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

[Matt C 452]

Ant-Man

Suffers from Iron Man syndrome -- and a vague feeling of deja vu. Paul Rudd cements his leading man credibility and paired with Abby Ryder Fortson, makes for the cutest father-daughter pairing on screen. It's sporadically funny (thanks to Michael Pena's fast-talking Luis and Rudd's dry line delivery) but lacks the spark Edgar Wright would've brought. Not to mention Corey Stoll is more obnoxious than threatening as the villain. Peyton Reed's direction is fine -- a decent command of the action sequences and VFX, but no personal touches or quirks that defined Whedon, Gunn or the Russos' MCU entries.

What we have is an okay film. The decline in Avengers: Age of Ultron wasn't a fluke -- Marvel Studios needs to shake up their formula.

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

Ant-Man was refreshingly simple and light after the bloatedness of AoU.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

It Follows, a sexual horror film. It doesn't completely work but it develops atmosphere and tension.

[Matt C 452]

Ant-Man was refreshingly simple and light after the bloatedness of AoU.

Oh in that respect it's better than Age of Ultron in terms of its tone and simplicity. But there's no personality to it other than that, and no personal stakes. A lot of the Marvel movies are just... predictable and bland. They've reached that "been there, done that" point for me.

And if WB isn't careful, they're going to follow a similar path after Batman v. Superman.

[A24 4,328]

I'm halfway through Chappie.

What a pile of crap. Terrible story/screenplay/performances. Zimmer's music (assuming it is him) is similarly unremarkable.

Neill Blomkamp is showing a decline here - District 9 was awesome, Elysium had its moments. This is just rubbish.

I think we all saw the signs. Didn't you?

It Follows, a sexual horror film. It doesn't completely work but it develops atmosphere and tension.

And based on a fantastic idea. You know that this is just the beginning of many more films.

Marvel Studios needs to shake up their formula.

Don't tell me, but there's a massive air battle at the end?

Me too!

Liar!

http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25226

You didn't vote for Mad Max: Fury Road to the question: "What big blockbustery SUMMER FILM are you most looking forward to this year?"

You voted for Avengers 2! You worthless piece of shit!

One down ... one more to go.

[Matt C 452]

I'm halfway through Chappie.

What a pile of crap. Terrible story/screenplay/performances. Zimmer's music (assuming it is him) is similarly unremarkable.

Neill Blomkamp is showing a decline here - District 9 was awesome, Elysium had its moments. This is just rubbish.

I think we all saw the signs. Didn't you?

It Follows, a sexual horror film. It doesn't completely work but it develops atmosphere and tension.

And based on a fantastic idea. You know that this is just the beginning of many more films.

Marvel Studios needs to shake up their formula.

Don't tell me, but there's a massive air battle at the end?

There is an air battle in Ant-Man, but it's not at the climax.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

And it's not massive.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

While Ant-Man lacked several Marvel-isms I dislike, it still had their signature soullessness. Even the usually funny Paul Rudd was a flatline.

[nightscape94 965]

You think the Marvel movies are soulless? They may be a bit factory line, especially the villains, and the shared aspect of the universe may be a tad tiresome at this point, but the one they they're not is soulless.

[Jay 37,323]

Trainwreck

Eh, this was OK. I think Judd Apatow might be a bit of a wolf in sheep's clothing. 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up were funny enough to make you think a new comedy directing star had arrived, but then Funny People and This Is 40 were massive letdowns; Both were too long (a problem 40 and Knocked had, but it was much more pronounced here) and truly just not funny enough; They are more dramas than comedies, really. Which is OK except that they were advertised as comedies, which led to smashed expectations, but the bigger problem was that they simply weren't good, compelling stories!

So with Trainwreck here he's trying to mix it up - his first film he didn't write, first one with a female lead, first one not set in Las Angeles. But none of that matters if the end results isn't good, and for me, it was a total mixed big.

