What's The Last Movie You Saw?

[Roy Hunter]

Just watched Pearl Jam Twenty. I enjoyed it, because it's the music of my twenties and I am a music nerd anyway, and the Ticketmaster story was interesting; but I suspect of you are not a music nerd of the '90s, it will bore the arse off you.

[muunleit]

"Real Steel" two days ago

[Roland Deschain]

Just watched Pearl Jam Twenty. I enjoyed it, because it's the music of my twenties and I am a music nerd anyway, and the Ticketmaster story was interesting; but I suspect if you are not a music nerd of the '90s, it will bore the arse off you.

Yeah, i've heard a lot of enthusiasm over this one. I was a child of the 80s and 90s, so I get the nerdiness there. Plus I love the band Pearl Jam, so it's a win-win situation for me watching this. I hear David Lynch is interviewing at one point. That's got to be an interesting interview.

Yesterday I watched two films, both very good for very different reasons. Lucio Fulci's City of the LIving Dead is a classic of zombie cinema, and one of his best films. The effects in this are pretty visceral, and leave nothing to the imagination. The weird French film called Innocence was a coming-of-age affair that I knew nothing about. I thought it was horror, to be honest, but it was nothing like that. It was an endearing affair about growing up, and the pressures of life.

[Qwertyuiopasd]

Saw The Rum Diary last night. Johnny Depp plays a journalist who drinks a lot of alcohol and ends up on Puerto Rico circa 1960 (great combination), based on a Hunter S. Thompson novel. (un)fortunately, there is only one LSD trip scene. Quality movie though, not necessarily anything special, but if you enjoy Fear and Loathing, or Depp in general, definitely check this out.

[Roy Hunter]

Just watched Four Lions on the TV. I can see how it offended a few people who don't 'get' Chris Morris and his sense of humour, but I found it bloody hysterical.

SPOILERS!Is a wookie a bear? No, you shot a wookie, the bear is still running. It's a Honey Monster. Is the Honey Monster a bear?[/SPOILERS]

[daftbeaker]

Just watched Four Lions on the TV. I can see how it offended a few people who don't 'get' Chris Morris and his sense of humour, but I found it bloody hysterical.

It is a brilliant film. I described it to my brother who said something like "Suicide bombers? Sounds depressing." He was crying with laughter about 20 minutes in. My personal favourite moment was them trying to avoid the CCTV cameras with the rapid facial movement

[Roy Hunter]

Following on from Four Lions, we watched Jaws 3. Oh my FSM, what an unbelievable turd of a movie. How did it ever get made, let alone distributed?

[Roland Deschain]

Following on from Four Lions, we watched Jaws 3. Oh my FSM, what an unbelievable turd of a movie. How did it ever get made, let alone distributed?

But it has 3D! 3D!!!!!

Four Lions is hilarious, yes. I love the part where they're "training". Classic Chris Morris humour, and the actors were perfect for their roles.

Just watched The Wave (Die Welle) again. This is a great German film, taken from the 1981 US film The Wave, which was taken from a book, which was taken from a real-life study. It's an interesting look into how easy it is to become something you hate without realising it, and a lesson that Germany learnt to its detriment not so long ago. It is also a lesson that many people all over the world need to learn, including in the UK and US, but alas they seem doomed to repeat the mistakes of their forebears. I think I may have spoken about this film before in a thread (possibly this one), but it really draws you in. To think of how easy it is, is scary.

[Roland Deschain]

I can finally die happy:-

Melancholia - Wow. Just wow. This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen. The use of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde sporadically throughout is inspired, as is the acting. This is the best I have seen Kiefer Sutherland in a long time, with John Hurt giving a damn good performance, as usual. But it is Kirsten Dunst in her best film since Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Charlotte Gainsburg, who shine, with Kirsten easily taking the top spot.

This isn't so much science fiction, as a look at mental illness, and how people cope with adversity, stress and depression, from both the inside and outside. This film really hooked me in quite early, touching something deep inside me that I had forgotten was there. The opening visuals are so hypnotically beautiful, that I couldn't look away until around halfway through (there are two, separate parts to the film).

Please do yourself a favour and go watch this; you will never regret the decision. I can see it becoming a well-watched film before the year is out. 10/10.

Warning: Contains a couple of excellent...I mean notty scenes with Kirsten Dunst.

