The devil wears prada
Surpisingly entertaining, a plain girl with no fashion sense ends up working as an assistant to the editor of a major fashion magazine and eventually turns into a fashionable young lady who suceeds in her job. There were some funny lines and Meryl Streep played the editor very well, not as harsh a film as thought it may have been and worth seeing.



The Bourne Supremacy
Not as good as the prequel but still recommendable, Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne again and is on the run from the CIA who are trying to assasinate him, if you can get by the fact that a lot of the scenes are overdone, in particular the car chases then it's enjoyable, I'm definitely lookign forward to the next one.



Infernal Affairs
Probably the best film I've seen for a while, the characters are strong and the story is great, lots of twists and turns along the way - I loved Tony Leung's character and felt for him near the end when Lau hit the delete button. It's just a really great film, well shot and directed too.

I went to see The History Boys yesterday which was brilliant. First class.

Fact is though - and I say this without trying to wind anyone up - it's not for everyone. People who aren't the best educated shall we say might find this hard to follow. If you look at imdb it has comments from people 'sayn dat da film iz2posh'. Infact two people walked out of the film half way through.

But it was excellent. Very intelligent humour.

What do you mean by 'intelligent humour'? Because a lot of people think Frasier is the pinnacle of intelligent humour, but it's no more than puns and wordplay from a couple of guys talking posh. (Don't get me wrong, I do really like the show)

I, personally, enjoy a lot of intricate refrence-based humour, which is why I find Arrested Development to be good intelligent comedy.

I'd say it was a bit like both really which is why it worked well for me.

I watched The Crucibile a couple of nights ago. Very moving film about the witchhunts in Salem back when it was ruled by the Puritans. Great performance from Daniel Day Lewis and Winnona Ryders pretty good in it too.

The Departed

Caught this last night at the cinema and it's one of the best films I've seen in that environment for a long while, the whole film was ruled by the performances of Jack Nicholson, Leo Di Caprio and Mark Wahlberg, they made the film and the usually decent Matt Damon looked less than decent amongst those three and Leo's turning into a very good and capable leading man and actor.

The whole story was so engrossing from the beginning to end and there was never a dull moment whilst the final 20 minutes or so got a little out of hand but I was very with it and believed in it none-the-less.

Scorsese's trademarks are not over this movie in the directorial sense but it's still a Scorsese film in the mood and themes that it posseses. Absolutely loved every second of it.

A selection of films I've seen recently (on planes etc)

Over the Hedge
Superb little comedy, I love the squirrel especially, easy to watch as most things like this are
and easily throwaway entertainment.

The Break Up
I enjoyed this, though not as much as I thought I would, Jennifer was great and Vince was his
usual laid back self, the story seemed to stall a little and didn't go in either direction that I thought
it was going to go. But hey well watchable.

The Hostel
For fucks sake, why not make a film "Gore for gores sake with a crap story" and have done with
it, any shock value was taken away by the shitty acting and shitty character 'development'. Sorry
but I was really offended by this film.

Final Destination 3
Well, not quite as good as final destination 2, but had some laughs, some parts that will make you
wince and has a cool "interactive" feature I'm looking forward to trying. Well enjoyable but by now
you know the routine and in most cases you can guess what's coming. That's not always bad though
and I enjoyed it!

Finding Nemo
Damn I forgot how good this film was

Cars
Yeah it's another one of those, again easy to watch cartoon, without a harsh plot, plenty of laugh out loud moments as well as a few running subtle jokes. Fun enough but nowhere near as good as Nemo!

"Hercules in New York".

Version I got was the un-dubbed version, so we got Arnie in full Austrian voice.

Rainier Wolfcastle all the way. What an awful actor he is in this.

Saw III

Worse than Hostel. Possibly. That's quite a feat really. I wouldn't have minded a blow-torch to the eyeballs during this pile of turd. I like it when films don't take themselves too seriously, and especially with the Horror genre it either comes off good or bad. This took itself seriously and came off shit.

