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Post by The Doctor on Jan 15, 2015 23:44:44 GMT
I still don't know how I feel about Birdman either. Last time I had this feeling was with The Spirit. I still don't know how I feel about that movie either!
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 16, 2015 19:45:29 GMT
The Spirit! That reminds me I need to get that Blu-Ray so we can watch again!
Andy
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 16, 2015 19:58:41 GMT
No need, chum.
-Ralph
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Post by Andy Turnbull on Jan 16, 2015 20:10:41 GMT
You need to know what to think of the film.
Mind you we can watch Sin City 2...
Andy
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Jan 18, 2015 23:21:43 GMT
Snuck in a second viewing of Paddington this afternoon when I should've been filling in a job application. What a lovely little film it still is.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Jan 19, 2015 7:23:39 GMT
1. Taken 3
2. Exodus: Gods and Kings
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Jan 22, 2015 22:24:32 GMT
1: The Old Vic’s ‘The Crucible’: One of those very famous plays that I knew a great deal about but had never seen or read the whole thing. Well...golly. Amazing stuff and at times I thought the cinema screen was going to explode with the power of some of the performances. It may be a recording of a theatre show but I doubt I'll see anything as astonishingly acted as this all year. Worth seeking out if it gets a home video or digital release.
2: Whiplash: I can't stand jazz music and I thought this was terrific. It should have been awful as it could easily have been to trite, mawkish or unpleasant but it's so deftly directed and performed I got really into it and the last act is pure cinema.
3: The Theory of Everything.
4: Big Hero 6.
5: American Sniper: Solid and sturdy for what it is. So long as you know going in you're not going to get any examination of the politics or rationale of the Iraq War and US involvement you'll be fine. As an attempt to put that kind of conflict on screen there are some astonishing sequences in there.
6: Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.
7: Unbroken.
8: The Woman in Black: Angel of Death.
9: Taken 3 (IMAX).
10: Foxcatcher.
11: Ex Machina: Now I wanted to like this more than I did. The central performances are solid (having seen Oscar Isaacs a few times now he's such a magnetic acting presence that if his part in Star Wars VII is decent he could easily blow everyone else off the screen in that film). There's a new idea for 'how to create an AI'. It's trying to be a science-fiction film that isn't built around explosions. And yet it just never really gets going or is particularly satisfying as a drama. Mmmm.
12: Into The Woods.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Jan 30, 2015 18:42:51 GMT
1. Paddington
2. The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies - bloated beyond reason, and strays even further from the intended tone of the source material
It takes a "greed is not good for you" coda to the story and stretches it out for what seems like forever. The battle of the Five Armies is also not very interesting as presented - just a collection of CG images with very little actual story-telling going on. By the time Thorin confronted Evil Ork Guy I was just hoping that it would finally end. As I feared, it felt like the film just continued to dive deeper and deeper into a grim tone which is unbefitting the source material. I also thought that the way they chose to present the violence was a little bit close to gratuitous for a children's story to be honest.I think children's movies should probably have some sort of quota-limit for severed heads.
The thing that really annoys me is that I think I would have liked these films more if they had been their own standalone films. They would have been a perfectly competent Epic Fantasy Trilogy. They are not very good adaptations of "The Hobbit".
Ah well, I have the BBC Radio version around here - which remembers that Gandalf is a wily trickster with a bit of magic on the side, the dwarves are a group of well-meaning but clueless idiots and the point of the story is the unexpected dimensions that a sedentary hobbit named Bilbo Baggins finds in himself in adversity.
Karl
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Post by Bogatan on Feb 1, 2015 13:58:39 GMT
1. Kingsman - Who knew Colin Firth could do action? Seriously if this had happened around 2000 we might have seen a very different film career. He is great, the whole film is great. Some spectacular fight scenes, for Firth in particular.
What I dont understand is why some reviewers think it is a bond spoof. A british spy film, yes. Comedy, yes, but its as much as Bond spoof as it is a Harry Potter spoof (which it shares a surprising amount with if looked at in the right way, certainly more than Bond)
It does feature one scene set in America, from one side of the scene they do a good job of recreating the US, on the other it is quite clearly a suburban street in somewhere like Surbiton. After decades of US TV and film trying to recreate the UK and the rest of the world without going more than 50 miles from LA seeing the reverse is almost too strange for words.
