What Is The Last Film You Watched? (Older Films)

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

No, I haven't seen it and I never will, for the same reasons why I didn't opt for Imagine That.

Because you don't like Eddie Murphy? Racist!

[A24 4,331]

I can't be a racist because I always had a soft spot for Trading Places and Coming To America.

Alex

[Sweeping Strings 2,352]

Fargo - have wanted to see this again since the series started, so delighted to see it in Sainsbury's today for £3. Superb performances, the grimly amusing contrast between 'Minnesota nice' and the horrible violence that unfolds, the sweetly lovely relationship between Norm and Marge that provides the film's moral core - yeah, still an excellent film.

[Quintus 5,399]

Stayed up late tonight and watched Catching Fire. Really enjoyed it. The first film is quite vague in my memory but I reckon I enjoyed the sequel just as much if not more.

Good abrupt ending! Roll on part 3.

[Jay 37,336]

I liked the second one more than the first too. Made we want to see how the story ends.

[Wojo 2,453]

Seeing HTTYD2 and Maleficent tonight on the big screen.

First HTTYD was superior. And Maleficent was not as terrible as I was expecting. I actually enjoyed it though I'm torn over some of the deviations made from the source, the animated Disney movie (which is one of my favorites). Some were necessary to avoid retelling the same story as the classic while others were unnecessary, like renaming the fairies. Making King Stefan a raving lunatic was necessary to paint Maleficent in a more favorable light, while the three fairies allowing the princess to know her royal name of Aurora instead of the alias Briar Rose really made their deception backfire. But it didn't matter, as was proven by the plot. The solution to the curse was a pleasant surprise. I kept waiting to hear a snippet of Tchaikovsky in the score but I didn't until the end credits song.

[Quintus 5,399]

I liked the second one more than the first too. Made we want to see how the story ends.

I can't say for sure if I think it's better than the first film (which was good but pretty flawed), so I'll have to rewatch it and see.

One thing about the second film which let's it down is the seemingly significant plot holes, the biggest being the twist - which hangs onto some not small leaps of logic and presumed trust on the part of the audience to just go along with it, (as I did btw).

But how was it that Katniss was apparently supposed to shoot the arrow up into the dome and make it all work out for the secret plan? That was a massive stretch of logic there. It must have been if even I raised an eyebrow at it.

Edit: just realised there's actually a specific thread for this franchise, so feel free to move this there if you like.

[Hurmm 91]

I for one thought HTTYD2 was utterly forgettable. There were some cutesy and amusing parts as is to be expected, but it's largely really generic stuff, with two central characters (Valka and bad guy) really poorly developed. In fact the bad guy looks like a battle-scarred Bob Marley.

I was also kind of let down by Powell's score. It takes the themes and develops them, but not by much I think. On first listen it sounds a like a rehash, but we'll see.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I wasn't mad about the original HTTYD2 score (I couldn't understand the hype), but I utterly love the latest one.

[publicist 4,643]

The original HTTYD2 score? Tell us all about it!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Death At A Funeral (2010)

The US (largely) African-American remake of the Franz Oz comedy.

I saw the original years ago and though it was OK, but rather underwhelming. As a screwball comedy or French farce it was too stiffled by the typically English middle-class characters.

By changing the setting and casting actors like Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Kevin Hart, and a very cantankerous Danny Glover, actors not afraid to chew the fat for all it's worth this nearly scene by scene remake is a lot more energetic.

Resulting in a film that is simply more funny for more of the time.

Peter Dinklage was the actor who made the most impression in the Frank Oz film as a blackmailing gay dwarf. He redoes his performance in this one and is just as funny. Rock has always been good in portraying exhaustive annoyance and Martin is fun to watch as the irresponsible younger brother. (ever since Parenthood, ever family comedy must have one)

Danny Glover plays an incredible hard-ass of an uncle who in one of the films highlights...or low points shits all over the hand of someone helping him on the toilet. (This remake is more scatological then the original, but as distasteful as that moment was, I laughed hard!)

It's actually an interesting idea to do a remake of a film that didnt actually work out as well as hoped.

[Sweeping Strings 2,352]

Oculus - Doctor Who remains the scariest thing Karen Gillan's been in. Deeply mediocre movie.

