What have you watched recently?

Delightfully Pessimistic

Decided to watch The Big Lebowski again recently. Still a brilliant film.

WHIP IT!

Dermighty wrote: »

Saw Ted today.

What a heap of crap!

One of the worst movies I've seen in a long time!

Saw it today myself - silly as hell but I found it very entertaining... lotsa laughs in it and that's all you're looking for from a movie like that.

coldwood92

Judgement Day wrote: »

And

It was excellent, i can see why it won those two oscars in 1998

Raoul

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Saw it today myself - silly as hell but I found it very entertaining... lotsa laughs in it and that's all you're looking for from a movie like that.

Saw it last night, thought it was hilarious. I knew what I was in for with the trailers and Seth McF and it duly delivered. Its a switch off your brain movie and just sit back and laugh.

Don't know how anyone that has seen the trailer could go and not enjoy it.

coldwood92

briany wrote: »

A Beautiful Mind (2001) : A Princeton mathematics professor takes on some cryptography work which leads to a string of personal crises. Based on a true story..

I plan to watch this today

coldwood92

Dermighty wrote: »

Saw Ted today.

What a heap of crap!

Thats what the sunday times critic said only a two star review

coldwood92

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Saw it today myself - silly as hell but I found it very entertaining... lot

I heard that as well

jaykhunter

Dead Silence (2007)
Horror film brought to you by the creators of SAW. It's a haunted doll film - it's innocuously possessed and murders people. If you didn't know it was done by the SAW guys you'd definitely see the hallmarks in the film. Donnie Wahlberg (SAW 3/4) is in it. To their credit they do employ different types of scares, they do revisit the "darkness-flash of light-movement!" scare much like the photographer in his appt in Saw 1, and the 'SAW revelation montage' at the end. Also SAW has a freaky doll. The film reminds me greatly of The Ring, from the plot progression, the disfigured bodies, to the shots used. Man receives doll, loved one killed, slowly uncover horrible story, makes things right, things go wrong, finale. I won't spoil it but they seemed to recycled a main character from Insidious as well. There's nothing new or worth seeking out, it's......alright.
Overall it's exactly what you'd expect. 4.5/10

The Woman in Black (2012)
Daniel Radcliffe's first film since finishing the Harry Potter series. Good God, is this the best film he could land a feature part in? Early 1900s in Britain, Harry's a failing lawyer who's tasked to sort out papers for a large manor. When he gets to the remote area, he finds it's haunted, death surrounds the town and the villagers know but aren't saying anything. One kind man drip-feeds him the plot, Ciarán Hinds (Caesar from ROME). So far so good. Turns out, the antagonist is the same from Dead Silence. Jaysus. That's forgivable, but not the CHEAPNESS of the scares in this film. It's just a lot of........ BOO! shock-horror, shameless repeated for 90 minutes. It's horrific how poor this film is. By the way, sudden loud noises =/= scary. It's startling. Oh it's crow, how startling, oh a music box starts playing, how startling. Tell you what though, Potter in this film has balls. He has no problem checking out an obviously malevolently haunted house with no concern for his own safety. You've seen every scare before, specifically-placed mirrors, something moves! Oh no! They try to add gravity that the targets are always children, and Potter's kid is on his way to the haunted town. Horrible film. So little positives to say about it.
It did look nicer, but I couldn't believe it was a worse film than Dead Silence. 3.5/10