2. Paddington -
3. Big Hero 6
4. Night at the Museum 3 - I was going to skip this after finding the second one unnecessary (if being polite), though it did have Amy Adams so not a complete loss. But I didn't feel much need to watch the third till I realised it was Robin Williams last performance. So I eventually made it to the last cineworld showing and to my great surprise it was actually quite good. The plot feels like a natural progression rather than whatever happened in the second and brings the series to a good conclusion. Robin Williams presence has a strange affect on the film. When he first appears I was so happy to see him, but as the film goes on the tone changes and combines with the knowledge that Williams last performance is coming to an end and gets far more emotional than was intended. His last few lines in particular have taken on a whole other level of depth.
Theres also a quite brilliant scene set inside a painting which is particularly well done. Oh and a laugh out loud funny cut in an Owen Wilson and Steve Coogan scene.
5. Birdman
6. Gone Girl
7. American Sniper -It's a good film, how true it is and all the political crap past and present that surrounds it can't take away from that, its probably better for not dealing with the reasons for going to war as its not about that. But it could have benefited from more context, having any Iraq's as anything more than things to be shot for example.
8. Taken 3
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Feb 1, 2015 18:30:10 GMT
Peter Jackson never set out to make films of the book 'The Hobbit', he set out to make films of everything that took place around the events of the book 'The Hobbit' according to the books 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit', and throwing in some gender balance with original characters. Unfortunately that doesn't make for a snappy title, so folk who think the book 'The Hobbit' is a better story in its pure form (not me) are justly aggrieved at the results. Maybe a director suited to making a pure film of the book 'The Hobbit' - which PJ clearly is not - will make one, one day.
I see this latest trilogy very much as welcome appendices, expansion and backstory to the superior main event LOTR trilogy, which is really all I wanted. They don't make good standalone films at all, and I think the whole Peter Jackson Middle Earth saga (extended DVD versions, of course) is really best enjoyed pretending it's a super-high-budget TV series box set.
I haven't gone to see 'Night at the Museum 3' due to the absence of Amy Adams, the best thing in either of the first two films.
Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 1, 2015 19:52:28 GMT
Personally I would say that making films called 'The Hobbit' and not making them much like the source material is as idiotic as, say, making a light-hearted version of 'Lord of the Rings' would be. If a film is based on pre-existing material it's not unreasonable to expect it to have some relation to it beyond the title and some plot details. For example tomorrow I'll be seeing 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' to see how the comic it is based on/developed in parallel with is realised on screen.
Personally I found the three 'Lord of the Rings' films, the 2nd Hobbit and parts of the 3rd Hobbit to be utter drivel that should be left only as dust unable to be found by hyper-intelligent apes in the far future. Enjoyed the first Hobbit film and parts of the 3rd film, ie when the tone and feel of the source material was actually put on screen.
Would rather watch all of the tv show Smallville (the most boring and pointless telly ever made) than watch one minute of those LOTR films again though! So ponderous. So dull. So full of witless self-importance.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Feb 1, 2015 22:33:34 GMT
Peter Jackson never set out to make films of the book 'The Hobbit', he set out to make films of everything that took place around the events of the book 'The Hobbit' according to the books 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit', and throwing in some gender balance with original characters. Unfortunately that doesn't make for a snappy title, so folk who think the book 'The Hobbit' is a better story in its pure form (not me) are justly aggrieved at the results. Maybe a director suited to making a pure film of the book 'The Hobbit' - which PJ clearly is not - will make one, one day. It is fair to say that the marketing did not really make that clear to me, hence my annoyance with something that to me purported to be an adaptation of the book. (I should declare here that I quite like both " The Hobbit" and the three books making up "The Lord of the Rings" in their dead tree forms, but I think they are in many respects very different genres. Indeed, I'd make an argument for "The Lord of the Rings" being the foundation stone of "Epic Fantasy" as a distinct literary genre in the English-speaking world, whilst "The Hobbit" is much more of a children's adventure tale). I'd also observe that at one stage I would have said that the Peter Jackson of "The Frighteners" and "Heavenly Creatures" would have been an ideal director to do a proper adaptation of "The Hobbit". That is what I find quite ironic. (And whilst I'm prattling on anyway :-) I meant to mention last week that I was very pleased to see the character of Tauriel getting something to do in this film. And acfually I was very annoyed to see Legolas kill-steal her vengeance from her. Bloomin' show-off.) Karl |
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Feb 3, 2015 17:15:34 GMT
1. PADDINGTON
2. Big Hero 6
3. Birdman
4. Ex Machina - Interesting ideas but the film just never seems to run anywhere with them. It almost feels like it wants to but doesn't... Thumbs up for Not-Google bearded hermit bloke though.
