DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2

[Famous Mortimer]

Anyway, enough of that.

 

District 9

 

Just finished watching it.

 

<-- click on 'spoiler' to show/hide the spoiler

If they had weapons (the ones they sold to the Nigerians) why didn't they use them? There were a few people among the aliens who clearly had some leadership ability - why not fight off the humans and get a better deal for themselves? Why had no humans seemingly explored the interior of the ship in 20 years? Where did they get that massive body-armour thing from, and where had they been hiding it for all that time?

 

[close spoiler]

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It had some fairly big logic holes for me, but I may just be being picky. I'll have a nice cup of tea and a ponder of it. Most of the film was pretty brilliant though.

[Egg Shen]

spent an afternoon at the flicks...

 

The Book of Eli - now here's a movie that's going to divide audiences straight down the middle. Post-apocalyptic movie involving Denzel Washington's character walking 'west', hes carrying a book, Gary Oldman's badguy wants the book. You can't say too much about it because it will spoil the movie. I knew nothing about it, so the ending came as a bit of a suprise. What i will say is, don't expect the action movie the trailer suggests, this is a slow burner, not a lot happens and i thought it was saved completely by the ending, for the first hour and half i was thinking 'hmmmmn, this aint going anywhere'. Having said that, i would watch it again.

 

Up In The Air - needed light relief after Eli, so watched this on the strength that its had outstanding reviews. As most reviews have pointed out, the cast is the key. George Clooney is great, smooth as fuck and probably the only guy who could bring charm to a (on paper) somewhat unlikable character. It's one of them light hearted movies with some very serious questions about family chucked in, i recommend.

[Dead Mike]

Back on the Wes Anderson tip :-

 

Fantastic Mr Fox - Thought this was good but not great. The stop motion animation was excellent & fit the tone of the film much better than CG would've. The voice work was excellent with Clooney coming up trumps yet again, added cudos to Bill Murray & Michael Gambon. Can't imagine kids getting too excited over it though as it's VERY talky for a childrens film but then again maybe it would appeal on another level. I had a smile on my face pretty much all the way through but I doubt I'd watch it again.

 

Sherlock Holmes - Enjoyable tosh. Robert Downey Jnr shines (and saves the film from just being OK) & prtety much disregards Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's vision of Holmes. The sets looks great but it suffers from being the obvious launching pad for a franchise. However, if the rumours of Brad Pitt being lined up for Moriarty then bring it on. One thing I dod notice is that Downey Jnr & Jude Law seemed to being having a lot of fun which even made Law watchabe as usually I just want to slap him. Also Guy Ritchie proves he's a decent hired hand and should stick to filming other peoples scripts.

 

Finally...The Road - I loved this. I'd not read the book but knew the basis premise but was really blown away by Viggo Mortenson. The post apocolyptic landscape is stunning and the sense of despaire palpable. After watching the dogshit that was 2012 this is the perfect antidote. I urge everyone to see this, I doubt you'll 'enjoy' it but it'll stay with you long after you seen it. With this & 'Up In The Air' 2010's got off to a cracking start.

[Famous Mortimer]

My Name Is Bruce

 

Ouch. Bought it on blu-ray as part of a deal, and was at least expecting it to be silly fun. But it was piss-poor, and I ended up turning it off after half an hour. The sort of film that expects to just coast by on its references and for the audience's love for its star. Lazy, boring, and not funny.

[Egg Shen]

Ninja Assassin - despite getting a bunch of * reviews, we decided to hit the cinema for this yesterday. * is justified if you're going in expecting anything other than what it's meant to be, a ridiculous, gorey action movie. I enjoyed it, we cracked open a few beers and it was a good time. The story is actually pretty serious, it's paper thin and i couldn't really have given a toss about it, but the action is slick and brutal.

[Twatters]

Ninja Assassin - despite getting a bunch of * reviews, we decided to hit the cinema for this yesterday. * is justified if you're going in expecting anything other than what it's meant to be, a ridiculous, gorey action movie. I enjoyed it, we cracked open a few beers and it was a good time. The story is actually pretty serious, it's paper thin and i couldn't really have given a toss about it, but the action is slick and brutal.