Battleship (2012)
A film made off of a Hasbro board game - how good could it be? I've heard very little about it going in. It was Transformers, without the Transformers, and with generic aliens instead. It wasn't Michael Bay directing, but someone who tried his best to be. The film was "in your face" - the shots were far too close to the action. The protagonist (Taylor Kitsch) is Kirk from the newest Star Trek film. Wreckless youth, extremely talented, gets into fights, thrown into commend and thrives and becomes all he can be. Much like Shia LaBeouf, there's a sub-plot of a relationship with a hot girl. The style is distinctively Transformers - massive high-tech alien metal-looking ships with fast-moving sharp-wheeled cutty things. This is a NOISY film. It's loud too, but a LOT of noise, ramming the music and effects down your throat, it was made exclusively for American children. There is tremendous pandering in this film, "Americana" is prevalent throughout, from the way the Naval forces are portrayed, to international relations, to getting the veterans to do repairs in an AC/DC-led montage, it's all pandering. Nice to see Liam Neeson in the film but he isn't in it nearly enough. The film ends quite abruptly as things aren't really explained. I bet Universal hoped this'd pique curiousity from the audience as opposed to being a complete dullard of the film. I did enjoy the Transformers films, it's true, but without Transformers man, who cares. A soulless mega-CGI, noisy, empty film. This is a really shoddy reproduction of Transformers, and that says it all.
An awful 130-minute experience. 3/10

I wish I had better scores to give you but there ya go.

B.A._Baracus

jaykhunter wrote: »

Battleship (2012)
A film made off of a Hasbro board game - how good could it be? I've heard very little about it going in. It was Transformers, without the Transformers, and with generic aliens instead. It wasn't Michael Bay directing, but someone who tried his best to be. The film was "in your face" - the shots were far too close to the action. The protagonist (Taylor Kitsch) is Kirk from the newest Star Trek film. Wreckless youth, extremely talented, gets into fights, thrown into commend and thrives and becomes all he can be. Much like Shia LaBeouf, there's a sub-plot of a relationship with a hot girl. The style is distinctively Transformers - massive high-tech alien metal-looking ships with fast-moving sharp-wheeled cutty things. This is a NOISY film. It's loud too, but a LOT of noise, ramming the music and effects down your throat, it was made exclusively for American children. There is tremendous pandering in this film, "Americana" is prevalent throughout, from the way the Naval forces are portrayed, to international relations, to getting the veterans to do repairs in an AC/DC-led montage, it's all pandering. Nice to see Liam Neeson in the film but he isn't in it nearly enough. The film ends quite abruptly as things aren't really explained. I bet Universal hoped this'd pique curiousity from the audience as opposed to being a complete dullard of the film. I did enjoy the Transformers films, it's true, but without Transformers man, who cares. A soulless mega-CGI, noisy, empty film. This is a really shoddy reproduction of Transformers, and that says it all.
An awful 130-minute experience. 3/10

I wish I had better scores to give you but there ya go.

Going to watch Battleship later myself. Can't help but think i will feel the same as you. Of course, why watch it i guess ... but its a big hollywood blockbuster :P We all seem to watch em' even if they look crap. lol.

Basq

The Hunger Games

Dumbed down sci-fi that took a while to get going... but it wasn't bad!

Decent performances from all involved (it does have Woody Harrelson playing a drunk.. what's not to love?!) particularly Jennifer Lawrence and it's all fairly solid and engaging enough.

Wouldn't be in a rush to see it again or a sequel but definitely worth a shot!

livinsane

I watched Half Nelson yesterday. Good show bout a crack smoking teacher and the relationship he builds with one of his students. Nothing much happens but its an engaging character driven piece. It's the third Ryan Gosling movie I've watched in the last few weeks [Drive + Lars and the Real Girl] and I've added every available film of his onto my xtra vision direct list. He must be the finest actor of his generation. Shareeka Epps who plays the lead actress was excellent. Will have check out some more of her work. Soundtrack was v good. I highly recommend.

johnny_ultimate

Bicycle Thieves - an iconic film whose appeal has not been diluted by age. The film's post-WW2 Italian setting provides a compelling social backdrop, but the story at its core is an intensely character driven one. It's an always entertaining, frequently charming, sometimes quite funny film but there's always sadness and despair bubbling beneath the surface. It all culminates in one of cinema's finest ending sequences - fading to black at a truly heartbreaking moment. A (neo)realistic and emotionally involving classic.

puffishoes

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Bicycle Thieves - an iconic film whose appeal has not been diluted by age. The film's post-WW2 Italian setting provides a compelling social backdrop, but the story at its core is an intensely character driven one. It's an always entertaining, frequently charming, sometimes quite funny film but there's always sadness and despair bubbling beneath the surface. It all culminates in one of cinema's finest ending sequences - fading to black at a truly heartbreaking moment. A (neo)realistic and emotionally involving classic.