5. Kingsmen - Ok, but nothing great. To make it work though it really needed to take the chip off its shoulder about posh/rich/non-'ned' people though. Especially given how the main character ends up.
6. Foxcatcher
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Feb 3, 2015 21:19:05 GMT
1. Kingsman: The Secret Service (great for the most part, though the church massacre and the baby in the bathroom were in poor taste and rather spoilt the fun of the rest of it)2. Taken 3 3. Exodus: Gods and Kings Martin
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 9, 2015 21:53:53 GMT
1: Shaun the Sheep Movie: Hilarious!
2: The Old Vic’s ‘The Crucible’.
3: Whiplash.
4: The Theory of Everything.
5: Big Hero 6.
6: American Sniper.
7: A Most Violent Year: Smart.
8: The Gambler (2014): Sassy.
9: Selma: Solid.
10: Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.
11: Kingsman: The Secret Service (IMAX): Alright.
12: Unbroken.
13: Son of a Gun: OK.
14: The Woman in Black: Angel of Death.
15: Taken 3 (IMAX).
16: Foxcatcher.
17: Ex Machina
18: Into The Woods.
19: Jupiter Ascending: Shit.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Feb 9, 2015 23:42:56 GMT
1. PADDINGTON
2. Big Hero 6
3. Birdman
4. Selma - Solid.
5. Ex Machina
6. Kingsmen
7. Jupiter Ascending - Shit.
8. Shaun the Sheep - Total shit.
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Post by Bogatan on Feb 11, 2015 18:11:32 GMT
1. Kingsman
2. Paddington
3. Big Hero 6
4. Night at the Museum 3
5. Birdman
6. Gone Girl
7. Mortdecai - I knew that this wouldnt be great. But over the last few years I've come to realise that I almost always find myself liking Ewan McGregors performances, yeah even Star Wars. Ditto Paul Bettany. And even Depp most... some of the time, even The Lone Ranger had its moments. So the three of them together I had to see. Bettany steals the show unsurprisingly. The film isnt actually that bad.
8. Into the Woods - A tale of two films. It's good that I understand the idea behind the film without having been aware before watching it. The fairy tale and then what comes next. It's interesting if not perfectly handled. What kills it is the music. It's somewhere between Les Miserables all singing approach and the more common dialogue with distinct musical numbers between. Half the songs brought the film to a screeching halt and most of the rest were a mix of enjoyable song and singy talking that didnt mesh together. Also I still cant quite dislodge my probably irrational dislike of James Cordon. Oh and theres a odd side story about Prince Charmings brother and Rapunzal that seems to serve no real purpose at all.
On a more positive note Chris Pine seems to be channelling William Shatner at his most Shatneresque to play Prince Charming. Seemingly even using Shatners most boufant wig. It's a sight to behold.
9. American Sniper
10. Taken 3
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Post by legios on Feb 22, 2015 18:28:59 GMT
1. Paddington
2. Big Hero 6: Absolutely fantastic Superhero movie. Absolutely nails the tone of a lot of the Superhero material I grew up with. A fantastic origin story, in the "Power and Responsibility" tradition, a subtext about why we need friends and characters whose intent is rooted in the doing good part rather than the "punch people" part. Also, Baymax is a total gift for Super Robot fans. Sets the bar quite high for this years Superhero movies as far as I am concerned.
3. Kingsman - Never less than competent, rising to exceptional in places (the staging of it's action sequences is world-class). Remembers the important rule that if you are intending to satirise a genre, you also need to be a competent example of the genre for it to work. Some very good class humour, and a fantastic performance out of Colin Firth who really sells the idea that a Gentleman and a Snob are not the same thing. Some of the Bond spoofery is wonderful - especially the demolition of classic Bond's way of relating to women that had me chuckling audibly.
4. The Hobbit
Karl
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 24, 2015 19:13:05 GMT
1: Shaun the Sheep Movie.
2: The Old Vic’s ‘The Crucible’.
3: Whiplash.
4: The Theory of Everything.
5: Big Hero 6.
