DVDs and Films You Have Watched Recently 3 - The Final Insult

[HarmonicGenerator]

I thought Man Of Steel was alright, but not much more than that. I liked the early scenes

 

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set on Krypton, and the bits establishing Kal-El as a mysterious saviour alongside his flashbacks

 

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but once the main story got going I found myself losing interest and not being that bothered. I did like the very last scene though.

 

However, I loved World War Z. I think going in knowing I wasn't going to get anything like the book helped - I would have been disappointed otherwise - but I still got a feeling that we were in the world of the book; we just got one man's story from that world. There's loads of ways they could take a series from here if they wanted to / if this one's successful. I liked the big sequences, the non-big sequences kept my interest, Pitt was decent throughout, the ending felt a bit flat but other than that the story held up... Yeah, I really liked it a lot.

 

Finally, watched the first Despicable Me for the first time. It's good, the minions are great, I hope the second one keeps it up.

 

Agreed on Man of Steel, It almost feels like 2 movies. the first half has Christopher Nolans influence all over it, the second half just forgot all the great character development and subbed it for Superman and Zod flying through buildings.

 

From what Ive heard from friends and customers after the preview screenings this weekend, Despicable Me 2 is brilliant.

 

Saw Despicable Me 2 yesterday and it's just as good as the first - it's not better, but there's no slip in quality, so if you liked the first one, you'll like this one just as much.

[Loki]

Ticked off one of my "I can't believe you've never seen..." films over the weekend, Glengarry Glen Ross. What was strange for me was that I know a lot of this film due to being a bit of a fan of Boiler Room, in which the characters extensively quote this film.

 

It was absolutely ace, even though it felt very much like a play adaptation, but I actually don't mind that artificiality in films so much. The dialogue is super-snappy, and everyone is clearly trying to out-act each other. Jack Lemmon wins it at a stroll though. I think he might be the most versatile film actor of all time - this is so different to films like Some Like It Hot or The China Syndrome but he's note perfect in all of them. He has that wonderful ability to make you forget it's Jack Lemmon, whereas with Pacino you're always thinking "hey, I love that Al Pacino".

 

I thought Kevin Spacey was the weakest link myself, but perhaps he had the weakest part.

 

Very glad I finally saw it. Highly recommend - and then watch Boiler Room.

[Devon Malcolm]

It's magnificent. I was really pleased it made the UKFF Top 50. David Mamet is pretty awesome.

[Dirty Eddie]

I just watched The Battery, a film mentioned here recently and also pimped to me by a mate of mine. It is indeed very good, especially considering how tiny the budget was. The main actor/writer/director deserves to get some great opportunities after that. Probably the closest to a "this is what it would actually be like" Zombie film you'll ever see. great sound track and sound design and really a beautiful looking film too. Watch it.

[Chest Rockwell]

I watched Bottle Rocket the other day. It is written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, Directed by Wes Anderson and stars Owen and Luke Wilson.

 

That should pretty much already tell you all you need to know, and whether you will enjoy it or not. Nevertheless I'll try to give a brief write up without using the word "offbeat" to describe it. It's an older one I had somehow not heard of until the other day so I thought I'd check it out.

 

Some mates want to do robberies but are not very good at it, but they are pretty enthusiastic. Mishaps occur, some romance, some misunderstandings, etc. It's a fun offbeat comedy with lots of heart; thumbs up.

 

Seriously though, worth a watch.

[Scott Malbranque]

Watched 300 for the second time, coz I didn't like it too much the first time. Besides Fassbender and Lena Headeys cigar butts, I didn't enjoy it the second time either.

I'm sure I'm missing something, and very much wrong, but it did nothing for me.

And why every single Gladiator/Spartan/Troy-esque movies have to have cornfields and what sounds like Lisa Gerrard singing, is a mystery to me.

[DeanoTheGame]

You're not missing anything, 300 is shit.

[Maverick]

Chalk me up as another who hated 300, a load of CGI shite.

[HarmonicGenerator]

Loads of good features in this month's Empire. Interview with Rick Moranis, features on The Crow and Top Secret, a thing about the Cornetto Trilogy, little write up on Seven, plus stuff about the new Hobbit film, the Alan Partridge film, Only God Forgives and The Lone Ranger.

[Devon Malcolm]

I only buy it for Kim Newman's Movie Dungeon now. Completely over-saturated with comic book films with the occasional decent interview and feature. I've got a subscription to Sight & Sound now.

[patiirc]

I only buy it for Kim Newman's Movie Dungeon now. Completely over-saturated with comic book films with the occasional decent interview and feature. I've got a subscription to Sight & Sound now.

 

Gunna have to agree with that to a large extent, I mentioned the pretentious but empty reviews when this has come up before, but constant kow-towing to the zeitgeist is a pain rather than being it's own mag. Also 'it's in the podcast or on the tab version or some such' is beginning to irk. I like the traditional magazine format, so not impressed that the content is missing or needs to buy another, different edition to get hold of some of it.

The Crow and Rick Moranis are worth a read and the Wolverine Kanji cover (last month) were worth it along with Kim Newman, but the rest is rapidly falling apart. It's not really been as great since the Emap to Bauer transfer. Not read Sight and Sound in an age, what's it like these days, Devon?

[King Pitcos]

I occasionally pick up Empire, Total Film or Sight & Sound for train journeys, and always feel like I've wasted my money. I end up not reading half of it. Magazines are pretty much dead to me. For film news and reviews, the Internet's just as good. And the strength of mags, the longer, in-depth specific articles, I've the attention span of a wasp so it's no use to me.

 

I watched Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel last night. I'd never heard of it, or if I had, I'd forgotten it, but it's a BBC/HBO co-production. Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wooton and another guy (who I think is in Shameless, but definitely plays Laddish Northerner in TV stuff) are nerds who sit in a pub and end up time travelling via the bogs. I expected to hate it and abandon it early on, but it held my interest enough to stick with. The characters aren't great, but I found the writing of the time travel stuff quite clever and fun. They do a lot with a little. O'Dowd looks different than usual. Anna Faris is in it as well. Does she live over here now? She seems to pop up in little British comedy films all the time.

[Devon Malcolm]

Unashamedly arthouse and pretentious as ever, pat. But it's the best way to find out about films that don't have some ponce in a cape in them, in my opinion. The reviews are really good especially.

Edited June 24, 2013 by Devon Malcolm

[patiirc]

Unashamedly arthouse and pretentious as ever, pat. But it's the best way to find out about films that don't have some ponce in a cape in them, in my opinion. The reviews are really good especially.

 

Cheers , Devon, shall give it a whirl next time I see a copy.

[King Pitcos]

The reviews are really good especially.

Do they still give away the entire plot and ending to every film in the reviews?