The Film Review thread ***possible spoilers***

DrLex

Asprilla wrote:

kelsen wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

World War Z, great film. Great film. Silly solution to combat the zombie's (and in my World Zombie's can't run) but still, great film.

Have you read the book?

I've read the book but haven't seen the film. Having watched the trailers featuring Brad Pitt, I'm thinking there's no resemblance between the two. Am I right?

They are both called World War Z.

And both resulted in Max Brooks getting paid.

But since this is the film thread: "Behind the Candelabra"
I'll confess to not watching it all the way through - too much Scott Thorsen and I could never quite believe the character, as Mr Damon just looked too old for the role. Having said that, Michael Douglas was fantastic (or should that be fah-bul-ous) and Rob Lowe super creepy. It's certainly a love song to the Seventies - decor, costumes and cinematography. Rent if you've already seen Boogie Nights.

notsoblue

kelsen wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

World War Z, great film. Great film. Silly solution to combat the zombie's (and in my World Zombie's can't run) but still, great film.

Have you read the book?

I've read the book but haven't seen the film. Having watched the trailers featuring Brad Pitt, I'm thinking there's no resemblance between the two. Am I right?

I've not seen it yet actually, but I've not heard good things from book readers. Which is a shame because I always thought the book would translate well to the screen. Though perhaps it would work better as an HBO miniseries or something. Wouldn't that be awesome...

notsoblue

Rick Chasey wrote:

The Hunt.

9.5/10.

This was a brilliant movie. Thanks for the recommendation.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Warm Bodies

Really liked this. It's not demanding, it's just a really nicely put together film. Nothing's over done; merely a simple story that's well executed. Great for a Sunday evening on the sofa.

8/10.

DonDaddyD

Django

One seriously cool movie, solid acting from all, tight script, polt and dialog with all the Tarantino trimmings.

9/10

notsoblue

Greg66 Tri v2.0 wrote:

Warm Bodies

Really liked this. It's not demanding, it's just a really nicely put together film. Nothing's over done; merely a simple story that's well executed. Great for a Sunday evening on the sofa.

8/10.

I was surprised by this movie, was better than I expected. I liked their version of Zombie lore.

rick_chasey

DonDaddyD wrote:

Django

One seriously cool movie, solid acting from all, tight script, polt and dialog with all the Tarantino trimmings.

9/10

Tight script?

I thought it was too long for what is still ultimately a trashy flick. A good one, but one nonetheless.

rick_chasey

notsoblue wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

The Hunt.

9.5/10.

This was a brilliant movie. Thanks for the recommendation.

Glad you liked it. Thank my friend who recommended it to me.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Watched The Hunt on hols. Fantastic film; great recommendation RC.

And now, to return the favour (sort of)

Battle: Los Angeles.

I recorded this out of curiosity. Sat down to watch it last night.

It is truly dire. If the choice is available, volunteer to spend two hours as a biohazard test subject instead of watching this shite.

In the interests of disclosure, I didn't watch all of it; gave up about 3/4 through. It is possible that the last quarter had a different writing team and different director, and, well, basically a completely different story that redeems the whole package, but I really doubt it.

0/10.

greg66_tri_v2.0

Feltup wrote:

Lincoln - 9/10 wow, superbly acted. DDL deserves all the accolades he got.

Must admit, I found this a bit uninspiring. It seemed like a weak episode of the West Wing in period costume at times, but in truth the dramatic quality of the WW is better. And it paled, IMO, on comparison with the John Adams mini series of a few years ago as far as (earlier) period dramas concerning the US Govt are concerned.

DDL was excellent, but I really find Spielberg's directing style grating theses days. Far too overtly manipulative. I kept wondering whether DDL would have been thinking to himself on set "why did I agree to work with this hamfisted clown?".

I wouldn't say "avoid"; it's worth a watch. It just didn't ring my bell.

6.5/10.

asprilla

Man Of Steel.

Despite the poor reviews I really enjoyed it. Much better than if been told.

Also confirmed what we already knew; Supermen ride to work on bikes.

notsoblue

Watched "Prisoners" last night.

Pretty good I though, for the genre. 7/10

daviesee

Gravity.
Good "B" film at 90 minutes in 2D if treated as such, 8/10. So-so as a blockbuster, 6/10.

See it on as large a screen as possible, in 3D and it comes alive, 9/10.

