swee'pea99
Legendary Member
It is a cracker. Al Pacino was in his prime roundabout then. If you haven't seen it, check out Serpico too, from the same sort of era.
What film did you watch last night?
- Thread starter Hitchington
- Start date
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swee'pea99
Legendary Member
Agreed. Like you I watched it with pretty low expectations, and was very pleasantly surprised.
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Lawman with Burt lancaster,
Plenty of faces that went on to stardom on their own too, dad from the waltons to name but one.
Plenty of faces that went on to stardom on their own too, dad from the waltons to name but one.
OP
OP
Hitchington
Lovely stuff
- Location
- That London
The Girl with all the Gifts. British made dystopian future story about a gifted young girl, her teacher and a scientist who is trying to find a cure for a fungal infection which threatens humanity. Oh, and it's got zombies in it. 8/10
Just back from the pics after watching Trainspotting 2 and it's as good a film as you could imagine. In a score out of ten where six is the highest, it gets a majestic 6/10 from me. It's far removed from the book on which it's based but you just know that Danny Boyle can be trusted with your most cherished memories and expectations and he's come up with a gem of a gem with this one. My wife (caring, vocational nurse) wants to bring Spud home and make him all better so Bremner is clearly a big hit with the ladeez. The other three (and Kelly McDonald) owe their careers to Welsh and Boyle so couldn't have let them down so all had to do this as and when required. All-in-all, I'm as happy as a sandboy right now (but the amount of time you're bombarded with adverts in the pictures is downright criminal!)
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John the Monkey
Frivolous Cyclist
- Location
- Crewe
The book (by M.R. Carey) is great too.
The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (Netflix)
The film makers heard you liked climactic battles. So they put climactic battles in your climactic battles.
Or at least that's my impression of this last instalment of Peter Jackson's Hobbit/Quest of Erebor trilogy. It's a succession of finales, for the most part, each of which are ok in themselves, but when stacked one on the other as they are here, lose their impact - and boy, do they go on for a while. Between those, and the self conscious foreshadowing of events in The Lord of the Rings, this deserves its current two star rating on Netflix. In the plus column, there's plenty of visual invention in the filmmaking, some gorgeous vistas reminding us all what a lovely place New Zealand is, and some good performances - they just struggle under the way that the film has been constructed, as though no one was willing to say no to any idea for a scene.
It's a real pity, given the talent involved - both Peter Jackson and Guillermo Del Toro are capable of producing tightly structured, satisfying films that are still inventive and thought provoking.
Tale of Tales (Netflix)
A series of three fairy tales, joined loosely by their protagonists meeting at the start and end of the film. They're mostly in the "ordinary folk suffering because of the stupidity of royalty" genre, which I found irksome, but overall, I enjoyed the film. The production is rich and the film creaks with beautifully composed shots and gorgeous vistas. Toby Jones and Selma Hayek are particularly good. Ironically, given what I said above, I'd have liked to see a Del Toro take on this, just to push the invention and weirdness a little more.
Son of Saul (Netflix)
Fully deserving of its five star rating, this is an incredible piece of work. Telling the story of a member of a "Sonderkommando" at an unnamed Nazi extermination camp, who becomes fixated on providing a proper funeral for a young boy who survives being gassed, only to be killed by the guards. The film is shot with a very tight focus on the protagonist, which means that the chaos and brutality around him is glimpsed, something that somehow makes it more shocking - a chaotic world of ceaseless brutality (most of the scenes are a bedlam of shouted orders and hurried, shocked compliance). That narrow focus makes most of the running time claustrophobic and unsettling, and there are scenes in which viewers will, I think, feel some part of the panic onscreen.
It's also thematically quite rich, offering coping strategies of resistance or submission, empathy or detachment, and questioning whether we should expect anything from them in the face of the overwhelming, machine like brutality facing the characters. A very difficult film to do justice to in a few paragraphs, I'm afraid, and I feel there is much more to say about it - I'm astonished that something so assured and formally inventive is a directorial debut.
Tin Pot
Guru
J.Edgar - Amazon Prime
A biopic of the guy who ran the FBI forever and started the whole surveillance of civilians over in the US.
It's not a great picture. It's not terrible.
