DVDs & Films Forum - So what have you watched lately? - Page 1

Good call this as I've seen quite a bit over the past few weeks

Sherlock Holmes - Undecided on this one. I could take it or leave it, some parts I liked but others could take or leave. Forced love stories in films always annoy me now (shouldn't as you get in 99% of films but still does) and in this really didn't seem to fit.

Avatar - Was unoriginal story as expected, but was massively impressed with the CG and 3D effects.

Saying that I'm not sure whether I would watch again and not fussed about them making another one or not.

Up in the AIr - Really enjoyed this and it is deserving of the praise it's been getting. Avoids the trap of starting out well, then falling into a line of cliches. Although there is a moment towards the end which is a bit un-necessarySPOILER:


The talking heads about the importance of family was a bit OTT


The Lovely Bones - I've never read the book, so the fact that it strays so far from that wasn't going to be an issue for me and I really liked the first 30/40mins, but then it lost me during the fantasy sequences. It did feel that outside the lead, Mark Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci's characters everyone else was just there to fill the roles to get the film to it's conclusion.

Pandorum - I thought this might be a quite enjoyable sci-fi horror as generally online it seems to be getting alright average reviews, although critically it didn't do well.

Thought it was terrible though, although given the fact I only went on the actors/ brief plotline and the 15second tv spots, I had no idea what the film was about, so watching the trailer might have made me less likely to watch it.

Law Abiding Citizen - After watching this was surprised it generally got paned by most places as I thought it was good and worth a watch for a turn your brain off kind of film.

I think the fact that most people root for Gerard Butler at least half way through the film is what turned most people off and Jamie Foxx's character probably isn't good enough to get him to root for him, plus the reveal that SPOILER:
Gerard Butler is like a super assassin was OTT,
although saying that the whole film is OTT in the first place.

The Wrestler - The first time I've watched it since in the cinema and I'd say it's definately my favourite film from last year. Rourke's awesome in this film, but I think I also appreciated it on the level that I used to love Wrestling when I was younger so when I was 11/14 and the internet became available I read up on all the little things such as the blades for the cuts etc

I think a lot of people haven't watched it though, purely because they don't like Wrestling (I've heard this reason off a few people) but really the wrestling scenes are few and far between so shouldn't be an issue.


Dexter Season 3 - Surprised that people didn't really like the 3rd season as I liked it although it lost it's way towards the end. I can only assume its mainly because it didn't have the mystery from season 1 of the Ice Truck Killer or the danger from season 2 to find out how he'd get away or what would happen.

The last 2 episodes to the season seemed to tie everything up a bit quickly though (from memory it was long outside the writers strike, so assuming that didn't effect them in that way?)


Think I've rambled a bit in the above, didn't have much to say regarding most things, but felt obliged to put more than "Good" "S***" "Alright" so have just rambled on

www.last.fm/user/1mills

The heavy snow last week afforded me some days off to catch up on all the lovely new screeners and films I hadn't got round to yet...

Public Enemies

Michael Mann's weakest film IMO. Excellent performance all round (Colonel Quaritch is particularly awesome ), but shooting on digital really didn't lend itself well to the subject matter, nor did the anachronistic docu-style shaky cam. Also, the sound mix was all over the place, with clunky fade edits in the music and bizarre peaks and troughs in the volume of the dialogue. I was truly surprised that Mann allowed this to be released in this state

Adam

The best romantic comedy I've seen in years, in that it was both very funny and truly beautifully romantic. Hugh Dancy stars as a man with Asperger's syndrome, and Rose Byrne is the new neighbour whom he falls in love with (and she him). I don't want to give too much away, but suffice to say it was one of my absolute favourite films of last year. It really stuck with me for days.

Sherlock Holmes

A whole boatload of fun that I really wasn't expecting at all. I hate Snatch, Revolver, Swept Away and Rocknrolla (although I can tolerate Lock Stock), so I wasn't expecting much from Guy Ritchie, especially given the artistic license that has been taken with certain aspects of the Holmes characters. But, the result is a tremendously funny, action packed film that manages to be compelling through to the end, thanks largely to the brilliant pairing of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. Still not quite sure how she managed to get up Tower Bridge without realising though.

Can't wait for the second one now!

Up In The Air

Surprised by the huge Oscar buzz this has been getting over the past few months I checked it out, and absolutely loved it. It's not nearly as relevant or satirical as I was expecting, but it is consistently funny throughout, incredibly pacy and just thoroughly well made in every way. George Clooney and Vera Farmiga both have tons of chemistry together.