[filmmusic 1,825]

Body Heat (1981)

Great classic erotic thriller film-noir, great John Barry score!

Ideal for summer viewing!

Kathleen Turner's first film!

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

Rambo First Blood PART II

at once a laughable film and at the same time, a guilty pleasure film. One where if you have started watching it you might as well strap in for the ride. First Blood was a classic compared to this. Tightness of Hope, BC replaced by open, wooded fields and landscapes of Mexico. Sure Rambo wreaked havoc in the first film but here it's a different level. Having watched Hot Shots II the other week and this being the film it mostly parodies, there are moments one half expects Stallone to shoot a Russian/Vietnamese soldier with a chicken or as he goes on the attack a display to read "More kills than Robocop".

"Watch as Rambo takes volt after volt!"

Regrettably Co-Bao's death scene is...er, almost funny if for the acting. Her "Ram-bo!" and his "Yeah, yeah"

But we have Jerry Goldsmith's music and of course Crenna trying his best even if it apparently earned him a Worst Supporting Actor nom for the Razzies.

Surprised to see Jack Cardiff's name on the credits. Zut alors.

[Quintus 5,399]

Only just realised your avatar is actually George Lazenby. I'd been assuming it was Alan Bates before that.

[indy4 155]

I saw Maleficent the other day. Aside from being incredibly predictable, it was reasonably enjoyable. Great SFX, and pretty good acting. Music was either good or passable throughout.

[Sir Hilary Bray 235]

Only just realised you avatar is actually George Lazenby. I'd been assuming it was Alan Bates before that.

No, sadly not Bates. A little daring in Lazenby I suppose.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Hey Stefan, you said something about Empire's "visual deception" of Darth Vader. How is the film deceiving its audience about him?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Visual deception?

I merely stated that in TESB, particular during the duel with Luke, Kirsher and his DP manage to make him look more imposing and menacing then he was in Star Wars. For instance by highlighting the difference in size between Vader and short-arse Hamill. There's one scene where Vader suddenly lunges from out of the corner and starts hacking into Luke. And looks about twice his size.

TESB does a very good job in making both the empire and Vader seem unstoppable.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

But who is being deceived??

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Did I really use the word "deceived" in my review?

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

Just watched HTTYD2, and I must think I haven't had such an enjoyable experience on the cinema in a very long time. I use the word experience because that's what it was. From beggining to end I absolutely adored this film, right now I think it's a little better than the first one but only more viewings will decide that; right now, it's amazing. I can't believe it's underperfoming at the box-office. It shouldn't matter to us as we don't have any stocks at Dreamworks, but we've been complaining and complaining that animated films don't take their audiences seriously and produce just films for kids, and now that we get a true roaring adult movie, people are not so interested in seeing it. I can't understand why: The characters are more appealing than ever, the animation, the direction, the lighting, the score, oh my God the score, I will talk more about it on its respective thread but it's definetly Powell's masterpiece so far.

It's a very well done movie because it's got a lot of money behind it, but it's got even more heart and passion. We grew up with stuff like Bambi and The Lion King where the filmmakers weren't afraid of talking to its audience like adults -and here's actually no surprise considering Dean DeBois and Chris Sanders worked a lot during the Renassaince and TLK in particular- and as kids we liked that. We didn't watch Teletubbies or that shit because we felt we were being treated as we were stupid. We watched stuff like Terminator and Lion King because it made us feel like adults. That's all we want as kids: To grow up because we think we're going to absolutely succeed in adulthood -when we probably won't.

But still, my point remains: Parents shouldn't be so afraid of talking to their kids as actual human beings. You can shelter them all you want, you can pretend they'll be babies forever, but someday they're going to have to live in the real world and face all that misery and it's going to be worse for them because you made them think it was all sunshine and rainbows. Fuck that. There's light and shadow in the world, everyone of us knew that as kids. That's my opinion and I stand by it.

I don't want to spoil too much of the movie as much has been spoiled already by the trailers and such, but this is a film for the ages, to be remembered in decades to come. The way we look and Bambi and wonder how the hell could the achieve such greatness in the 40's we'll be asking ourselves the same thing regarding this absolute masterpiece of filmmaking. Go see it.

