What have you watched recently?

The Limits of Control

A mysterious, taciturn stranger, who hates mobile phones, doesn't speak Spanish and enjoys drinking two espressos in separate cups, travels to Madrid where he sits in cafes, visits art galleries and has bizarre encounters with the various eccentric characters that make up the film's superb supporting cast, with whom he exchanges matchboxes before moving on. What's it all about? I haven't the foggiest. It's repetitive and indulgent and yes, a little bit like watching paint dry, but it's also extremely atmospheric, stylish and sensuous - and maybe the director should have made it as a short film instead.

Paycheck - Meh. Interesting enough idea with the various tat used to piece together the 'correct' future so you don't get yourself killed but I didn't think there was enough there to allow the possibility of failure.
Avengers Assemble - Liked it as did most people it would seem. Prefer Iron Man myself although I didn't realise I wanted a comic relief Hulk. wasn't particularly convincing but whatever. Gotta laugh at those who called Whedon sexist for the remark. Yeah he's a well known misogynist alright. Wish Cap had kept 1940's suit, mind.

Kung Fu Panda 2 - Rewatch. Loses something on the second viewing, however my opinion of it is mostly unchanged.

Man on Fire - A dang sight better than Taken which MoF was bundled with for that kidnapping-themed DVD set. Ending was bit too clean for my tastes ( ) but it seems the ending of the book might have been worse for me.

12 Angry Men - Good film, putting it mildly. Trailer sucks; poster sucks. Both trying to make a film about nameless people and their flaws look like a thriller.

The Bourne Ultimatum - More of the same for the Bourne series which is fine by me. Nice touch that They stuck with Moby for the theme throughout.

Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian - Pleasant surprise after the first movie. Hank Azaria's villain is pretty lame but the CGI is done well and there appears to have been a conscious effort to make a better film. Ending kinda undoes the film and writes Them into a corner for a third movie though.

Superman - Rewatch. Nope, still don't like Superman. It was important for the superhero movie genre an' all but there are a fair few flaws such as the unnecessary setting up of the sequel for Zod and co, and that time travel business. Still, at least They didn't think the character needed to be 'gritty' and that stupid green rock actually weakens the guy.

21 - Meh. Kid gambles, kid loses, kid gets revenge on Kevin Spacey, kid gets to go to Harvard after all. Good for him.

Ong-Bak - Fine for what it was, I guess. Tony Jaa's moveset got repetative. Not that I could do any of that stuff but I don't expect people to pay to see me jumping through small gaps several times either.

Ip Man - Unashamed Chinese propaganda and faux-history against the Japanese while somehow at the same time making the Japanese Imperial Army general appear intimidating by having his subordinate be a sadistic Smithers/Toht hybrid. Still, good to watch Donnie Yen's martial arts.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon -Well it wasn't as dull as the second movie and I thought the whole Chicago sequence was very impressive. You have to sit through a lot to get to that point but at least I didn't get bored this time.

Zorro Rides Again - Totally stupid cheesefest of a serial but there's entertainment value. It's really hard to hate a Zorro who sings his own theme tune! It's even harder to hate a fat villain (that can wield a whip better than the hero) whose dastardly plot to disguise himself Zorro comes undone by saying his horse is dead. "But you said legends can never die!" Or a cliffhanger where Zorro can fall backwards off a building but still cling to the side in the next chapter. Plus how many movies can you say which ? And man does Zorro love that stunt of dropping from a height onto his horse. Getting progressively higher each time but never quite topping the time he does a u-turn to run up some steps to make the jump. Take that Transformers!



L'arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat - ...

Fred Ott's Sneeze - Much prefer it by the Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze title.



Night Mail - Dislike it alot. Supposed to be a documentary but it's too fake. And that poem is awful.

Men in Black 3 - Better than the second film at least. Josh Brolin is a young Tommy Lee Jones but I didn't find the movie particularly funny.

I Am Legend - Nature having retook New York was nicely done. Bit of a let down toward the end, it was far more interesting when it was just
Tangled - Trailers did the film no justice at all. For a Disney movie the villainy is complex and it's funny. Goes a long way to redeeming the mess that was Chicken Little.