This has been on my to watch list for a very long time. Time to dust it off I think. Nice mini review Johnny.

Basq

V/H/S - for a film that was so hyped, it was bound to disappoint. But I was not prepared for how downright awful it would be. Full of horrid performances and for a film that was praised for originality, it's far from it. There was promise in maybe 2 of the stories (Second Honeymoon, The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger) but unfortunately the story directed by Irishman (Tuesday the 17th) was the worst in the bunch. Avoid.. not good!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows - never caught this in cinemas and wasn't expecting too much but enjoyed it. Considering the 2nd series of Sherlock aired about the same time and both dealt with the story 'The Reichenbach Fall' - must have been a strange coincidence for anyone who watched them together. Actually loved some of the camera work / bullet time particularly the sequence running through the forest. And Downey Jr and Law have amazing chemistry together.

vard

I watched The Station agent; it's a fantastic film! 8/10

Also watched The Dictator. It was shocking. Juvenile and entirely unfunny. I had some hope for it as I used to rate Sacha Baron Cohen. He's a poor actor; I have always realised that, but at least he used to have good material.

Also watched Collateral. Far fetched, but I liked it.

briany

Grasshopper89 wrote: »

I only recently watched...

Jeff Who Lives At Home - Thought it was fantastic!! 10/10 Indie Film!!

I watched this and found it quite enjoyable. Like City Island it takes a little to get moving but once it does, it moves swiftly. I just wish it did without the notion of cosmic forces and signs or the ending. I would have enjoyed a low key resolution of the two main storylines more. To me it felt a bit too 'Hollywood' towards the end but that's me. Overall, I liked it quite a lot.

Funglegunk

The Insider - First time I'd seen the film, Crowe is excellent in it. Hard to believe he's only 33 and playing a man in his mid-fifties but it works.

PhiloCypher

Battleship - As by the numbers an alien invasion flick as you'll ever see but whether its due to the novelty of Navel power being the deciding factor over air power of the sheer brass cheek to lift the grid coordinate mechanics straight from the board game I actually kinda enjoyed it , that said John Carter is the far superior Kitsch vehicle and a very underrated film imo.

For a film based on a boardgame it certainly wasn't shy on cribbing sci fi art assets from computer games in the form of Master chief this guy and metroids morph ball .

Tony EH

'This Island Earth'

Another 50's sci-fi classic that predates the genre's zenith 'Forbidden Planet', by a year, but looks like it could have been made many years before. Starring the brilliantly named Rex Reason as Dr. Meacham, who, along with numerous other scientists is recruited by the strange Exeter (Jeff Morrow) to participate in a scientific project to "...end war". Slowly, Meacham and ex-squeeze Dr. Ruth Adams (Faith Domergue) discover that all is not quite right with Exeter and his people and their discoveries lead them to outer space and an interplanetary war between Metaluna and Zagon.

'This Island Earth' remains one of the greatest 50's sci-fi pictures and the weird and fantastic story is told in that excellent 1950's "everything goes" manner that a number of sci-fi engaged in during that period. The effects are somewhat dodgy these days, but they serve the purpose of the film and for the time they were effective. The make-up on Exeter and his colleagues is rather funny and the fact that

nobody twigs that they are aliens is rather funny.

.

Rex Reason is unintentionally funny too. He's all jutting jaw, swept back hair and deep baritone "hero" voice. He's a scientist in a way that only the 50's could conjure up. He flies his own jet and is tight with "the boys" at the Lockheed.

Faith Domergue is suitable as "the woman", even though she's supposed to be a scientist, she still conforms to standard "woman in peril" norms, she screams and falls on cue.

Veteran character Jeff Morrow is excellent as Exeter and is both charming and disturbing at the same time.