They should have taken some hints from the hilarious Final Destination 3 and made it ludicrously funny. But this was not scary, no atmosphere, no care was put into the characters or the story. I still had a decent time seeing it with a bunch of mates, 6 cans of beer down me and a 12 o'clock screening, but film wise, shit.

Watched the butterfly effect for the first time last night and I really enjoyed it. Luckily the version I had had what Ive been told was the better ending, and I have to agree with after seeing parts of the alternate ending from the extras reel.

Just wanna know how the ending where:



Splits off from the other ending, it just looked like a completely random scene rather than an alternate ending.


I also bought battle royale 1 and 2 yesterday, I love the first one so Im looking forward to watching the second one later.

The second one is awful compared to the first, so don't get too excited.

Shush you.

Im sure Ill still enjoy it.

Desperado

Despite its beautiful direction and suave soundtrack, plus its great dialogue to boot, I found this film sluggish and unappealing.

I assume it was trying for the B-Movie / Western feel for it, but I found it to just be a series of fights one after another, each as pointless as the last.

The first section in the bar with Buscemi had me captivated, and if the film had revolved round him or the bar it probably would have interested me more.

Tarantino's cameo is funny as hell, but the guy really struggles in the role and looks so uncomfortable its unbelievable.

This film has a lot going for it, yet the weak plot and the bone-head hero really make it average. Shame.

the best thing aboot Desperado is Salma Hayek's titties, they are fantastic!

I really liked the second one actually. Hardly anybody does though .

I thought it fitting to put this in here...

In a couple of weeks I'll be meeting and having a Q&A session with Mark Kermode! YAYA!

Hills Have Eyes
Rather brutal horror, unlike a lot of horror films they don't cover the gore with darkness, most of it
is done in the daylight of the desert which is a bit unusual. Some highly disturbing imagery and
unexpected happenings. I'm not sure what the makers were trying to get across with the 'perpetrators'
but hey, I guess it was just a shock rock horror film that does its job rather well.

Definatley worth a watch if you're not squeamish.

]

You are the luckiest guy alive!

The good Doctor is one of the greatest movie critics of all times.

I watched Rocky 5 last night, it's not as good as I remember but not as awful as it was said to be. I still quite like it, and the streetfight at the end kicks butt.

I'm gonna watch the Directors Cut of Das Boot soon, but its like 3.5 hours long so its tough to find time to.

I've loved him for a long time and his podcasts on 5Live are fucking ace and I'm reallye excited about it, but then I tell a few other people and they have no idea who he is, which upsets me.

Please ask him if he is related to Chris Morris as the resemblance at times is quite frightening.

Waah?

Kermode looks like a bonfire night guy of The Fonz.

"HEEEEEEEEEEY!"

And in that picture he's a cross between Todd Carty and Randy Orton.

Why are you interviewing him anyway Andy?

I wouldn't say interviewing is the right word.

He's a guest speaker for my Media Writing lecture and it's a Q&A session for a couple of hours and I'm going to be right at the front and shake his hand afterwards. A surprising number of people had no idea who he was.

I might try and get him to do a soundbite for our student radio show too.

Hostle...Absolute pile of Wank.

I watched Conan The Barbarian last night for the first time in years!.. Still a great film! Different to anything else I've ever watched

It's not that different from Conan the Destroyer...

American Psycho

I’m still unsure of this, throughout the film I really enjoyed it, the Bateman character was great and Bale was convincing as the nutter, but the ambiguous ending took the shine off it for me I’m afraid.

To save the children

Based on a true story in the southern states of America, a former police officer does his nut, builds a bomb and takes a local school hostage, there are a few twists and turns before a bit of a surprising finish. Richard Thomas is particularly convincing as are most of the children. Not a bad TV movie.

