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Post by RydCook on May 23, 2012 21:08:59 GMT
Can't believe I haven't mentioned seeing The Avengers! I thought it was fantastic. Totally epic, and not a bad character study to boot! Glad its doing well in the box office, deserves it.
Also saw Two Years At Sea. Pretty good. Certainly a marmite film, I wouldn't blame anyone for walking out. Black and white, and shot on on film with grain turned up to max; this suits the story... of which there isn't much. Its about an old chap who lives out in the woods, and he's happy. Thats it. It is beautifully shot, and the sound is superb too. There's moments of surreal which keep it interesting. its just kind of nice really. You gotta be in the right mood for this one. Avoid if you don't like long takes.
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Post by RydCook on May 29, 2012 19:39:07 GMT
Jaws - First time I've ever seen this. Saw the digital re-release on the big screen. Loved it. First half of the film is absolutely superb thrilling & genuinely scary. Second half is great fun. Surprised it was so gory actually. Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would.
Moonrise Kingdom - watched this late night, and had had a few beers... also this is the first Wes Anderson film i've ever seen (yes... I know.. shock horror)... so consider this while reading my review. I also fell asleep a bit in the middle! :S... I thought the film was great. While its definitely a great film... I didn't love it. I just felt so aware of the filmmaking. Everything is so damned perfect, calculated, staged... plenty of words for it. Everything on still or sideways moving camera (way too many times). I found it all rather odd. I just couldn't get passed thinking about the filmmaking, and thus couldn't really get into the characters. Nevertheless it was very fun, and made me smile loads. I feel like I need to watch it again. I'm keen to check out Anderson's other work, but I'm not entirely sure its completely my cup of tea.
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Post by Bill Edwards on May 29, 2012 20:03:40 GMT
Jaws - First time I've ever seen this. Saw the digital re-release on the big screen. Loved it. First half of the film is absolutely superb thrilling & genuinely scary. Second half is great fun. Surprised it was so gory actually. Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Gee I feel OLD! Saw my all time favourite film, Once Upon A Time in The West, on the big screen again at QUAD in Derby. And once again introduced by all round top chap, Sir Professor Sir Knight of the Realm Christopher Sir Frayling who gave a very interesting and passionate talk about Leone and this film. The film slipped off the projector just five minutes before the end spoiling the film for most of us but it was interesting seeing the sound wave of the sound track rippling up the side of the screen. I know the film virtually off by heart so I could 'see/hear' the dialogue in the spikes of the wave form. |
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Post by RydCook on May 29, 2012 20:36:14 GMT
Jaws - First time I've ever seen this. Saw the digital re-release on the big screen. Loved it. First half of the film is absolutely superb thrilling & genuinely scary. Second half is great fun. Surprised it was so gory actually. Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Gee I feel OLD! Saw my all time favourite film, Once Upon A Time in The West, on the big screen again at QUAD in Derby. And once again introduced by all round top chap, Sir Professor Sir Knight of the Realm Christopher Sir Frayling who gave a very interesting and passionate talk about Leone and this film. The film slipped off the projector just five minutes before the end spoiling the film for most of us but it was interesting seeing the sound wave of the sound track rippling up the side of the screen. I know the film virtually off by heart so I could 'see/hear' the dialogue in the spikes of the wave form. Sounds awesome! Surprised they didn't screen the digital re-issue... thats how I saw it. |
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Post by Companero on May 30, 2012 10:21:52 GMT
Wow - can't believe JAWS had evaded you for so long, Ryd.