Needless to say, I recommend the 3D version.*


*It is the first 3D film I have seen based on the premise that it is the first one that naysayers have said is worthwhile.

vermin

Belleville Rendez-vous. (About time too.)

Surprising body count.

FoldingJoe

Also a fan of Man of Steel, despite it's poor reviews.

Also watched Alpha Papa last night. For the Alan Partridge fans amongst us it doesn't disappoint!! Some great one liners and Partridge-isms!!

DonDaddyD

So I watched The Wolverine and After Earth yesterday night.

The Wolverine.

OK, firstly the only character who gets to have 'The' as a recognised first name is The Batman as in The god damn Batman. Now this isn't just some internet meme, I've got Teen Titans comics (the original team with Donna Troy, Wally West, Dick Grason etc) refering to Batman written as The Batman, that's his name, like a 'Pimp Name Slick Back' and 'A Tribe Called Quest' you say the whole thing. So, er, where was I? Yeah, I'm not feeling the title of this film. The Yashida Dynasty, Legend of the Silver Samurai, Wolverine: Madripoor - all would have been better titles, IMO.

I was a massive X-men fan, massive, I used to carry a Xavier School of Gifted Youngsters card in my wallet back when I was around in my very early teens. Massive, huge, my love for the title, the characters and concepts can only be described as, impossible.

So, the film. I just don't know what to think about X-men any more. These movies take everything I love about my beloved characters and rape them. They rape them, they destroy everything they stood for, everything that made them cool and they rape this ideology. I hate the people who make these films, who take the source material, know it is loved and wipe their bums with it. I hate them, they have once again raped my childhood.

The core concept and message of the X-men: People who are born different due to genetic mutation are persecuted for being different - explained down to the X-gene being the sum total of our next step in evolution. There have been the parrallels between Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, the civil rights movement and religious text. So why is this never explicity addressed in the same powerful and emotive depth as the comics?

Likewise Wolverine, some of his greatest stories stem from his time in Japan, those characters, the Yashida clan - Tyger Tyger, Silver Samurai, Sunfire, Mariko, Yukio, the Hand, Viper et al are the stuff of legends. They have immortalised the character. Sheesh, Wolverine spent so much time in Japan I was surprised to find out that he is Canadian. So why the fuck could I not make out anyone of those characters, why were they so unlike the characters depcited in the comics. What the fuck, WHAT THE FUCK!

The plot was crap, the characters were crap, the main villain played only a small part, had no significance to the story except to chop the guys claws off - the reason for the guy becoming the Silver Samurai was never clearly explained. Viper, given that in the comics she is the head of one of the most dangerous organisations was beyond all levels of awful, she is also not a FUCKING HOMO-SUPERIOR SNAKE. It was all crap, it was distressing my inner geek. I cried a little, I really did.

Also, if you turn Wolverine's healing factor off he dies. Why? 1). Adamantium poisoning. 2). Yes no one can explain how his bones produce blood cells but its been addressed, Wolverine without healing factor dies. Also Shooting him, drops him and he doesn't have an endless supply of blood. Furthermore, Wolverine is a trained samurai, he doesn't need to think "two hands" when holding a samurai sword. The Elder Yashida would have been honour bound not to dick Wolverine like that. Even without the Samurai stuff, Wolverine was born in the late 1800 (confirmed) fought in two World wars, trained in various fighting styles and is one of the best hand2hand combatants in the Marvel Universe, he shouldn't struggle to fight anyone who isn't either an exceptional hand 2 hand combatant or has superhuman abilities like Spider-man. The years I've spent arguing who would win Captain America or Wolverine.

As for the end, so we are ripping off Avengers now are we. DAMMIT!

Lastly, if Disney owned Marvel can just take a comic and say "Look put this as is on the big screen. Don't change the origin of the characters, though compensate for the 10 year sliding scale - Tony Stark original was injured in Vietnam but as time moved on they changed that war to Iraq. Don't change the powerset, don't even change the depiction of how powerful they are. Just put the comic on screen." And they get that right, and its awesome and every one loved it. Why can't they do that for X-men? It would be so much better than any other comic - to - cinema film that has come out. X-men have the best stories, they have the most thought provboking stories, they have the best characters, they have the most interesting powers and by far the best villains gallery of any comic. There is enough going for it to make a good movie, I don't understand why not.

DDD verdict: - Utter hatred.