Hand Gun

This wasn’t too bad as far as Gangster Comedies go, It’s about a small-time criminal and his brother who’s a scammer, their father steals half a million dollars and the local cops and mafia type guys go after them. But when the Father is killed, the brother’s go after the money together. Frank Vincent played the mob boss well and Treat Williams plays the dick brother well too, a few laughs throughout and worth watching on TV.

Try reading the book by Bret Easton Ellis - its pure genius in its scribed form.

Borat

I went to see this last night, and I was not disapointed at all (apart from seeing my local cinema had hiked ticket prices again).

The film is great in that it takes the characters to a step it has not before, and really pushes the limits to the point it is unbelievably hard to watch some parts, e.g. when he pulls up to a gang of black youths in a bad areas or stays at an elderly JEWISH couples house.

It stays even sharper to those who have followed the character with scripted (and v. funny) sketches in between interviews etc, such as Borat in his hotel room or in Kazahkstan.

The only fact I will point out is that it does not have as much meaty material as the TV series, it surface glides over a lot of material and you can tell there is a lot on the cutting room floor, but with a comedy flick that is to be expected. I have my fingers crossed for a juicy double disc DVD release.

I urge anyone who likes alternative comedy to watch this. It is easily the best comedy film I have seen this year.

Garden State

I thought this was a pretty good film! Some moments of pure hilarity.. but also moments that make you think a bit. Natalie Portman was adorable! Her giggle gets me everytime .

Leon The Professional

I loved this. Great story about a killer and a little girl. Portman was amazing.. she was probably about 15 in this one.. and still put on a strong performance. Gary Oldman was good also!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

Well, I didn't expect this to be as good as it is. I absolutely loved the start of this. To say I was pretty shocked by it would be an understatement. The ending isn't as good as the original, and I'm not sure that there was any need for it to be done the way it was done, but everything up to that point sure was enjoyable.

Sympathy For Mr Vengeance

I thought it was ok. But i think i was probably expecting too much, because i'd seen Oldboy before. It had it's momments but seemed to drag a little in places. I was also very tired while watching it so, i will try to watch it again sometime.

yeesssss...TCM 2 is definatly an acquired taste, considering its directed by the origional's director Tobe Hooper this comes off as somewhat of a spoof, and that's how it was intended, i recently got the Special Edition and they say they intentionally tried to make a comedy (Bill Mosely rules as Chop-Top), having said that it's amazing that this was ever put out at all, the film was dogged by made production and shooting problems. If you liked the film pick up the region 1 special edition, the doc. on there is superb.

banged in a few today:

Close Encounters of The Third Kind - a classic and one of my favourite films, i've always been obsessed with aliens and abduction so this film nails it for me. It definatly looks at aliens from a different kind of angle, the aliens here are docile and friendly and it makes for a touching and beautiful film. The first 3 quarters are pure mystery, all leading to the final scene on Devil's Peak. The finale is one of my favourite scenes in any film, jaw-dropping.

Hard Candy - hoolllly shit! this was intense. Again his is off an accquired taste, props go out to the two actors involved who are both f'n superb, the line between right and wrong is blurred in this movie. If you're into revenge movies, get this now! Brutal!

Total Recall - Sci-Fi classic! Arnie's 80'/90's movie were outright flawless for me, great sense of nostalgia, one-liners and a pretty clever little story, add the fact that it's gore'd up by Paul Verhoeven and you've got a blemmer on your hands, ive seen this about 15 times and it never gets old.

it's been a pretty good day's worth of viewing

I havent seen TCM 2 but i think that documenatery's on the Special Edition of the original, and it's superb. The "making of" the first movie is great too.

I just recently watched this too, and I did feel the intensity but I didn't feel anything else, it was a decent enough concept and told it's story effective enough but there was just not enough within the film itself (I couldn't pin it down whether it was story, structure, direction, execution or whatever) but there was something which left me very empty about the film.