The best parts are absolutely John Cena and Lebron James. Both of these guys were ABSOLUTELY GREATin their roles; Everything they said was funny, they had great comedic timing and delivery, and every scene they were in elevated the film. Bill Hader was also good in more or less a straight-man role. Almost everything else in the film didn't work for me. The story is almost neither here nor there; it's the basic "boy meets girl / boy loses girl / boy has to win girl back" plot that's existed forever, just with the genders swapped. And there's some stuff about Amy's father being sick as well as a misogynist that was kind of interesting, and the usual "lead must overcome peter pan syndrome and choose to grow up" stuff. Sometimes that stuff dragged, especially the middle section wher Amy and Hader are separated.

The funny parts are funny enough to make it worth a watch at home, but I don't get why this was such a big hit at the theaters. It's not this year's Superbad or The Hangover, it doesn't bring anything unique to the table that I can tell. Maybe if you don't watch Amy's show this is more of a revelation to people, but to us it was kind of more of the same as her show. No big deal here, imo.

[Quintus 5,399]

Superbad was just alright I thought. The Hangover was one of the most overhyped comedies in recent memory and just not my kind of thing at all. A bit like American Pie a decade earlier.

[Jay 37,323]

You saw this, right? Weren't Cena and Lebron hilarious?

[Quintus 5,399]

Yeah their cameos helped a lot with the agreeable quirky edge the movie had. I enjoyed it, when I expected to hate it. I don't tend to like romcoms much, but this was quite smart and had more too it than your usual stuff.

[Romão 2,274]

It was more enjoyable than hilarious (except the said scenes with Lebron and Cena, which were comedic gold). And being enjoyable is not faint praise for a romantic comedy

[Jay 37,323]

Yea maybe my expectations were just too high.

Still, I was bored in the middle no matter what. Apatow needed to trim 10 minutes out of this movie.

His recent films all have the same problem, that is it's so obvious when he let the actors improv for a while, and more often then not the film comes to a halt at those parts until the improv is over and the plot resumes. The improv isn't integrated as smoothly as it needs to be.

[Quintus 5,399]

I agree that it was a little too long. Maybe 10-15 minutes. But these days what movies aren't?

[Jay 37,323]

Edge of Tomorrow

Locke

Blue Ruin

Mission Impossible 5

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Fury Road

Gravity

[Jay 37,323]

Yea, those too!

[Matt C 452]

The Diary of a Teenage Girl

It's uncomfortable, funny and a sensitively handled portrait of a girl entering adulthood. Marielle Heller has a deft hand and the sexual aspects are sensitively handled. Bel Powley is a rare find as Minnie, and I hope this pic gives her and Heller better opportunities in the future. I barely recognized Kristen Wiig, she disappears into her character completely. Even Alexander Skarsgard is far removed from his "True Blood" hunk status.

One of the few detractors -- apart from the random over-imposed animation -- is the obvious digital photography. It's beautiful, but it doesn't quite fit with the 1970s analogue setting.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Is this a new Anne Frank movie?

[Matt C 452]

Nope.

Cremers would enjoy this.

[Jay 37,323]

Heard good things about it

[Matt C 452]

It's worth checking out. When I first saw Wiig, I said to myself "Is that Amy Adams?"

[Quintus 5,399]

Edge of Tomorrow

Locke

Blue Ruin

Mission Impossible 5

I haven't seen those. Yeah there's obviously still movies which don't take the piss with their runtimes, but there's too much of a trend recently (since Harry Potter sequels and Pirates of the Caribbean) for high profile movies to long overstay their welcome. A movie has got to be brilliant for me not to notice if it's gone over 2hrs.

[A24 4,328]

Diary Of A Teenage Girl

Cremers would enjoy this.

I resent that remark!

[Sweeping Strings 2,346]

Yea maybe my expectations were just too high.

Still, I was bored in the middle no matter what. Apatow needed to trim 10 minutes out of this movie.

His recent films all have the same problem, that is it's so obvious when he let the actors improv for a while, and more often then not the film comes to a halt at those parts until the improv is over and the plot resumes. The improv isn't integrated as smoothly as it needs to be.

I find this a major problem with a lot of modern American comedies - I'll take a tightly hilarious 90 minutes where they just stick to the script over a meandering and sporadically funny 105-120 minutes due to self-indulgent improv that almost always seems to be more fun for the participants than the audience. Every time.

