his movies.

symbolic

aidankkk wrote: »

I just watched "An Education", its total class.. Carey Mulligan is sensational in it..

loved that movie. The fathers character is brilliant in it too.

nkay1985

Got in a good weekend of film watching for the first time in a while.

Friday night was Warrior. I really enjoyed this. Very good performances throughout. The story is strong. Like another poster said, the fighting isn't brilliant but it doesn't have to be.

Saturday night was 50/50. Thought this was really excellent. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did his job well. Seth Rogen managed to not be annoying. Anna Kendrick was really good, I thought. It was also a treat to see Angelica Huston pop up and put in a great performance. A strong story tackling a subject that's not often discussed (young male illness) in a very honest way. Thought it handled the emotion very well and there were some nice comic moments too.

Sunday night was 21 Jump Street. I had no intention of seeing this when it was in the cinema but I'd gotten so many recommendations from people who wouldn't normally have an awful taste in films that I gave it a go. I really regretted it. It has to be one of the least funny comedies I've ever seen. It was just truly awful. One or two funny scenes and the gym teacher was pretty good (in a Jane-Lynch-in-Role-Models kind of way) but it felt like it was never going to end. Time I'll never get back.

Monday night was The Amazing Spider-Man. I liked this a lot. Andrew Garfield carries off the geeky Parker very well. I thought Emma Stone was really excellent in this. She managed to bring something to what could easily have been a phoned-in traditional love interest role. I'm not sure I buy Rhys Ifans as a professor (in this or The Five-Year Engagement) but he's not bad. Martin Sheen and Sally Field are well cast as Uncle Ben and Aunt May. The villain isn't the greatest we've ever seen but he's not bad. I thought the action sequences were very good though. Some of the web-swinging set-pieces were great. Overall, I was happy I went to see it.

Not sure what's next on the list now.

Ormus

Watched The Host last night. Surprisingly excellent Korean monster thriller. Excellent special effects, possibly the most realistic monster I've ever seen.

7.5/10

nicklauski

The Grey

I thought this movie was going to be like Taken, Liam Neeson kicks the lard out of a load of wolves, but it's actually a lot more suspense and tension than action.

I enjoyed it. Probably wouldn't watch it again though.

Film - 6/10

Rewatchability 2/10

Lord of the Bongs

Alexander the Great (1956_film)

Got a hold of this a while back, had watched parts of it on TCM years ago and had been on the look out for it. Firstly, it dwarfs the Colin Farrell version the way a man on stilts dwarfs a man not on stilts, Hollywood today just cant recreate these masterpieces anymore like they did in the early years of cinema, even with all the CGI. The film is on par, although lesser known than the other Roman epics of the time such as Spartacus, Cleopatra, Ben Hur etc Alexander is portrayed brilliantly by a young Richard Burton and the film doesnt stray from what is known of the legend of Alexander. The battle scenes are of course dated but they are filmed in real time with real people and not substituted by CGI characters, which gives the film a more charisma, as a lot of the 'extras' in the battle scenes are carefully choreographically placed and appropriately dressed. The film runs over 2 hours and is pure eye candy.

Lord of the Bongs gives it a 8/10********

i_am_joey

the 2nd installement of Sherlock Holmes of Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law.
i like the first one more.

SarahBM

Tony EH wrote: »

Getting ready for the Hobbit?

That, and the fact that I finally got the Fellowship extended edition on R2. I had it on R1 so I could only watch it on the laptop. but now I have it so I can watch it on the telly! :D:D

I really love the extras.

and I cannot wait for the hobbit. must read that again!

old hippy

Duck Soup - possibly the finest Marx Bros comedy. Actually, possibly the finest comedy ever.

The Shinkuku Incident - Jackie Chan does "serious" mode and we have the old story of immigrant becomes successful crime boss, gets involved with yakuza powerplay and that old chestnut, so common in Chinese cinema, dialogue about "unity" and "we shouldn't fight amongst ourselves". Subtle, eh?

That said, I loved it and (the first half, in particular) showed a side of Japan we don't always see/hear about - how immigrants fare in Japan.

Jester252

Last night I watched
Boyz n the Hood and SWAT

WHIP IT!

Jester252 wrote: »

Last night I watched
Boyz n the Hood and SWAT

You should've went to bed after Boyz n the Hood!