I think Clint Eastwood tried too hard to make this lunatic seem like a reasonable person. I watched all 2hrs16m but I was waiting for some kind of awesome scene the film seemed to be setting up for and DiCaprio is so capable of.
Recommended only if you know nothing about the FBI and are interested in repressed homosexuality.
3/5
A biopic of the guy who ran the FBI forever and started the whole surveillance of civilians over in the US.
It's not a great picture. It's not terrible.
I think Clint Eastwood tried too hard to make this lunatic seem like a reasonable person. I watched all 2hrs16m but I was waiting for some kind of awesome scene the film seemed to be setting up for and DiCaprio is so capable of.
Recommended only if you know nothing about the FBI and are interested in repressed homosexuality.
3/5
Spartak
Powered by M&M's
- Location
- Bristolian
Prequel to Alien .......
swee'pea99
Legendary Member
For a bright guy, steeped in movies, Clint Eastwood makes some surprisingly clunky films. I watched his Bird recently - a reverential biopic of Charlie Parker - and though there were good aspects and good bits, overall it was a very slow and pedestrian portrayal of what must in truth have been a wild and energy-packed era.
Elybazza61
Guru
Look forward to seeing that sometime.
Actually watched the original on Saturday,for about the hundredth or more time
Tin Pot
Guru
Hateful Eight - Amazon Prime
Glorious to look at, when there is no gore that is. Captivating. Every element has been scrutinised to perfection, set, cast, camera, direction.
I'm not a fan of Tarantino because I've always rejected gory violence, but there no denying this is almost perfect in what it is trying to be.
If he could do it without the cartoon-like graphic violence it would be flawless, imo, but at the same time it would miss its mark.
4.5/5
Glorious to look at, when there is no gore that is. Captivating. Every element has been scrutinised to perfection, set, cast, camera, direction.
I'm not a fan of Tarantino because I've always rejected gory violence, but there no denying this is almost perfect in what it is trying to be.
If he could do it without the cartoon-like graphic violence it would be flawless, imo, but at the same time it would miss its mark.
4.5/5
mustang1
Legendary Member
- Location
- London, UK
QuickSilver.
And
He'll or High Water.
The problem is that last film was a rental and I had to switch the last 20 minutes off and I would have got back to it later, but I forgot. Now I can't be bothered to re-rent it.
And
He'll or High Water.
The problem is that last film was a rental and I had to switch the last 20 minutes off and I would have got back to it later, but I forgot. Now I can't be bothered to re-rent it.
The Brewer
Shed Dweller
- Location
- Wrexham
Last night was The King of Comedy. Nope sorry not for me, I just cringed all the way through it
Tin Pot
Guru
Bone Tomahawk - Netflix
Intrigued my Kurt Russel in Hateful Eight I wanted a bit more.
It's a completely different kind of western, Kurt is a trigger happy lawman rather than bounty hunter. But this is a civilised West, invaded by something completely uncivilised.
Interesting, atmospheric and with good performances.
4/5
Intrigued my Kurt Russel in Hateful Eight I wanted a bit more.
It's a completely different kind of western, Kurt is a trigger happy lawman rather than bounty hunter. But this is a civilised West, invaded by something completely uncivilised.
Interesting, atmospheric and with good performances.
4/5
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Out of The Furnace. 8/10.
I'm not a fan of Christian Bale who I think is, frankly, a bit of a d**k. However, a wonderfully restrained performance which is in keeping with the self contained violence of the character. Atmospheric imagery, slow but compelling plot, and mesmerising performances from Woody Harrelson and Willem Defoe made it worth sitting up late for. A typically tidy supporting performance from Forest Whittaker.
Who'd have though "scumbag kills brother, older brother hunts down scumbag and kills him in revenge" could be so hypnotic?
I'm not a fan of Christian Bale who I think is, frankly, a bit of a d**k. However, a wonderfully restrained performance which is in keeping with the self contained violence of the character. Atmospheric imagery, slow but compelling plot, and mesmerising performances from Woody Harrelson and Willem Defoe made it worth sitting up late for. A typically tidy supporting performance from Forest Whittaker.
Who'd have though "scumbag kills brother, older brother hunts down scumbag and kills him in revenge" could be so hypnotic?