9/10

[Wojo 2,453]

I was very disappointed once that one character exited the movie, because I felt the movie had gone long enough and the ending would be rushed.

[Makeshift Python 22]

Fantasia (1940) / Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Starting to revisit the Disney animated canon, a lot of which I have not seen since I must have been 6. It's fun revisiting these as an adult and still enjoy them, albeit with a bit of snark on the latter film (Prince Charming, what good does he do other than kiss her?).

The Hustler (1961) / The Color of Money (1986)

Enjoyed both, though I think I prefer the latter. The first flick is fine, but I just find it a bit too depressing to watch, whereas with the second I like Newman a lot more as an actor in his later years and I think he and Tom Cruise had a very good dynamic going that made it more enjoyable. Too bad I can't play pool for shit.

[Dixon Hill 4,234]

Fantasia is so wonderful. I need to throw that one on soon.

Just watched HTTYD2, and I must think I haven't had such an enjoyable experience on the cinema in a very long time. I use the word experience because that's what it was. From beggining to end I absolutely adored this film, right now I think it's a little better than the first one but only more viewings will decide that; right now, it's amazing. I can't believe it's underperfoming at the box-office. It shouldn't matter to us as we don't have any stocks at Dreamworks, but we've been complaining and complaining that animated films don't take their audiences seriously and produce just films for kids, and now that we get a true roaring adult movie, people are not so interested in seeing it. I can't understand why: The characters are more appealing than ever, the animation, the direction, the lighting, the score, oh my God the score, I will talk more about it on its respective thread but it's definetly Powell's masterpiece so far.

It's a very well done movie because it's got a lot of money behind it, but it's got even more heart and passion. We grew up with stuff like Bambi and The Lion King where the filmmakers weren't afraid of talking to its audience like adults -and here's actually no surprise considering Dean DeBois and Chris Sanders worked a lot during the Renassaince and TLK in particular- and as kids we liked that. We didn't watch Teletubbies or that shit because we felt we were being treated as we were stupid. We watched stuff like Terminator and Lion King because it made us feel like adults. That's all we want as kids: To grow up because we think we're going to absolutely succeed in adulthood -when we probably won't.

But still, my point remains: Parents shouldn't be so afraid of talking to their kids as actual human beings. You can shelter them all you want, you can pretend they'll be babies forever, but someday they're going to have to live in the real world and face all that misery and it's going to be worse for them because you made them think it was all sunshine and rainbows. Fuck that. There's light and shadow in the world, everyone of us knew that as kids. That's my opinion and I stand by it.

I don't want to spoil too much of the movie as much has been spoiled already by the trailers and such, but this is a film for the ages, to be remembered in decades to come. The way we look and Bambi and wonder how the hell could the achieve such greatness in the 40's we'll be asking ourselves the same thing regarding this absolute masterpiece of filmmaking. Go see it.

9/10

That's high praise. I'll have to ask the gals if they want to see it.

[Faleel 5,345]

I would give it a 7/10. a short step down from the first.

[nightscape94 965]

Jack Reacher

I didn't know much about this film when it came out, and never read the books by Lee Child. However, I thought it was entertaining. Didn't expect the plot to be as dense as it was, though. Nice surprise. The character Jack Reacher is molded from a very specific archetype while seeming pretty original. The ending was a bit bland and easy and the gun range owner played by Duvall didn't quite fit with the style of storytelling. The movie had a lot of energy.

[Wojo 2,453]

I often ride my bike past the building the sniper in that movie shot from.

[Matt C 452]

Belle

It's a pleasant enough costume drama, with a nice 'based on a true story' twist that elevates it above the countless Jane Austen adaptations before it. It's satisfying to see female talent both in front and behind the camera, and for Amma Asante's second film, it's remarkably well-assured and well-paced. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is quite the find... hope this is the beginning of a long and prolific career for her.

Rachel Portman's score is more of the same. If you loved The Duchess or even Emma, a nice extension of her sound is present in this pic. Just wish she'd incorporate more brass, rather than the usual strings and woodwinds.

[A24 4,331]

There's one scene where Vader suddenly lunges from out of the corner and starts hacking into Luke.

And so ferociously! It almost seemed as if Vader lost his 'cool'. Even though you can actually hear one breath right before Vader attacks, it always startles me when he appears.