SWAT is right up there in my worst movie experiences of all time... turned it off after 25 mins in fact... awful...

FishBowel

Edmund - based on the Mamet play, all right, only about 75 minutes. A guy splits with his wife and ends up in more and more trouble.

Jester252

WHIP IT! wrote: »

You should've went to bed after Boyz n the Hood!

SWAT is right up there in my worst movie experiences of all time... turned it off after 25 mins in fact... awful...

SWAT one of my all time turn your brain off movie.
And I'm a sucker for Michelle

A_Sober_Paddy

Last of the Mohicans

Amazing movie, the last 10 minutes is uberepic(its a word). Have since watched it again.

8.5/10

Dances With Wolves

Again another great final, where Costner is brilliant, only problem with the film is the length. I decided to go for the directors cut...4 hours:eek: Great watch, much better than Avatar in terms of story, despite them being pretty much the same film.

8/10

The Amazing Spiderman

Really enjoyable movie, the new Spiderman actor is quite good. Emma Stone with Blonde hair is just lovely. Good movie, cheesie in parts and good action, all in all a very good comic movie.

7/10

Sad Professor

The Angels' Share

Lighthearted comic caper about a bunch of lower-class social delinquents sentenced to community service who become introduced to whiskey tasting and decide to stage a heist that could change their lives. Roach's trademark social realism is subtly threaded throughout, with the comedy playing against a backdrop of mass youth unemployment, crime and social breakdown. Great performances from the cast, although the thick Glaswegian accents can be a little difficult to understand at times.

Funny and engaging seriocomedy from a director in top form. It's still running in the Screen, so anyone who hasn't seen it yet should check it out.

Bassboxxx

Happiness

Probably the most ironic title to a film I've ever seen:rolleyes: The father son conversations were a little edgy to say the least. Some funny moments too though and overall I enjoyed it.

LOTR, Two Towers

Not much to be said for this, rigged up the speakers and banged in my new extended BlueRay and sat back for 4 hours of bliss.

My only gripe was the HD and loud sound still didn't make Yozzer Hughes of Rohan's performance any better(very weak and unconvincing), and the editing seemed a little rough in places(scenes felt like they were ending too early and then jumping to the next seconds after it had started).....

That_Guy

Bridesmaids: This had been sitting on my hard drive for a while and I decided to give it a watch over the weekend. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Some good scenes and some very funny moments though some jokes did fall a bit flat or just got rather repetitive.

When Annie is trying to get the attention of Rhodes by recklessly driving went on a bit too long in my opinion.

Still a decent comedy though I'm not sure what kind of accent Chris O' Dowd is trying to do. Though it is picked on during the film by Annie's fúck buddy.

"That cop sounds strange."

John Carter: Despite all the criticism this film seemed to receive, I didn't think it was all that bad. Decent sci-fi/action film. It's not the pinnacle of it's genre by any means but certainly enjoyable and worth a watch. I think it's rather fashionable among critics to slate this film because of the cost. Yes, it was expensive and probably could have been done for a fraction of the price but I enjoyed it for what it is.

The Hunter: Hadn't a clue what it was about before heading into this screening. I knew something about a Tasmanian tiger but that's about it. It's a really excellent film and easily the most visually brilliant film I've seen in the cinema this year and indeed a long time. Some of the shots are absolutely fantastic.

I do however think that the film could've been shortened by about 10-15 minutes but overall that's one small gripe. Definitely recommended.

Halloween: Not much that has to be said really. An absolute classic horror and one of my favourite slasher films/series of all time.

Drive: Finally got around to watching this the other night and loved it. Stylish, beautifully shot and uber violent with a kicking soundtrack. Loved every minute of it.

Carles Puyol

I saw The Lives of Others last night. It's a German film, and it was absolutely fantastic. I loved and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.

A_Sober_Paddy

Carles Puyol wrote: »

I saw The Lives of Others last night. It's a German film, and it was absolutely fantastic. I loved and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.

Been on my list for months, keep putting it off

Judgement Day

"Rooney" (1958) - a rare bird! Comedy set in Dublin during the late 1950s when Rooney (John Gregson) a binman , and an up and coming GAA star, has to fight off the amorous attentions of his various landladies. Ably helped by his binmen pals, led by Noel Purcell, Rooney moves to upmarket accommodation in Rathmines and that's where his problems really start. Great footage of Dublin in the rare ould times - no violence, no drug lords - just a feel good movie.