Invictus

Clint Eastwood's latest Oscar-bait about Nelson Mandela's attempt to reunite the segregated black/white South Africa by conspiring to have their Rugby team win the world cup. Great performances and surprisingly good accents from both Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, but ultimately not the most interesting or gripping of stories and utterly predictable from the outset.

Inglourious Basterds

A complete mess of a film that proves that Tarantino is both a brilliant and frustrating director at the same time. There is no denying that he is a brilliant film-maker - he very clearly has put a lot of thought into every single shot in the film, even if a significant amount of them are homages to other works (I really liked the Searcher-esque doorway shot near the start). Also, although I would prefer a dedicated score from a proper composer (Ennio Morricone was briefly attached), his song choices do tend to blend quite evocatively with the images he creates.

But, it seems with each movie he makes he feels that he has to one-up both the length of all the scenes, but also the pointlessness of the dialogue. The bar-room scene is a prime example - the only thing that is relevant in this scene is that the hankerchief is left behind, and yet it lasts for a full 35 minutes. Michael Fassbender's character is completely superfluous to the plot, as is everything else that happens in this scene.

Then when the end came around and I realised that it was all just a childish revenge fantasy without the moral message, I felt cheated and p***ed off that I'd spent two and half hours watching fine performances and incredible cinematography in what is essentially another bloody exploitation film!

I just wish he would make a proper film!

I would have preferred the version from ten years ago when Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis et al were up for the main roles.



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This item was edited on Tuesday, 19th January 2010, 23:14

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I just wish he would make a proper film!

He did, it was called Jackie Brown! That reminds me, I still haven't watched the Blu-ray version I got a few months back. Must find the time. I did watch Thirst recently, which is another interesting Park Chan-wook feature. Not up to his best, but then even his average films are better than most.

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He did, it was called Jackie Brown

That film sucks big time

Insightful criticism there.

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He did, it was called Jackie Brown!

I agree with you there Chris. Like many, many other movie lovers I thought that Jackie Brown was a magnificently written/ scripted/ acted movie which relied on much more than hack/slash or violence for the sake of violence. Seemed to be an indication of what he could achieve. Then back to norm with KB/KB2 etc.
I have not seen Inglorious, wait till it is on SBO , so I will reserve judgement till I have

Choagy FFCUK The SPL

I LOVE Jackie Brown....one of my top ten movies, and I'm not a huge fan of Tarantino's other work. As someone said, just a great combination of smart dialogue, clever direction (what about that car assasination sequence that's all one shot...inspired!!) and DiNero was sublime as moose. Superb!

I must say Floyd that your viewing list looks like a few fantastic nights in. Brilliant!

I've been watching series 3 of The Avengers, the Miss Marple movies (Margaret Rutherford); The Banana Splits (fab shots of what became 'Kings Island' ...I lived in Ohio at the time of filming); Mad Monster Party ( a stop motion thing that would appeal to Floyd); Mike Leigh's Happy Go Lucky (far better than i thought it would be); and a load of others that escape me now. If this is going to turn into a regular feature again I'll keep a note!

Nice idea to breathe some life into this thread again Floyd. I always enjoy these 'mini-reviews' and seeing what people are watching.

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He did, it was called Jackie Brown!
I've heard a lot of people say this, but I've only seen it the once - when it was first shown on Channel 4, and as I was still just a sweaty palmed teenager back then I was only really watching in the hope of seeing some Bridget Fonda nipples

Anyway, I watched Cold Souls last night. Paul Giamatti stars as a skewed (I hope) version of himself, an actor struggling with the lead role in a stage production of Chekov's Uncle Vanya. He reads about a company offering a way to extract and store peoples' souls and promptly has the procedure, living for a while in an emotionless, soulless state. But then when he decides to revert back to his old soul, the company finds it has gone missing from the storage facility. There is more to it, but I don't want to give too much away.

It is a slow paced but quietly funny little film that boasts excellent performances from Giamatti, David Strathairn as the head of the company, and a russian actress called Dina Korzun, who plays a "soul mule" trafficking souls from Russia.

Much of the comedy is derived from watching as Giamatti struggles to cope with the situation, showing just how good of a comedic actor he is. His scenes with discussing the extraction process David Strathairn are brilliant

I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend it

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Sherlock Holmes

Watched his last night and was pleasantly surprised given Guy Ritchies previous offerings

Downey Jr was superb as the ecentric irratic Holmes, although the jury is still out on Law as Watson

Almost on a parr with Basil Rathbone

Well worth seeing