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DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently #2


The Cum Doctor

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Shutter Island

 

If anyone who is interested in this film can manage it, I would highly recommend you avoid the trailer. I first saw the trailer for this months ago and came away from it confident that I had figured out the film's conclusion and after seeing it today my fears were confirmed. It's a combination of the trailer giving a little too much away and such a denouement being a little too familiar. Put plainly; anyone with half a brain and a decent film diet should figure out what's happening, so again I encourage people to try and avoid the trailer.

 

That said, knowing what would happen didn't detract from my enjoyment. It's less of a film with a twist and more a twist with a film, if you will. It's how we get to that ending that counts, and the film scores in its atmosphere and build-up. I've been a fan of Leonardo DiCaprio for a long time now and while his performance here isn't quite on the level of The Departed, it's another strong showing and further ammunition for those who dismiss him as a pretty boy. The support cast is great, from Mark Ruffalo to Ben Kingsley to Max Von Sydow and others.

 

I'm not a particularly big Martin Scorsese fan and I baulk at his "greatest living director" tag. Frankly I think he's incredibly overrated and any of his signatures aren't all that impressive. This film could have been directed by anybody. It's not poorly directed, it just doesn't have the feeling of a particular auteur, let alone one as acclaimed as Scorsese. Ultimately Shutter Island is a decent slice of film noir cum B-movie chiller, but it's not going to change your life.

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Is there anyone left who doesn't rate DiCaprio now? He's done more than enough awesome things across the board to shake the old Titanic tag, he's been ace for years. I honestly can't think of anybody I know who does just think he's a pretty boy.

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Whilst I did dismiss him as a pretty boy for a while, I did think he was brilliant in Romeo and Juliet (although I uncharitably labelled that a one-off at the time). But he was also great in Blood Diamond and Catch Me If You Can, both of which I enjoyed immensely.

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Shutter Island

 

I'm not a particularly big Martin Scorsese fan and I baulk at his "greatest living director" tag. Frankly I think he's incredibly overrated and any of his signatures aren't all that impressive. This film could have been directed by anybody. It's not poorly directed, it just doesn't have the feeling of a particular auteur, let alone one as acclaimed as Scorsese. Ultimately Shutter Island is a decent slice of film noir cum B-movie chiller, but it's not going to change your life.

 

 

Looking forward to Shutter Island - hoping to see it today and fair enough with overrated comment about Scorsese.

Does that mean you thought the following werent as good as they're made out? As in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, King of Comedy, Colour of Money, Goodfellas and Casino?

 

I do feel that the quality of his work has diminished with Aviator, Departed etc but his earlier stuff is still iconic.

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Although I enjoyed Goodfellas and thought Casino and Taxi Driver were fine, I do agree that his later stuff has been much better. The Aviator is fantastic.

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Although I enjoyed Goodfellas and thought Casino and Taxi Driver were fine, I do agree that his later stuff has been much better. The Aviator is fantastic.

 

The fuck!?!?!

 

Yes, Aviator is a great flick. But Scorsese in his prime IS Mean Streets / Taxi Driver / Raging Bull / Goodfellas / Cape Fear. THat's when he was pushing the envelope and pioneering. Today he lives off his own formulas established decades ago.

 

To this day he still makes tremendous films - take The Departed. But even that does not have the iconic status, or the special place in history as the above. Will time put it that category? Perhaps? But I can't see it.

Edited by Full Moon
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Although I enjoyed Goodfellas and thought Casino and Taxi Driver were fine, I do agree that his later stuff has been much better. The Aviator is fantastic.

 

The fuck!?!?!

 

Yes, Aviator is a great flick. But Scorsese in his prime IS Mean Streets / Taxi Driver / Raging Bull / Goodfellas / Cape Fear. THat's when he was pushing the envelope and pioneering. Today he lives off his own formulas established decades ago.

 

To this day he still makes tremendous films - take The Departed. But even that does not have the iconic status, or the special place in history as the above. Will time put it that category? Perhaps? But I can't see it.

Scorsese in his prime IS a bit over-rated in that case. Not terrible obviously but not the greatest.

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I saw Shutter Island last night, it was very average and you can work out the entire plot in about 5 minutes. A few good scares though, but it's too long and there is some dodgy CG in it at times.

I think the weird cuts and dodgy effects than that are done more on purpose when you look at the plot. The "twist" aspect is obvious, yes, but it's really endearing and pulled off really well. Plus it's more what happens after the twist that helps the film. I agree that it was a bit too long but I enjoyed it quite a lot.

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Everybody's Fine - saw this last night. Every review i read compared this to About Schmidt, and it is a similar tale, about an old father trying to reconnect with his kids. For some reason though, i thought this was gonna be the feel good version, and whilst there are some over the top-mushy cheesey things going on, it's a really sad story. I'd be lying if i didnt shed a tear towards the end, De Niro i thought was excellent...people bash his recent film output but i thought he was fantastic in this. I think a lot of people could relate to the story here, it's a tale about families drifting apart and keeping secrets from each other to protect each other. Forget the negative reviews, i really liked it.

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Snakes on a Plane-

 

A quick review:-

 

Shite! No redeeming qualities, not even good in a knowingly awful or kitsch way.

 

 

Edited as requested by Chest to remove stuff

Edited by patdfb
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1) The phrase is "to coin a phrase" not "to coin a term".

2) You didn't coin the phrase Epic Fail. Please learn what "to coin a phrase" means.

 

Thank you.

 

 

Sorry

 

I will redo now for you

 

Thank you for pointing out my inaccuracies

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Saw The People vs Larry Flynt off Bravo, not seen it before, it's bloody wicked!

It's a good biopic about pornography, civil rights, freedom, liberty and sticking it to the man!

 

Does anyone know if there is a documentary about Larry Flint and Hustler out there? Think I recall a programme about him a few years back, be good to see.

Edited by Dynamite Duane
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