Basq

God Bless America (2011) - this wasn't bad actually!

I really quite like Bobcat Goldthwait's writing.. I thought the dialogue between Frank and his office worker was particularly sharp:

Frank: Oh, I get, and I am offended. Not because I've got a problem with bitter, predictable, whiny, millionaire disk jockeys complaining about celebrities or how tough their life is, while I live in an apartment with paper-thin walls next to a couple of Neanderthals who, instead of a baby, decided to give birth to some kind of nocturnal civil defense air-raid siren that goes off every ****in' night like it's Pearl Harbor. I'm not offended that they act like it's my responsibility to protect their rights to pick on the weak like pack animals, or that we're supposed to support their freedom of speech when they don't give a **** about yours or mine.
Office Worker: So, you're against free speech now? That's in the Bill of Rights, man.
Frank: I would defend their freedom of speech if I thought it was in jeopardy. I would defend their freedom of speech to tell uninspired, bigoted, blowjob, gay-bashing, racist and rape jokes all under the guise of being edgy, but that's not the edge. That's what sells. They couldn't possibly pander any harder or be more commercially mainstream, because this is the "Oh no, you didn't say that!" generation, where a shocking comment has more weight than the truth. No one has any shame anymore, and we're supposed to celebrate it. I saw a woman throw a used tampon at another woman last night on network television, a network that bills itself as "Today's Woman's Channel". Kids beat each other blind and post it on Youtube. I mean, do you remember when eating rats and maggots on Survivor was shocking? It all seems so quaint now. I'm sure the girls from "2 Girls 1 Cup" are gonna have their own dating show on VH-1 any day now. I mean, why have a civilization anymore if we no longer are interested in being civilized?

It actually kinda ran out of steam though... watching his breakdown was far more entertaining than his road-trip with Roxy IMO.

fitz0

Basq wrote: »

God Bless America (2011) - this wasn't bad actually!

I really quite like Bobcat Goldthwait's writing.. I thought the dialogue between Frank and his office worker was particularly sharp:



It actually kinda ran out of steam though... watching his breakdown was far more entertaining than his road-trip with Roxy IMO.

Funny, I thought that very same line summed up why I disliked that whole film. The film tries to be an edgy critique of society but falls neatly into it's own crosshairs. Unless it's a commentary on commentaries of society. Which it isn't.

They couldn't possibly pander any harder or be more commercially mainstream, because this is the "Oh no, you didn't say that!" generation, where a shocking comment has more weight than the truth.

krudler

yeah God Bless America is an odd fish, I get what its trying to do, the cinema scene is funny, there's some good one liners but the setup is better than the payoff.

craftypaddy

krudler wrote: »

yeah God Bless America is an odd fish, I get what its trying to do, the cinema scene is funny, there's some good one liners but the setup is better than the payoff.

It was ok seemed to be a re invention of the film super, same kind of idea, the sexual harassment bit was funny though

Sad Professor

Dark Horse

Another darkly comic, bordering on satirical, meditation on suburban despair from that master of cruel irony Todd Solondz. This time the loser protagonist is Abe, an obnoxious, overweight 30 year-old man-child who lives with his parents (Christopher Walken and Mia Farrow) and collects action figures. Abe believes he may have found love with Miranda (Selma Blair), a depressed, over-medicated and deeply troubled woman who has nothing in common with Abe, although she has made such a mess of her life that she believes she may have to make do with him.

Solondz takes us inside Abe's mind and as the film progresses the line between reality and fantasy becomes ever more blurred, until by the end it doesn't seem to matter either way. It's very funny in places but disturbingly so since Solondz is basically inviting you laugh at a sad, pathetic loser. Such is Solondz pessimism that he is often accused of being an misanthrope and this film will do little to dissuade his critics. However, it's also surprisingly compassionate and sympathetic compared to his previous work. I'm not sure I'd say I "liked it", but to quote one of the characters, "it wasn't horrible".

Today was its last day at the IFI, but it's well worth checking out on DVD. I'd particularly interested to hear people's thoughts on the third act.