What film did you watch last night?

[stephec]

The Great Raid

A WWII film based on the true story of the rescue of American POWs from a Japanese POW camp.

Not too heavy on the action until the end, instead it builds up a decent story, and doesn't go all Hollywood at the finale as well thankfully.

 

[Profpointy]

Sunshine. a rather good hard-SF film of a spaceprobe sent to (ahem) re-start the sun with a giant bomb. Glossing over the central premise, it was mostly plausible and rather well done. It looked fantastic and was quite exciting. Avoided many of the cliches well apart from one but hey ho.

Broadly I'd recommend it 7/10

 

[John the Monkey]

Sicario (Netflix)

Very good indeed - beautifully shot, and riddled with suspense and tense urgency.

I'd love to see this in a double bill with "No Country for Old Men", as I think they cover similar ground. In Sicario though, the implacable force (the Chigur equivalent) is revealed gradually, and that has some interesting consequences (as a viewer, you find yourself wondering at which point you're disturbed enough by it to dislike the character). The characters are also more fleshed out than the stripped down archetypes of "No Country..." - it would make an interesting comparison.

 

[AndyRM]

Sicario (Netflix)

Very good indeed - beautifully shot, and riddled with suspense and tense urgency.

I'd love to see this in a double bill with "No Country for Old Men", as I think they cover similar ground. In Sicario though, the implacable force (the Chigur equivalent) is revealed gradually, and that has some interesting consequences (as a viewer, you find yourself wondering at which point you're disturbed enough by it to dislike the character). The characters are also more fleshed out than the stripped down archetypes of "No Country..." - it would make an interesting comparison.

Excellent film. And a great comparison, which I hadn't really considered. That's my evening sorted!

I think they've started on the sort of sequel, Soldado. Ultimately it's going to end up as a trilogy I believe?

Del Toro is one of my favourite actors, I can't think of anything he's in that I don't like.

ETA - The Wolfman. What a disaster that was! For everyone.

 

[MontyVeda]

Saw the a headline for a review of this. Something like "Punching and Running, Part 5". As someone who abandoned the series after Part II, it made me laugh.

I abandoned the Bourne films half way through part one.

Sunshine. a rather good hard-SF film of a spaceprobe sent to (ahem) re-start the sun with a giant bomb. Glossing over the central premise, it was mostly plausible and rather well done. It looked fantastic and was quite exciting. Avoided many of the cliches well apart from one but hey ho.

Broadly I'd recommend it 7/10

Aye it's a good film, although I much preferred my first viewing to my second viewing. Brian Cox was the science advisor... so any problems with the plot or premise, ask Brian

 

[Elybazza61]

Watched Out of the Furnace off film4 on Saturday;pretty good with (heavy) nods to The Deer Hunter;similar story with blue-collar worker and war vet brother struggling with different crises(loss of father,violent deaths).Great cast with good turns from Christian Bale(as ever),Casey Affleck and Woody Harrelson plus support from Wilem Defoe(again as ever),Forrest Whittaker and Sam Shepard.

I'd give it 31/2*** mainly for the performances although it's better than most of it's type,but worth catching if you can.

Oh and it has Pearl Jam's Release book-ending it.

 

[AndyRM]

This is a heads up rather than a review: Film4 seem to be having a bit of a Werner Herzog fest just now which is pretty excellent. I've got The Enigma of Kasper Hauser and Heart of Glass recorded, neither of which I've seen but am looking forward to.

 

[RoubaixCube]

Just finished watching 71nto the fire. Based of a true story during the Korean war, it showcases the struggles of poorly trained and ill equipped south korean students who are conscripted (or volunteered to join) into the army to fight against North Korea.

I rate this movie very highly and somehow even better than Saving Private Ryan (I loved that movie!) but this film is a roller coaster of emotions from start to finish and that puts it way above the typical 'invincible/undefeatable american' or 'glorification of America' (such as pearl harbour and most US made war movies) style of movie.

 

[NorthernDave]

Minions - hilarious and far, far better than you might think to deserves to be.

8/10

 

[AndyRM]

Savages - 5/10

Fairly standard drugs/violence/betrayal effort, brought just above average by some really neatly filmed sequences and Benicio Del Toro's performance as a truly reprehensible henchman.

If Oliver Stone's name and style wasn't all over it I'd probably have given up half way through; watch Natural Born Killers instead.

 

[swee'pea99]

Just watched Tom Jones, with Albert Finney, which I vaguely remember watching at school. Absolutely wonderful! A brilliant story at the heart of it, of course, but brought to life with fantastic, innovative direction, including affectionate nods to the silents, extraordinary action sequences, unsurpassed breaches of the fourth wall ("Did you see her take it?"), uncommon acknowledgements of some of the grimmer realities of the place and time, and tour de force performances from the entire cast (who clearly relished every minute), centred of course on the sublime Albert Finney - one of the greats, never better - and the heart-stoppingly gorgeous Susannah York. Just perfect!

 

[Leaway2]

The Sweeney (2012) recorded from Film4. A modern day cowboy film with police running round Laandan, shooting and being shot at, with no control or consequences of their actions. As for Jack Reagan and his female colleague, good Lord there is hope for us all.
4/10

 

[benb]

Suicide Squad.
Good, but nowhere near as good as it could and should have been.
Too many characters really that didn't add anything, and I do find it tiresome when the main enemy is wiping out scores of faceless grunts, but when the heroes arrive he suddenly forgets how to kill them and gives them a little kick across the room instead.

6½/10

 

[Leaway2]

Suicide Squad. 6½/10

Loving the precision in your marking.

 

[Profpointy]

Loving the precision in your marking.

Precision's the most important wossername !

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