 

That sums up my thoughts exactly on the film. I enjoyed it.

[Vice]

I watched The Hidden last night. It's about an alien creature that comes to Earth and passes from body to body, using the humans to commit a load of violent crimes and generally smash a lot of shit up. Really entertaining 80s action Sci-Fi blockbuster. Although it is fairly cheesy and corny at times, it's always fun. Quite a few people have referred to this as a 'hidden gem', and I agree. Should be more popular than it is.

 

I also got the chance to see Inglourious Basterds recently. While I don't think it's on the same level as Pulp Fiction, Reservior Dogs or Kill Bill, it is an excellent film and definitely a massive step-up from Death Proof, which QT desparately needed. Even though it's 2 and a half hours long, it really doesn't feel like it, a testament to the dialogue especially. The last 30 minutes definitely stand out as being particularly tense and engaging though. I still wouldn't call it a masterpiece, however, because it feels like it's missing something. And some of the casting is a bit odd too, like Mike Myers, BJ Novak (who I think is awesome) and Eli Roth. But the majority of the cast turn out great performances, especially Chrisoph Waltz, who is utterly amazing and pretty much owns this film.

[Harvey Dent]

I've watched quite few movies lately so here's some thoughts.

 

Was scrolling through the on demand movies on my Xbox's Sky Player and was pleased to see Fargo. It's been years since I last saw it and its just as good now as it was then. It's a classic Coen Brothers film in every sense and William H Macy and Steve Buscemi in particular are brilliant in it.

 

Mirrors - I'll start off by saying that I am a complete pussy when it comes to most horror films, I'm fine with violence and gore like Saw et al, but when it comes to thing that freak me out I get scared shitless. This falls firmly into that catagory. I watched it because I like Kiefer Sutherland (particulaly as Jack Bauer) and it was quite amusing to see his acting in this, in fact all the acting seemed pretty OTT. The backstory of Kiefer's character seemed pretty by the numbers and I suppose this is pretty average and standard for horror fans. That said the story is at least intriguing and the ending is pretty good. If you're into the genre and its on telly when you've nothing better to do give it a watch, if you're a pussy like me steer clear. Even if you like 24.

 

Book of Eli - As someone said earlier in the thread, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it as the film was going on. It's a wonderfully realised post-apocalyptic world, reminiscent of the game Fallout 3, and you really do get the feeling of dispair the characters Denzel Washington encounters. Washington himself plays Eli in a competent manner, consistant with most of his films. You do get a sense of "where is this going?" but it does tie itself up nicely at the end. What you take out of the film will probably depend more on you yourself as a person, but it's worth a watch.

 

Daybreakers was decent enough. It probably tries to be a little more clever than it actually is, but it's a slightly different take on the Vampire movie overkill that seems to be the fad right now. If you can turn off your brain and enjoy some blood then you'll probably enjoy this for its 90 odd minute duration. In fact, the I felt maybe it could've been 15/20 minutes longer to flesh out more character developement and more of the theme's they explore. As with most vampire films, you're left with a few slightly illogical holes and questions. For some reason Ethan Hawke is dressed like Han Solo for half the film.

 

The crown jewel of the cinema viewing this past week was Up In The Air. George Clooney is perfect for the role of the suave talking, business travelling professional downsizer. He puts in one of his best screen performances and really brings the character into someone you care about, despite the fact you probably shouldn't. With his co-stars Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga (and an excellent support cast featuring the likes of Jason Bateman, Zach Galifianakis and JK Simmons) it's a truly memorable dramedy that is excellently executed.

 

And finally, I watched the Inglorious Basterds DVD I got for xmas. I was totally in love with this last year when it came out and still love it just as much now. I'm a massive Tarantino fanboy as it is and this is one of my favourites. It's very pleasing to see Christoph Waltz picking up award after award for his role as SS Colonel Hans Landa, he is exceptional and really steals the show here. The whole cast is brilliant and it was definatly one of the films of 2009 for me. Great stuff.

Edited January 25, 2010 by Harvey Dent

[Kawaii Guy]

Been picking up random blu-rays and over the last few days Ive watched.