After Earth

I like Will Smith as an acter, I like Jaden too. The relationship between the two in this film made me feel uncomfortable but I figured that's what I was supposed to feel as Will portray an emotionally repressed Dad trying to guide his emotionally frustrated son through a hostile environment.

HOWEVER, any acceptance of this film as something other than annoying was lost when the charactes spoke with that stupid accent.

I liked that the ship was made out of cloth, it was a change to the metal and seethrough glass of other sci-fi ships.

DDD verdict: - Will Smith is and always will be cool, even in bad films, which this one is.

notsoblue

FoldingJoe wrote:

Also a fan of Man of Steel, despite it's poor reviews.

Yeah, I watched that this weekend and to be honest I really liked it... The main criticism people have of the movie seems to be that he's dull, but tbh, Superman is just generally quite a dull superhero anyway.

notsoblue

DonDaddyD wrote:

I liked that the ship was made out of cloth, it was a change to the metal and seethrough glass of other sci-fi ships.

Yeah, I kinda liked that too. I thought the movie was really really disappointing though. It was very bad sci-fi. I understand that this was pretty much just a vehicle for Jaden, but still... the whole back story just didn't make any sense.

asprilla

Public transport means I'm getting through a lot of films at the moment.

Elysium. Quite good. Sharlto Copley makes a great bad guy, the antithesis of his role in District 9.

DrLex

Is it worth persisting with "The World's End"? Was half way through & stopped watching last week; not restarted. Liked Hot Fuzz & Shaun of the Dead, but this feels lazy & half-a$$ed. What was a good idea on the pub turned out badly, unlike a Boris Bike up Mt Ventoux...

rick_chasey

Did I say how good drive was?

If not, it's brillo.

daviesee

DrLex wrote:

Is it worth persisting with "The World's End"? Was half way through & stopped watching last week; not restarted. Liked Hot Fuzz & Shaun of the Dead, but this feels lazy & half-a$$ed. What was a good idea on the pub turned out badly, unlike a Boris Bike up Mt Ventoux...

No.
It started off promising and ended up a bad parody of Shaun.
Worth watching on a boring TV night but not worth going out of your way for.

Shame as it starts with promise and there it a lot of potential in the original premise.

DrLex

daviesee wrote:

No.
[...]

Thank you; I'll carry on with Misfits instead.

il_principe

Gravity - Full of expository dialogue. Lazy. I guess this was largely the result of Jonás Cuarón's involvement.

Watched this at home. Mistake. It's clearly a cinema film and must need the 3D for the full impact. Enjoyed most of it, but the inclusion of a scene almost completely lifted from WALL-E spoiled things for me.

daviesee

Il Principe wrote:

Watched this at home. Mistake. It's clearly a cinema film and must need the 3D for the full impact.

Told you so.

rick_chasey

Bit late now since it just finished but hopefully some of you saw Drive on BBC2.

Pleased I could watch it on my big TV in HD.

I LOVE THAT FILM SO MUCH.

notsoblue

Rick Chasey wrote:

Bit late now since it just finished but hopefully some of you saw Drive on BBC2.

Pleased I could watch it on my big TV in HD.

I LOVE THAT FILM SO MUCH.

Have you seen Only God Forgives?

Saw The Desolation of Smaug the other week. Thought it was a bit rubbish to be honest, really disappointed... Possibly ruined by a bad experience at the new Olympic Cinema in Barnes.

rick_chasey

notsoblue wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Bit late now since it just finished but hopefully some of you saw Drive on BBC2.

Pleased I could watch it on my big TV in HD.

I LOVE THAT FILM SO MUCH.

Have you seen Only God Forgives?
.

I was thwarted 3 times when I tried to get to see this (two of those attempts were solo efforts FFS) so no.

Hunting around for a DVD of it, but that's got a lot harder now the HMV that was 30 seconds away shut down.

asprilla

Rick Chasey wrote:

notsoblue wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Bit late now since it just finished but hopefully some of you saw Drive on BBC2.

Pleased I could watch it on my big TV in HD.

I LOVE THAT FILM SO MUCH.

Have you seen Only God Forgives?
.

I was thwarted 3 times when I tried to get to see this (two of those attempts were solo efforts FFS) so no.

Hunting around for a DVD of it, but that's got a lot harder now the HMV that was 30 seconds away shut down.

It's on Netflix - 30 day free trial......

rick_chasey

Yeah I don't really want to watch it on some grainy stream footage.