6: American Sniper.
7: A Most Violent Year.
8: The Gambler (2014).
9: Selma.
10: Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.
11: Kingsman: The Secret Service (IMAX).
12: Project Almanac: Yes the 'found footage' aspect in cinema is tired by this point, yes it takes a bit too long to get to the really interesting stuff and yes it's not going to win any awards. It is, however, smarter than it has any right to be, has a fine young cast putting in very good shifts and has an endearing earnestness about it. There's no budget for explosions so there's some thought about how the time travel aspect works and what typical teenagers would do with it.
13: Unbroken.
14: Son of a Gun.
15: The Woman in Black: Angel of Death.
16: Taken 3 (IMAX).
17: Foxcatcher.
18: Ex Machina.
19: Blackhat: There's really nothing that can be said about it other than: 'Yep, that's a Michael Mann movie'. Thor looks deeply unhappy throughout.
20: Into The Woods.
21: Jupiter Ascending.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Feb 28, 2015 17:58:20 GMT
1. Paddington
2. Big Hero 6:
3. Shaun the Sheep - I've a great soft-spot for a bit of slapstick, and this is some good slapstick. Very silly, but rather entertaining.
4. Kingsman
5. The Hobbit
Karl
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Feb 28, 2015 18:47:09 GMT
1. PADDINGTON
2. Big Hero 6
3. Birdman
4. Project Almanac - Annoying shaky cam filming but an interesting idea played out well. Took a while to get going, but well done to all involved. Including the red truck.
5. Selma
6. Ex Machina
7. Kingsmen
8. Jupiter Ascending
9. Shaun the Sheep
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 1, 2015 21:42:09 GMT
1: Shaun the Sheep Movie.
2: The Old Vic’s ‘The Crucible’.
3: Whiplash.
4: The Theory of Everything.
5: Big Hero 6.
6: The Lego Movie (BAFTA re-release): Not quite as jaw-dropping second time around but still great fun.
7: American Sniper.
8: A Most Violent Year.
9: The Gambler (2014).
10: Selma.
11: Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.
12: Kingsman: The Secret Service (IMAX).
13: Project Almanac.
14: It Follows: Great premise - somewhere in the world something is walking towards you and when it reaches you then you are doomed. Has a properly weird atmosphere and a fine sparkly snytho-pop soundtrack that is either a charming homage to late 70's/early 80's horror flicks or a direct rip depending on your mood. It doesn't quite work: the lead character is a bit of a vacuum and it doesn't obey its' own internal logic but it's interesting and tries to be unsettling with camera-work and weird sounds rather than blood or gore.
15: Unbroken.
16: Son of a Gun.
17: The Woman in Black: Angel of Death.
18: Taken 3 (IMAX).
19: Foxcatcher.
20: Ex Machina.
21: Blackhat.
22: Into The Woods.
23: Jupiter Ascending.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 1, 2015 23:43:27 GMT
1. PADDINGTON
2. Big Hero 6
3. Birdman
4. Project Almanac
5. Selma
6. Ex Machina
7. Kingsmen
8. Focus - Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
9. Jupiter Ascending
10. Shaun the Sheep
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 9, 2015 16:26:26 GMT
Post by fortmax2002 on Mar 1, 2015 at 11:43pm
1. PADDINGTON
2. Big Hero 6
3. Birdman
4. Project Almanac
5. Selma
6. Ex Machina
7. Kingsmen
8. Chappie - Mummy, look! Chappie is like gangsta crap. (Insulting on all levels and never knows what sort of film it wants to be. The first five minutes and Hugh Jackman's mullet saves it from joining Shaun the Sheep at the bottom of the pile.)
9. Focus
10. Jupiter Ascending
11. Shaun the Sheep
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Post by The Doctor on Mar 10, 2015 17:05:23 GMT
1: Shaun the Sheep Movie.
2: The Old Vic’s ‘The Crucible’.
3: Whiplash.
4: The Theory of Everything.
5: Big Hero 6.
6: The Lego Movie (BAFTA re-release).
7: Globe on Screen: The Duchess of Malfi - I knew nothing at all about this going in (since learned it originates from 1612/13). Starts looking like it will be a knockabout comedy about a lass looking for a new husband but gets increasingly bonkers as it goes on and before you know it there is a 'dance of the madmen' and folk giving enormous speeches as they writhe about on the floor after mad bastards stab them or hang them. Radio rental. Quite absorbing though due to the high rate of surprise.