'This Island Earth' is a great example of the genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR7e3StbXoU

Mocha Joe

livinsane wrote: »

I watched Half Nelson yesterday. Good show bout a crack smoking teacher and the relationship he builds with one of his students. Nothing much happens but its an engaging character driven piece. It's the third Ryan Gosling movie I've watched in the last few weeks [Drive + Lars and the Real Girl] and I've added every available film of his onto my xtra vision direct list. He must be the finest actor of his generation. Shareeka Epps who plays the lead actress was excellent. Will have check out some more of her work. Soundtrack was v good. I highly recommend.

You should check out The Believer. Amazing performance in that.

Fysh

Basq wrote: »

V/H/S - for a film that was so hyped, it was bound to disappoint. But I was not prepared for how downright awful it would be. Full of horrid performances and for a film that was praised for originality, it's far from it. There was promise in maybe 2 of the stories (Second Honeymoon, The Sick Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger) but unfortunately the story directed by Irishman (Tuesday the 17th) was the worst in the bunch. Avoid.. not good!

Aw, nuts I had high hopes that V/H/S would be decent, partly based on having liked the Eternal Darkness short film << (Rewind).

tim_holsters

Win Win. With Paul Giamatti.

Great little movie about wrestling, family life and strife with a nice dollop of redemption thrown in. Lovely film.

tim_holsters

Double.

Mocha Joe

tim_holsters wrote: »

Win Win. With Paul Giamatti.

Great little movie about wrestling, family life and strife with a nice dollop of redemption thrown in. Lovely film.

Watched this recently myself without knowing much about it beforehand. Absolutely loved it.

MyBrokenKnees

Great little film

livinsane

Mocha Joe wrote: »

You should check out The Believer. Amazing performance in that.

Thanks, it's already on my list!

Watched Ghost World yesterday. Loved it. It was everything I hoped it would be. Clever, sharp and funny and not cliche "quirky". Thora Birch was my idol as a teenager, don't see much of her anymore unfortunately. Scarlett Johansson was a good match for Birch with the dry, sarcastic delivery. Steve Buscemi in the most endearing role I've seen. Check it out.

Raoul

livinsane wrote: »

I watched Half Nelson yesterday. Good show bout a crack smoking teacher and the relationship he builds with one of his students. Nothing much happens but its an engaging character driven piece. It's the third Ryan Gosling movie I've watched in the last few weeks [Drive + Lars and the Real Girl] and I've added every available film of his onto my xtra vision direct list. He must be the finest actor of his generation. Shareeka Epps who plays the lead actress was excellent. Will have check out some more of her work. Soundtrack was v good. I highly recommend.

Cheers for the recommendation. I enjoyed it. Developing a bit of a man crush on Ryan Gosling. Really liked that movie he was in with Steve Correll. Crazy, stupid, love I think. Very good comedy.

Fishooks12

Mocha Joe wrote: »

You should check out The Believer. Amazing performance in that.

The only good thing about the film though!

Marty McFly

Mocha Joe wrote: »

You should check out The Believer. Amazing performance in that.

That was a film I really didnt like, good performance alright by Ryan Gosling but id heard so much about it went out bought the dvd and left feeling really cold by the film as a whole.

Sad Professor

Last Life in the Universe

Dreamy, off-beat and thoroughly enthralling comedy-romance about an unlikely relationship between two lost souls: a suicidal librarian and a grief-stricken waitress. He's Japanese, she's Thai, so they communicate mostly through pidgin English and whatever bits of their own language the other can understand.

Gorgeously shot by Christopher Doyle (best known for his work with Wong Kar Wai), it brilliantly mixes flashbacks with fantasy sequences until you aren't sure which is which, ending on a tantalisingly ambiguous note that may require multiple viewings to unravel. If, like me, you love slow, moody and mesmerising films like Lost in Translation and In the Mood for Love, then you'll adore this.

This has been on my to-watch list for what seems like forever and I regret taking so long to watch it. It really is quite superb.