It's a great film - I've fond memories of seeing it on TV when I was 5 or six and the aftermath at school the next day when the dictatorial, censorious head mistress ordered all the kids who had seen it to seand up in assembly and then told us how irresponsible our parents were. The silly bitch. ;D
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Post by RydCook on May 30, 2012 20:38:09 GMT
Wow - can't believe JAWS had evaded you for so long, Ryd. It's a great film - I've fond memories of seeing it on TV when I was 5 or six and the aftermath at school the next day when the dictatorial, censorious head mistress ordered all the kids who had seen it to seand up in assembly and then told us how irresponsible our parents were. The silly bitch. ;D Ha! great story. Yes, I really should have seen it before now. I love seeing films for the first time on the big screen though. Did the same for Taxi Driver, Space Odyssey... its great to see classics in the big screen. Alien - In preperation for Prometheus. First Blu-ray I watched on my new 32' 1080p telly! (I've also got DMS, ST, TIE, & TIE88 to watch on Blu! Well exciting) super impressed with the quality. I watched the Directors cut, as I saw the Theatrical version a while ago. I can't say I could tell much difference... Anyway the film is still fantastic, especially the art direction, & performances. A couple of completely iconic scenes. Loved it. Cafe De Flore - whoa... this is pretty stunning. Excellent cinematography & editing... some very fast cut well composed shots. A great pace to it all. The film cuts between two places & time periods; 1960s Paris & Present day Montreal. The former follows a mother & her child who has Downs syndrome, the latter a Father and a family. To confuse things further the film also time jumps back and forth in both of these character's lives. I honestly never really got confused though. Its masterfully put together. The stories seem unlinked and not in common at all at the start, but as the film continues you begin to see more and more links. The film has an excellent soundtrack and makes for a beautiful illustration of the fact that music can harbour memories of people, times & places. The stories are gripping and compelling right til the end. Highly recommend this film... possibly my new favourite of the year so far. |
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Post by GR on Jun 1, 2012 21:39:56 GMT
Finally got to see Badlands -- it was on Turner Classic Movies last night. Interesting take on the Charles Starkweather killing spree (albeit with names, locations and other details changed here); beautifully shot, and with very compelling, almost hypnotic performances by Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen.
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Post by Bill Edwards on Jun 2, 2012 10:58:37 GMT
Moonrise KingdomSweet & warm with plenty of heart & not too arch or art-designed to hell. Loads of wry moments & I loved the end credits. Interesting insight into Wes Anderson's films which I agree with. Tom Sutcliffe: Wes Anderson is so animating. PromethiusEnjoyable enough tosh. Beautifully designed & the 3D picture was crystal clear. Great to see Noomi Rapace kicking arse again. And she was called Elizabeth too. Nice.
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Post by RydCook on Jun 3, 2012 11:30:51 GMT
I saw Prometheus too. I LOVED it! By no means perfect, or better than Alien or Aliens... but it wasn't ever going to be. Noomi is probably the best thing about it. As well as being completely beautiful, she puts in a stunning performance, and totally suits the Ripley type character, perfect casting there. It links really nicely to the first Alien film, loads of references which is great. Some of the effects are a little CG heavy... but most are superb. One particular scene that I don't want to spoil really impressed effects wise. The film genuinely scared me and had me scrawling in my seat. Excellent entertainment. The story is just a little too complex... and there's far too many characters. But despite this, I totally loved it. I'm gonna go see it again.
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Post by Gareth on Jun 3, 2012 21:19:50 GMT
saw Prometheus in 2D, *SPOILERS* wouldn't say the story was over complex there was simply too much going on a lot of the time. Found the ending anti climactic and over simplistic it could have been the ending to any superhero type film - all that build up to them coming face to face with the surviving engineer and he goes incredible hulk and beats the shit out of them!
Having said all that there were more positives than negatives, I just felt it had potential to be so much more, when you're bringing up the biggest themes it's possible to it's a shame when it comes down to such a mundane conclusion.
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Post by Bill Edwards on Jun 3, 2012 22:51:22 GMT
Yep, pretty much agree with you, Gareth. Enjoyed it but it was very flawed and rather empty. And I agree with Ryd with there being too many characters who often appeared out of nowhere and then immediately disappeared into nowhere. My ever diminishing inner 13 year old got something out of it.
Now that I'm 40+, The Angles' Share is a film that's more up my street these days. A sweet and funny socially aware crime caper fantasy with its feet on the groond. Very Ken Loach and will appeal to Meadows' fans nae problemmo.
Just as Vera Drake left me gasping for a lovely cuppa tea, so The Angles' Share left me dreaming of a wee dram of Glenmorangie.
Cheers!