UKedge87 wrote:-

Borat

I went to see this last night, and I was not disapointed at all (apart from seeing my local cinema had hiked ticket prices again).

The film is great in that it takes the characters to a step it has not before, and really pushes the limits to the point it is unbelievably hard to watch some parts, e.g. when he pulls up to a gang of black youths in a bad areas or stays at an elderly JEWISH couples house.

It stays even sharper to those who have followed the character with scripted (and v. funny) sketches in between interviews etc, such as Borat in his hotel room or in Kazahkstan.

The only fact I will point out is that it does not have as much meaty material as the TV series, it surface glides over a lot of material and you can tell there is a lot on the cutting room floor, but with a comedy flick that is to be expected. I have my fingers crossed for a juicy double disc DVD release.

I urge anyone who likes alternative comedy to watch this. It is easily the best comedy film I have seen this year.

Cant really add to this - went to the cinema for the first time in 7 years, and i was very happy with my purchase. ill def be getting this DVD too, hoping for some deleted scenes. I could have done without the penis and naked wrestling, but apart from that, all good stuff - Borat is 100000 times better than Ali G.

nah it's a different doc. this one is specifically about the 2nd movie.

Until now, Elephant, Gus Van Sant's wretched abortion of a film, loosely based on the Columbine high school shootings, was the single Worst Film I Have Ever Seen ™. I didn't think anything could dethrone it. Surely nothing could be as dull, pretentious, offensive, horribly written, dreadfully acted and horrifically realised as Van Sant's P'alme Dor (yes) winning "masterpiece" . Nothing could reach these dizzying heights. Nothing could make my blood boil and skin crawl as much as Elephant. Right?

Tonight I watched a film called Waking Life. It's written and directed by Richard Linklater, he of the excellent 1993 coming of age classic, Dazed and Confused. Waking Life is shot in the style of this year's A Scanner Darkly (also by Linklater) and if you don't know what that's like, it's basically really bad animation, like a bad abstract painting come to life and then falling into a puddle, making all the pretty colours flow and distort and just randomly vomit across the screen. It's a disorientating effect, one which induces headaches at will.





See that? That's UNIQUE. So it must be good right? Guess again.

As for the plot of the film. Uh, a guy gets hit by a car and gets stuck in a dreamworld where he has random, in-depth, "deep", pretentious and philosophical conversations with complete strangers, one of whom, after his rant about how fucked up the world is, douses himself in gasoline and sets himself on fire. This was a visual representation of what I would rather have done than continue watching this esoteric piece of shit. But continue on I did, as I was admittedly morbidly curious to see where it was going. In the end, it went absolutely nowhere. More conversations followed. Here's some examples of the dialogue:

"On really romantic evenings of self, I go salsa dancing with my confusion."

Read that aloud. This film is not a comedy. You are not meant to laugh at this. You're meant to feel a deep connection to this fucking drivel, so you can identify with it's core message. Whatever that may be.

"The idea is to remain in a state of constant departure while always arriving."

These characters just say these things. These conversations are just randomly started like this. There is no direction. NOBODY FUCKING TALKS LIKE THIS. It's like Linklater and his buddies got stoned whilst reading Kafka or something and Rich decided he needed to take his message to the public. The people who find this stuff important, who actually relate to these random parables of nothingness, are people who don't deserve to wake up in the morning. Ugh. One more exchange:

"Excuse me."

"Excuse me."

"Hey. Could we do that again? I know we haven't met, but I don't want to be an ant. You know? I mean, it's like we go through life with our antennas bouncing off one another, continously on ant autopilot, with nothing really human required of us. Stop. Go. Walk here. Drive there. All action basically for survival. All communication simply to keep this ant colony buzzing along in an efficient, polite manner. "Here's your change." "Paper or plastic?' "Credit or debit?" "You want ketchup with that?" I don't want a straw. I want real human moments. I want to see you. I want you to see me. I don't want to give that up. I don't want to be ant, you know?"