 

Public Enemies It wasn't bad, but not as great as id hoped with Bale and Depp. the story was interesting enough but still felt a little shallow.The cinematography was ment for HD though, as the fast action shots looked great.

 

The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was my bargin of the week,

Edited January 26, 2010 by Kenji Mocko

[insert_name_here]

Right at your door. This was on telly the other night and i remember i'd wanted to see it when it was released in the cinema but i never got round to going. The basic premise for anyone who's not seen it is that a group of "Dirty bombs" are detonated in downtown L.A and the film follows one couple(one of them is trapped outside and the other has sealed himself up inside their house) who are caught up in the whole thing.

I enjoyed it, i thought they did a great job of building up the tension and the sense of fear of not knowing what was happening and i actually cared about what happened to the characters. I thought the twist in the ending was quite good,if a little easy to see coming.

Edited January 26, 2010 by insert_name_here

[Jimmy_kahoona]

but Gremlins 1 & 2 are my favourite movies of all time, I cant get enough of the little green bastards, so Im half worried and half excited about a 3rd movie, I just hope they can persuade Joe Dante to step behind the camera for it again, plus bring back the Anamatronic puppets.

 

I remember a while back that there was a gremlins 3 script/movie made but it was so god awful it was scrapped. any more info on that?

[mackie]

Starting to watch the back to the future trilogy i got it for a tenner in a steel book in HMV

[JLM]

Zombieland

 

This was a ton of fun. SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read

Bill Murray's cameo is quite rightly garnering a lot of praise. I particularly loved "I was never much of a practical joker" as he lay dying, but the whole bit was just inspired.

. Aside from that, I thought everyone in the main cast was good. Woody Harrelson is just a brilliant man. He's like if Matthew McConaughey was a man instead of a talking Ken doll. Absolutely perfect in this role. Jesse Eisenberg... well, it's all too easy to label him "the poor man's Michael Cera" because he does pretty much exactly the same schtick as Cera but hasn't been as successful. However, between this and his performance in Adventureland I'm starting to like him a lot more. That girl who Jonah Hill was after in Superbad was in it too. She was fine in this, it was nice to see her in a role where she had a bit more to do. Lastly, Abigail Breslin is excellent. A child actress who was actually likeable in Little Miss Sunshine and Definitely Maybe and now playing a slightly more grown up role. I hate the vast majority of child actors as a rule, so she must be doing something right if I'm pleased to see her in a film.

 

Five things that were great:

 

1) The Zombie apocalypse survival rules

2) Zombie kill of the week

3) Woody Harrelson

4) That cameo appearance.

5) The excellent twist they put on that clich

[patiirc]

Watched SAW III last night.

 

I really wanted to give this series of films ago, but to be honest they are shite The first one was meh, 2nd one was more meh and this one was just utter shite.

 

 

I thought this'll be the Friday the 13th/Nightmare on Elm Street/Phantasm/House/ and so on for this generation, so I should give it a watch

 

 

Exploitative and utterly pointless shocks that do naff all for the narrative and a brain surgery gun collar Wife husband daughter son thing twist that isnt going to be a twist if you have seen the other films so know that that are twists and the whole effect is ruined.

 

 

Utter sack of shite!

[Dead Mike]

Oi!! Less of the McConaughey bashing, apart from a couple of turkeys he's a reliable hand plus he owns all in Dazed & Confused (not mentioning he's nearly at Eddie Vedder levels on my man crush list).

I'm not hopeful about the Nightmare on Elm St remake. Jackie Earl Haley is good casting but the main gripe is that films like The Hills Have Eyes, Last House on the Left & even Friday the 13th, even though they're talked about like they're classics they're not great films, haven't passed the test of time and a case for a remake can be argued. IMO Nightmare on Elm St. was & is a great film so the remake (like Texas Chainsaw Massacre) is completely unnecessary & reeks of unimaginatively chasing $$$.

You'll enjoy Avatar I'm sure but in the same way you can enjoy eating a Doner Kebab. At the time it's nice but you'd be a mong if you tried to convince people it's a good example of fine dining.