[Quintus 5,399]

My favourite exchange of 'blows' is when they're on the bridge and after a couple of near miss swings between the two adversaries Luke clips Darth on the shoulder and painfully wounds him. Convincing swordplay there!

[Muad'Dib 1,801]

In the Name of the Father (1993)

Quite an amazing film. Never knew other legal systems from the world were as corrupt as ours. Although there's a moment where I can't help but wonder if the Conlon's were actually innocent or not. Of course the movie says they weren't, but I can't help but distrust everything lately... Daniel Day-Lewis gives an amazing performance but I really caught myself liking Pete Postlethwaite's character along with Emma Thompson's. From beggining to end I was enthralled. On the surface it's your typical court drama, but there's a lot more underneath and played in a very sober, toned-down manner. Not the most common of things for a 90's courtroom drama. Compared to Philadelphia -which in my opinion hasn't aged well at all- this one still stands high and mighty.

9/10

[Hurmm 91]

The Raid 2.

This was kind of disappointing. The first was much better, much more propulsive and pure in its intentions. The sequel attempts to infuse a crime epic into its story, which isn't half bad actually, but gets woefully sidetracked whenever a fight breaks out. Which is quite confounding really, because I watched this precisely for the fights, and yet the fights really detracts from the story, so what you're left with is a half baked crime saga with ferocious fight scenes that does not serve the story well. It doesn't help that the fights, while impressively choreographed, seem much less inventive than the first. You also gotta miss the single location from the first movie. Oh and at 2.5 hours this is truly overlong.

[A24 4,331]

Aha! The Raid! The first one is The Raid: Redemption, right? Fight choreography is why we watch them for! Two and a half hours seems very long, yes.

[Hurmm 91]

Yeah, The Raid: Redemption is the first one. The second one probably has just as much action, but feels much less so because they're padded with lots of dialogue and drama. Another reason why the crime saga aspect doesn't work well is because the main character is 100% just a tool for breaking people's necks - he has near zero characterization and charm. It all looks classier and glossier (when a fight isn't happening) but the format in the first was perfect for this sort of movie.

[Matt C 452]

Raid: Redemption was an exhausting and ugly experience for me. Never want to see it again.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Raid: Redemption was an exhausting and ugly experience for me. Never want to see it again.

It made me despair for humanity. If I want to watch a bunch of crackheads and police fight it out I'll take a 20 minute walk to Dalston at 3am.

[A24 4,331]

Raid: Redemption was an exhausting and ugly experience for me. Never want to see it again.

You took it a bit too seriously, I think. You (and Sharky) are overreacting to something that is nothing more than a little, unpretentious martial arts/exploitation movie.

[crocodile 7,999]

Yeah. Juat why would I watch a martial art film and then complain it was ugly and brutal is beyond me.

It's like... listening to Zimmer and pointing out how he doesn't know how to write in neo-romantic idiom. Pointless.

Besides, I don't believe you guys weren't even impressed by choreography. Beautiful (and scary) to look at. And, as Alex says, this is pretty much the point of those films.

I myself dislike horror genre, which I'm getting nothing out of as far as entertainment and artistic experiences go. But then again I don't even bother watching those.

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

Is it like watching a Michael Bay movie and complaining about the sun drenched rotating aerial shots and fighting robots?

[crocodile 7,999]

Yeah.

Karol

[Quintus 5,399]

Is it like watching a Paul Verhoeven movie and complaining about the sleezy atmosphere and cartoon violence?

[crocodile 7,999]

Yeah.

Or watching Tarantino and complain he doesn't use original film scores.

Karol

[A24 4,331]

It's like going to McDonald's and complain it isn't a two star restaurant!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

You've changed, man!

[A24 4,331]

It's like going to the ballet and complain there isn't any singing.

It's like saying this Punk song is bad because it has only three chords.

[publicist 4,643]

This punk band is bad!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

"Come along R2!"

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Raid: Redemption was an exhausting and ugly experience for me. Never want to see it again.

You took it a bit too seriously, I think. You (and Sharky) are overreacting to something that is nothing more than a little, unpretentious martial arts/exploitation movie.

I have universal standards for all films.

[crocodile 7,999]

Only Sith deals on absolutes!

Karol