[PKMKII]

Waltz with Bashir

The animation style was a fresh, exciting way to present a documentary. Much better than voice-overs on still pictures and archive footage. The film paints neither war nor religion in a particularly positive light. The funny thing is, I thought it was a rather balanced view of the Israeli intervention in the Lebanese civil war, and I even thought that many right-wing types in America would find it critical of Israel (not to mention, the Sabra and Shatila massacres poke another hole in the "Christians are peaceful" argument). However, the Israeli newspaper Hareetz thought it wasn't critical enough of Israel's military. Guess it shows the disconnect between America's distant perception of Israel, and the perception of those who actually live there.

The director had a good point in the bonus material Q&A. He noted that in Hollywood war films, even if they're highly critical of war itself, they always portray the soldiers as heroes. Muscular, brave, look quite a few years old than 18-19. But this film portrayed them as something much closer to reality: lanky, scared boys, looking barely past puberty, forced into a situation they had no ideal or capability to handle. It humanized the soldier, instead of deifying.

[Roland Deschain]

Waltz with Bashir...lots of words...

That sounds really good. I've heard the name, and remember reading something a while ago about it being animated, but nothing more than that. I shall have to search it out and devour it. People have such warped views on Israel, it's nice to finally see a decent documentary that doesn't sugar-coat it.

I watched Martyrs last night. Violent, a little gory in places, and uncomfortable to watch in parts. Excellent film that is surprisingly thought-provoking. Today i've watched Halloween (2007) and Horror of Dracula. The latter is a classic from Hammer and should need no introduction. The former is Rob Zombie's remake. It gets a lot of hate on the internets, but I liked it. A decent homage to John Carpenter's 1978 original.

EDIT: I also watched Martin, a George A Romero film about a vampire and his problems. This is quite quirky, and a fresh take on the vampire mythos. Talking of fresh takes on the vampire mythos, this has no FSMDamn sparkly people in it!

[Qwertyuiopasd]

Saw Tower Heist and Hugo this week. Tower Heist was okay, about what you'd expect from a Stiller/Murphy comedy. Echoes some of the OWS sentiments, too, which is interesting, though not surprising. Probably works the other way around, anyway.

Hugo was amazing. Great story, great visuals, Sacha Baron Cohen has a supporting role and he is hysterical. As ridiculous as he gets with Borat and all that, in the hands of a good role and good director, it's comedy genius. And not just comedy: it was really funny, but also very poignant and all that. I'm almost skeptical of how much of a kids movie this is... I mean, it certainly is, and it's not dark or anything, but there's a lot that I think would go over the heads of most kids. Anyway, I'll stop rambling and just say that it's very good. Oh, and Scorsese uses the 3D well. It's not over-done or cheap, and the way the visuals of the entire movie go along with it, well... it just works. Which is more than I can say for most 3D movies, particularly live-action ones.

[Roland Deschain]

Saw Tower Heist and Hugo this week. Tower Heist was okay, about what you'd expect from a Stiller/Murphy comedy. Echoes some of the OWS sentiments, too, which is interesting, though not surprising. Probably works the other way around, anyway.

Hugo was amazing. Great story, great visuals, Sacha Baron Cohen has a supporting role and he is hysterical. As ridiculous as he gets with Borat and all that, in the hands of a good role and good director, it's comedy genius. And not just comedy: it was really funny, but also very poignant and all that. I'm almost skeptical of how much of a kids movie this is... I mean, it certainly is, and it's not dark or anything, but there's a lot that I think would go over the heads of most kids. Anyway, I'll stop rambling and just say that it's very good. Oh, and Scorsese uses the 3D well. It's not over-done or cheap, and the way the visuals of the entire movie go along with it, well... it just works. Which is more than I can say for most 3D movies, particularly live-action ones.

Yeah, i've read that the 3D effects in Hugo are some of the best since Avatar. I'm hearing nothing but good things about that film.

[PKMKII]

The Muppets

It's obviously not a Henson/Oz muppet work, but you can tell that the filmmakers had a love and respect for the franchise. Certainly was better than the mediocre "let's stick the muppets in a random classic" crap that's been done for most of the post-Henson era.

One thing I was impressed by is how they made the film a meta-commentary on the franchise itself, without losing any charm or humor (probably helps that there's always been a "behind the scenes" element to the Muppets, that it's just as much about the process of whatever production they're trying to put on, as the production itself). Particularly about how the franchise has been neglected and abused over the last 20 years. And the actions of the Richman character were suspiciously close to what Disney itself did with the franchise. Overall, it did a great job of reminding people that this franchise is still as great as it's always been, that there's still an audience out there for this sort of fun.

Related: I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

[PKMKII]

Waaaarriooooors....... come out and plaaaaaaaaaayaaaaaaaay.......

Waaaarriooooors....... come out and plaaaaaaaaaayaaaaaaaay.......