8: American Sniper.
9: A Most Violent Year.
10: The Gambler (2014).
11: Selma.
12: Kill The Messenger: Dramatisation of the accounts of the journalist who broke the Iran Contra scandal and the terrible personal consequences it had for him thereafter. Economical and straightforward, which is sometimes what you need and works by putting really strong actors into even the smallest roles. Got me properly angry too, which it should.
13: Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance.
14: Kingsman: The Secret Service (IMAX).
15: Project Almanac.
16: It Follows.
17: Unbroken.
18: Son of a Gun.
19: The Woman in Black: Angel of Death.
20: Taken 3 (IMAX).
21: Foxcatcher.
22: Ex Machina.
23: Chappie: Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Oh dear.
24: Blackhat.
25: Into The Woods.
26: Jupiter Ascending.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 19, 2015 11:53:54 GMT
1. PADDINGTON
2. Big Hero 6
3. Birdman
4. Project Almanac
5. Selma
6. Ex Machina
7. Kingsmen
8. Suite Française - Nicely shot, some good depth but the ending let's itself and the audience down. A happy ending is not necessary but the film just stops.
9. X + Y - A nice try but its uplifting message of difference is not just ok, but a good thing is rather spoilt by the ending where the lead character achieves success by becoming like everybody else.
10. Run All Night - Liam Neeson stars in another Liam Neeson genre film. It starts off ok but quickly becomes as bored with itself as the audience is with it. This is so much like previous Liam Neeson films I'm sure they just have a crude story element randomiser now that they just activate every few months.. RAN for instance features Neeson's charater from Non-Stop plus the pub from Walk Among the Tombstones plus....
11. Chappie
12. Focus
13. Jupiter Ascending
14. Shaun the Sheep
I'm having a bad to 'megh' run of films this year. Ultron - saaaaaaaaaaaave uuuuuuuuuuuuuuusss!!
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Post by legios on Mar 19, 2015 12:14:03 GMT
But hope is the first thing Ultron wants to destroy...
Karl
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Mar 20, 2015 16:23:07 GMT
Just booked my favourite seat in the auditorium for a triple bill of Avengers, Cap 2 and Avengers 2 on the evening of 22nd April.
Martin
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Mar 20, 2015 18:25:19 GMT
I was tempted by the triple but settled in the end just for A2 on the evening of the 23rd. For now anyway....
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Post by legios on Mar 20, 2015 20:42:38 GMT
1. Paddington
2. Big Hero 6:
3. Shaun the Sheep
4. Kingsman
5. The Gunman - Can't decide whether it is a tosh thriller, or if it is trying hard to actually say something. The end result is that it ends up being neither. Not helped by a set of lead performances which vary between perfunctory and looking downright bored. (Even the major changes it seems to make to it's source novel's plot don't really seem to do much in it's favour.)EDIT:- also the direction, from the bloke who directed District 13 and Taken seems remarkably uninspired.
6. The Hobbit
Trailer Watch: A scattering of trailers before the main feature which pretty much all occupy some level or other of ridiculous:-
Fast and Furious 7: Clearly whatever the previous film was taking, it liked it because it has clearly gone back for a larger dose of the bonkers pills this time. Any pretense of vaguely relating to the real-world is out of the window entirely. But it has Jason Statham fighting Roadblock from GI Joe, and someone in a fight with Tony Jaa so it could be entertaining.
Hot Tub Time Machine 2: Looks like one of _those_ comedies. Does nothing to make me regret not seeing the previous film, or want to go and see this one.
John Wick: I think Keanu Reeves is a man aware of his acting range. Between this and "Man of T'ai Chi" he seems to have settled into playing emotionally barren villain/anti-hero quite nicely. The trailer makes this look rather like a Hong Kong vengeance action movie with an American pocket change budget. Plot appears ludicrous, I'm barely expecting competent acting, but the action choreagraphy looks like it could be entertainingly mad.
Avengers: Age of Ultron: I remain curiously unmoved by this trailer. Partly because I wasn't hugely fussed with Avengers, and partly because all it really says is "there are people fighting, and there are robots in it". I suspect that the film will be better than the trailer makes it look, but in and of itself this trailer feels pretty generic. (But still far better than the "you'll believe a man can fish" trailer for Man of Steel).
Karl
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