[Jay 37,323]

Right. And that's why Superbad was so effective - the improv bits were short and deftly integrated. In Apatow's latest films they grind the story to a halt.

[Romão 2,274]

Truth be told, that scene with Matthew Broderick served absolutely no purpose and should have been left in the cutting room floor. I can't imagine it even suggesting being funny on the written page

[Jay 37,323]

I thought it was cute that Lebron threw an intervention for him, but it wasn't set up well enough and he didn't do anything anyway, just waited for Amy to come to him

[nightscape94 965]

Then they should have inserted this.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Haha

[Koray Savas 2,251]

I've actually just started Louie and am really digging it so far. On Season 2.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Ok I got to see The Martian earlier. It's fun, not quite as LOL LOOK AT HOW COOL IT IS TO BE NERDY AND SCIENCEY OMG as the book is. Overall not bad. Score was sort of anonymous, sadly, though I'll be investigating it anyway. There's very positive buzz all around about it, but I think it's a bit much - yes it's well-made and entertaining, but that's all... it's quite "light" and hasn't made much of a lasting impression on me so far. I enjoyed it about as much as Prometheus, frankly, but it's a more obvious sort of enjoyment, which is probably what accounts for so many other people crapping their pants over it.

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Is it better than Interstellar?

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Sure!

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Not hard to be better than that scientifically inaccurate, plot-hole riddled, eardrum-damaging crapfest.

(but actually only morons feel that way)

[nightscape94 965]

This calls for a celebration.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

But actually, not even close.

[nightscape94 965]

A light soiree then.

[crocodile 7,990]

Not hard to be better than that scientifically inaccurate, plot-hole riddled, eardrum-damaging crapfest.

Film that made Hans Zimmer fall asleep on the organ keyboard!

Karol

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Not hard to be better than that scientifically inaccurate, plot-hole riddled, eardrum-damaging crapfest.

Film that made Hans Zimmer fall asleep on the organ keyboard!

Karol

LOL Nolan sux!!!!111

[Unlucky Bastard 7,782]

He only ever made one movie I liked anyway.

[KK 3,307]

Did you see it at TIFF Grey?

[mrbellamy 6,273]

Far From The Madding Crowd:

Well, somebody had to watch this remake, so why not me? There are some really beautiful shots in this film like the 'frog perspective' of Carey Mulligan where she stands in front of all those trees that tower above her. You know that they seized the moment for it clearly exploits the natural environment and the light. Such moments are not written in the script and remind me of how little movies still 'improvise' . Overall, Thomas Vinterberg (Festen, Jagten) tells this classic story pretty well but at the same time everything feels too 'telexed', as if he fears the modern viewer who demands that everything must go forward quickly, with the result that the film knows no peace and quiet. Matthias Schoenaerts surprised me . 6/10

Alexandre

Just saw this. I liked it about the same as you. I agree that while it keeps a rather nice, steady pace throughout, never too fast or too slow, like a lot of movies that sort of works against the overall impression after a certain point. There are moments of peace and quiet but somehow they're too clean or standard, lasting exactly as long as you think they will. There's never that real lingering moment....just when you're starting to feel it, like perhaps the duet with Mulligan and Sheen, the film's moved on.

Also I thought the soldier character was kinda miscast, but Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, and Michael Sheen are quite good, worth seeing for them. It's well-written, directed with a steady hand, and it does look great. As classic 19th century romance adaptations go, you could do worse.

[Dixon Hill 4,233]

Did you see it at TIFF Grey?

No I didn't make it there this year... opposite coast now, more substantial trek.

You?

[A24 4,328]

Matthias Schoenaerts ...

I saw him yesterday on the street while he was just about to go into a house (or the shoemaker below). Very weird, a feeling Dutchies must feel when they see Rutger Hauer having himself a Guinness in a local café.

Alex

[BloodBoal 7,538]

Not hard to be better than that scientifically inaccurate, plot-hole riddled, eardrum-damaging crapfest.

Finally, you saw the light!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Very weird, a feeling Dutchies must feel when they see Rutger Hauer having himself a Guinness in a local café.

Alex

Rutger doesnt drink Guinness!

[A24 4,328]

Yes, he does!

"It makes me look younger than when I drink Heineken."