My words cannot do this film justice. It's both enriching and depressing. In a way, it made me feel good, mostly because I know that I while there are times when I can be a bit of a pretentious cunt, I will never, ever, reach the levels of the people involved in making this expressionist propaganda. Modern art fucking sucks. The depressing thing is that the guy who wrote this abortion is a success. C'est la vie.

Oh and if you're still reading, I do actually urge you to see this film once. Myself and my friend laughed hard and often. Just don't pay a single cent for the pleasure.

Damn!

We have (or should I say had) something in common.

In response to Mr Seven's hatred of 'A Scanner Darkly' which I haven't seen but might shed some light on it for you.



It is based on the book by Phillip K Dick, aka the guy who wrote Minority Report and Bladerunner. He was a genius, but a visionary. To simply tear apart his work is perhaps a little bit due to a lack of foresight.

In regards to the dialogue - yeh it sounds fucked up. But isn't it about a cop totally off his tits on drugs throughout the whole film. Isn't the whole film (i.e. the use of animation and weird events/ script) meant to just reflect a drug inducded trip and communicate this to the audience.

Just some thought.

I think he was talking about Waking Life, not Scanner Darkly.

Do you have the subtitles file for that movie?

I watched Return Of The Killer Tomatoes on Zone Horror last night and absolutely loved it. I was a little unsure of it at first, but it was a really funny film. Stopping the movie halfway through, due to not having any money had me in hysterics, and the Pepsi logos appearing from then on were a nice touch. Definetly reccomend it.

I used to watch the cartoon "Attack of the Killer Tomatos" all the time... I only found out much later that they were spun-off from films..Funny stuff though!

Here's another. Read what I wrote.

Studied this film in film studies and i actually quite enjoyed it. Have no idea why but it the long pauses reminded me of the tv show "Royale Family" and i just found it quite entertaining in a less conventional way.

Just thought id point out that he used non actors and all dialogue was improvised so that would explain the bad acting and would mean it wasnt horribly written. I suppose it is an aquired taste though.

And to add to this thread, the last film i saw at the cinema was BORAT: cultral learnings blah blah. Well im into comedy films, and was a fan of the Borat character since the very beginning and after seeing the trailer i had been waiting to see this film for months. As soon as i started reading all the positive reviews i was even more stoked for this film. I went with my mates who had already seen it once and was slightly worried them saying how good it was would leave me dissapointed. How WRONG i was. This film was so funny i dont think anybody could ever do it justice by writing down their thoughts on it. There was some scenes where i literally lost control of my laughing and had not done so since "Team America: World police" and beleive me when i say this film blows that one out of the water.

Great mixture of scripted and improvised material which comes off really well. I'm glad they didnt go the same route as the Ali G film becuase it's peoples genuine reactions to Sacha's characters that make them funny and this is what makes Borat work. Even the scripted scenes (one hotel scene in particular) was literally guy bustingly funny.

A definate go see, thumbs up from me. The only downside i can see to this film is people milking it for all its worth. I have already heard "High Five" more than i ever wanted to.

'The Warrior King'

Oh my god this movie rocked so much. Plot wise it's basically the same as Ong Bak but the fight scenes are 100 time better. The more Urban setting of Sydney creates some interesting fights & the fact there's actually english spoke in this film helps a great deal more.

I take it you've never seen "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" as it's every bit as shit as Elephant, only it's actually scripted, which makes it all the more insulting. Gus Van Sant really is a useless cunt. He's only trumped by Larry Clark in terms of cunts who somehow seem to garner critical acclaim.

Meh, Kids and Bully were ok. Clark is a total scumbag though.

Van Sant made an embarrassing shot for shot remake of Psycho and yet he still gets work. He made a film where Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's brother wander around the desert for an hour and a half, exchanging about a dozen lines to one another, and yet he still gets praise.

I don't get it.