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Post by jill on Jun 4, 2012 8:15:36 GMT
Fight Club
What a strange mess of a film. Bare chested blokes beating each other to a pulp isn't really my thing, but I was strangely hooked for about 45 minutes or so. Liked the concept and was interested to see where it would go, then....
*SPOILERS*
wtf? cults, terrorism, alter-ego projections....turned into a incoherent, splodge of a story. Totally bonkers. Was bored silly by the end. Beginning to think that whenever I see Ed Norton on a credit, I should just avoid altogether.
The Angel's Share
Liked this. Improbable story, with some cheesy moments, but somehow it worked. My favourite moment was when the meaning of the title was revealed-nice. Had some gritty moments, but pretty Loach-lite overall I thought. The 'give 'em a chance' sentiment was gentle-lacking in the hard hitting polemic of Loach's earlier films-but good to see the 'Neds' come out winners for once in these chav hating/baiting times.
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Post by Bill Edwards on Jun 7, 2012 19:15:10 GMT
Passport To Pimlico
Great seeing this on the big screen. More satirical than I recalled & nailing truths about society that are relevant today.
The House Of Mirth
Classic Terrence Davies and a stunning performance from Gillian Anderson. Not up there with Davies' semibiopics but still quality with all his cinematic visual tropes present. Especially liked the languid dissolve from the rain spattered sidewalks of Noo Yoik to the sun kissed sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. Also, no one does slightly shaky tracking shots like Davies. They always give his films a warm, organic and classic quality.
Just the one DVD to watch now Jill and you can have them all back! ;D
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Post by RydCook on Jun 14, 2012 19:44:29 GMT
Aliens - Superb, especially from a special effects perspective, CGI in sight and it all looked real. Fantastic. I watched the Directors Cut this time around, once again it makes it better.
Prometheus - 3D this time. Looked good, but can't say 3D added all that much. Enjoyed it less this time around.
Waltz With Bashir - the soundtrack popped into my head last night, so I decided I had to watch it. Still one of my all time favourite films. Stunning visually and soundtrack wise too. An extremely creative way to deal with the subject matter. Very powerful filmmaking. I gave the ending a miss as I didn't really want to feel like that just before sleep.
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Post by GR on Jun 15, 2012 21:57:33 GMT
The Beaver -- recorded yesterday morning on one of the Movie Channels and watched last night. Fascinating but deeply weird stuff... Mel Gibson all but disappears into his role as the aptly named Walter Black, a walking black hole of depression who sucks the life and joy out of everyone around him. Walter's toy company (inherited from his father) is failing, and he's estranged from his family -- wife Meredith (Jodie Foster, who also directed the film) and their two sons, lonely grade-schooler Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart) and resentful high-schooler Porter (Anton Yelchin). After a suicide attempt, Walter adopts an alter ego in the form of The Beaver, a cute plush hand-puppet he'd found in the trash. Communicating through The Beaver (inexplicably, in a Cockney accent that sounds like a cross between Michael Caine and Ian Dury), Walter is able to snap out of his funk, charm his way back into Henry and Meredith's lives, and reinvigorate his business. Porter, already deathly afraid of ending up like his dad, is all the more embarrassed by his dad's "furry friend"; in an oddly sweet subplot, he's drawn into a romance with Norah (Jennifer Lawrence), the valedictorian of his class who wants him to write her graduation speech. Before long, unfortunately, the film takes a very dark left turn as Walter begins to regress and The Beaver threatens to take over his life. Given the puppet premise, I would've expected a quirky, darkly comic fable -- it certainly feels that way at first, and with a more consistent lightness of touch, the whole movie could've worked as such. On the other hand, what we ultimately have here is a somber examination of depression and its effects on families -- and the puppet gimmick doesn't sit quite so well with it.  Overall, I'd say this strange little film is worth a look if you're a fan of either Gibson or Foster (I might even consider giving it a second look...).
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question to ask. Is Mr Meadows a Notts County fan? If so would he like to go the last game of the season, I have a spare corporate ticket. Food etc. Life does not get more glamorous than that, not even in Hollywood!