Merantau - 'Twas fine. Watched it as a precursor to when The Raid's on DVD due to the reviews. Why are the white English speakers always seemingly lousy at delivery in Asian cinema? Even with a Welsh director. Vinnie Jones manages to be worse in Survive Style 5+. I get there might be a need for exaggerated performance but still, it's not like the English isn't going to be subtitled.

Salt - Found it pointless. No reason to root for Jolie/Salt since she doesn't have a clear motive by movie's end.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - Another one which the trailers misrepresented. Apart from I felt the reference to the original movie distracting and John Lithgow doesn't get enough to do. However, the film was enjoyable enough and with a story that isn't really about an army of apes. Some nice work from WETA too which again makes the shoddy effects in Gulliver's Travels disappointing.

Help! I'm a Fish - Hate the clunky tagline: "A potion put them in the ocean." Love the logo which was sadly one of the incentives for me to actually want to see the film.



Along with the title, it being a 2D picture and Danish. Sister gets turned into starfish after drinking a potion designed to help humanity survive when the icecaps melt... by turning them into fish (erm...). Brother changes as well to go after her because there's of course a time limit on drinking the antidote to turn back into people. However, at the same time the antidote has the reverse effect on fish and has begun turning a pilot fish into evil Alan Rickman. Film's nothing too special but it's a distraction at least.

Strangers on a Train - At last, I'll stop confusing the title with The Lady Vanishes. Enjoyed it.

North by Northwest - Didn't like the ending. Preferred SoaT.

The Last Airbender - Offal. Don't know how anybody could look at a season's worth of stories and try to make that one film. Fairly faithful to the cartoon in that regard at least. Sokka has had his personality removed for the film and it's understandable that fans of the series wouldn't be happy that the three protagonists are all white when Caucasians are apparently absent from the Avatar: The Last Airbender world.

Prometheus - No idea why I liked it when the movie has certain implications for the xenomorph which I've never wanted to happen, the story is a mess, and the characters aren't convincing ('cept Fassbender) along with other problems.
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace - Rewatches. Still think CR is one of the best of the Bond series if not the best. Meanwhile Quantum of Solace, despite being a direct sequel, starts slipping back into the territory of the original twenty. Love the fight for a gun on the scaffold but the decision to add in jokes to the film like the old lady dropping her wares is just baffling to me.

13 Assassins - Simple enough plot of stopping Lord Naritsugu before he becomes untouchable though I found it odd that And geez, that little kid just standing there...

Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure - Think the Ewoks cartoon was my introduction to Star Wars so it makes sense for me to get to the movies eventually. Liked it for the most part. Child actors fairly weak despite some Luke-isms shining through at times and some things happening 'just because'. Interesting that the Towani mother says "Oh God" in the Star Wars universe and the effects work to give the Gorax height was impressive (although I don't know what, if anything, has changed for the DVD). Distance, not so much.

Watched RocknRolla last night. Very similar to Lock Stock and Snatch, which is fine by me! Thought it was a great movie that hopefully has a sequel

havent watched a film in a week or two, so i gave Star Trek (2009) a whirl last night for the 4th or 5th time, still awesome, that opening sequence is unbelievable, and sets up the rest of the film perfectly, looking forward to part 2 next year

sulu heading into warp

Sulu: i dunno whats wrong sir
Pyke: is the parking break on
(Sulu laughs and looks for whats wrong)
Spock: have you disabled the external inertial dampeners
(Sulu fidgets and disables the dampeners)
Sulu: ready:D

The Birds.

Excellent as always from Hitchcock. Starts slowly but I suppose that's the point. The ending is simply fantastic.

Following (1998): A black and white film about a greasy young man and would be writer who, after a spell of people watching/following, becomes an accomplice to a gentleman thief.

Christopher Nolan fits a lot into 69 minutes into this, his first feature film. It has a very noirish quality with deceit, more deceit and a femme fatale but I do wish the film had focused more on the thief/writer escapades. Oh well. 6/10

^ Haha.

I caught the majority of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid this afternoon, it was ok, some chuckles from Steve Martin as a spoof noir detective with scenes from older noir films cut in.

just watched blue valentine been meaning to watch it for a while now, it was a good film but i thought it would be better, really shows how easily and fast a rut two people can grow into, having such a young daughter and barely being able to look each other in the eye,

although TBF all cindy wanted was someone that would

FishBowel wrote: »

Pollyanna - with Hayley Mills, Hollywood's ugliest child actress.

Wait....what?