DVD's and Films You Have Watched Recently

[Mr. Seven]

Yeah the first time that happened I was like "Er, was that just me?" . The atmosphere was incredible. When it showed Murphy in his suit, struggling to breathe, I was struggling to breathe too. The more I think of it, the more it goes up in my estimation. I need to see it again, but so far it's my film of the year.

[ukedge87]

Sexy Beast

 

A British gangster flick with heaps of style, but unlike many obvious comparissions with the likes of Lock, Stock and Layer Cake, this film has got much more substance.

 

Ray Winstone is retired gangster Gal Dove, living a new life of peace in Spain with his loved wife and close friends. However, a very unpleasant visit from Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) drags him back into the dark underworld of violence and bank robbery.

 

Ask anyone, and they will tell you the best thing about the film is its three leading stars, Ian McShane, Ben Kingsley and Winstone, who are cracking in the roles and the relationships between the character.

 

My only concern is that the second half of the flick pans out like you pretty much expect in the linear well known gangster format with the 'job' taking the role of the film's climax. And despite being done well, and having a few twists, it is heavily over-shadowed by the pyschological, tension-packed first half in Spain - with the relationship between Gal and Don being the best thing the film has to offer.

 

A decent British gangster flick...set in Spain. Well worth a watch due to some of its cracking factors, but you've probably already seen it.

[Egg Shen]

Mr. Seven, did you go with other people to see it? i saw it with 3 friends and neither of them thought much of the movie...i dunno why? they aint the kind of people who'd wanna see an Armageddon style movie, but they wernt digging it like me.i hear you on the suit part too, at one point i found myself taking deep breaths, just nice to feel the cold air circulating your lungs. The scene where he falls over in the suit had me stretching legs & arms too, haha.

Edited April 9, 2007 by Ebb

[Mr. Seven]

I went with one of my friends, who's also very into his films. He loved it.

[LaGoosh]

The other day I watched The Prestige which I loved. Top class stuff.Today I watched Hard Candy which was pretty bad. I liked the ending but found the majority of the film dull, pretty stupid, poorly directed, some terrible dialouge and ultimately, for a movie that seemed to be trying to convey an important message it was pretty pointless.

[ukedge87]

The other day I watched The Prestige which I loved. Top class stuff.Today I watched Hard Candy which was pretty bad. I liked the ending but found the majority of the film dull, pretty stupid, poorly directed, some terrible dialouge and ultimately, for a movie that seemed to be trying to convey an important message it was pretty pointless.

I totally agree with both your points.Hard Candy seemed like such a juvenille 'shock tatic' film unable to produce any decent idea or message.

[The G]

I watched Barbershop 2 last night. Very, very enjoyable. Ice Cube is probably my favourite actor and I love Cedric too. Excellent scenario, beautifully shot and with good story telling. Loved it.

What? I liked it, thought it was great. I actually saw Beauty Shop last week, which is the spin-off with Queen Latifah. Thought that was really enjoyable too.

I saw the first Barbershop and saw about half the second one till something came up and I missed it. I had wondered if Beauty Shop was part of the films as I saw about 5 mins of it on SKY the other day.Anyway last film I saw was Chill Factorhttp://imdb.com/title/tt0163579/Really ''cool'' movie staring Cuba Gooding Jr and Skeet Ulrich (main guy from Jericho) I never knew Skeet at the first time wacthing this movie years back but now do so I enjoyed the movie even more this time around.Basically ten years ago a scientist (David Paymer) was doing tests on a new bio weapon but in the process accidentally killed off 18 of Peter Firth's army working on the remote island they were testing it on. Anyway since it was Firth's men he got jailed for 10 years. So the the scientist got let off (he did want to help in court but they told him to fuck off, basically he was a good guy).10 years goes by and they army dude wants of course revenge. The scientist still has the bio weapon which Firth wants so goes after him with an elite super fuckin commando gang (Hudson Leick been one of them). Ulrich and Gooding end up with it in a fuckin ice cream truck. They need to get to an army joint before it goes over 50 fahrenheit then ka and boom KABOOM or else loads die same old story but this was a great action fun movie, really enjoyable.

[Egg Shen]

Chill Factor is f'n stupid

[Murtz]

Boyz n the HoodI watched this for the first time in years lastnight.. and its just as good as I remember it being. I think this was Cuba Jr's first major role?.. thought he was brilliant.. The film told a great story from start to finish.. and even though this type of film has been done over and over again since.. its still probably the best of the lot!Diary of a Mad Black WomanThis was absolutely awesome! The story is about a woman getting her revenge on her cheating husband.. accompanied by her Nan Madea(Tyler Perry cross dressing).. Madea is hilarious throughout.. and behind the great laughs is a really good story aswell.Must watch for people that liked stuff like Nutty Professor

[frank]

I watched GARDEN STATE a few weeks ago. This is an outstanding film. My friend, who hates Zach Braff with a passion even, said it was a masterpiece. The relationship and chemistry between Braff and Portman was fascinating, I didn't want the film to end cos I wanted to spend the rest of my life with them both Lovely.

[Gossy]

Saw Sunshine today and was really blown away with it. I'd heard so much criticism about the last quarter of the film being ridiculous, that I was somewhat not looking forward to it.

 

I must've missed the part where the film turned crap, because I absolutely loved every minute of it. It was easy to make a connection with the characters and as Seven said people have been callling it 'unoriginal' what do they want? Fucking Star Wars or something equally ridiculous. The film was centred about a possibilty which made the entire film seem real, this is one of Boyle's strengths as a director, that wonderful realism that makes what you're seeing so plausible, because it's directed so well and the characters are believable. 28 Days Later was the same.

 

I was also impressed with Chris Evans who i'd seen in some form of blah rom-com and it was dreadful, but he proved himself here. Just loved the film and hoping to see it again over the weekend. As was said before the visual effects were really stunning. And I (although admittedly i'm a big wuss these days) found the last few scenes quite emotional.

 

SPOILER - Highlight the black box to read
Especially the part where Cillian Murphy is seconds away from being totally fried and time stops.

 

I'd agree with Mr. Seven and say without doubt, the best film i've seen this year.

 

I also need to watch The Beach, the only films of Dany Boyle i've seen were Trainspotting and 28 Days Later. Love the combination of Boyle/Garland so far.

Edited April 10, 2007 by Gossy

[Surf Digby]

Night In The Museum.Ben Stiller does his Ben Stiller routine, and Ricky Gervais does his Ricky Gervais routine. Robin Williams does his "deep" routine (though not as vomit inducingly as in Bicentenial Man), and there's a LOT of GCI. It's everything you think it will be, and thus isn't really worth watching.Iron Fisted Monk.Aah, classic Samo Hung chop socky. This I did enjoy. Samo is probably at his most agile and acrobatic in this, and his choregraphic prowess is as good as it ever was. It's a typical "training with the Shaolin's so he can take revenge" affair, with the sides being based around the hatred between the Hans and the Manchus. The villain in this is Fong Hak On, who is perhaps at his best in this. His kung fu looks great and he just radiates evil. He's always been one of the genre's best bad guys but he's at another level in this. A slight downfall is that there's not really anyone of note (apart from Chen Sing and Dean Shek) in the supporting cast, but meh, it's not exactly a bad thing with Samo and Fong being on the form they are.

[Vito]

I'm glad that Sunshine is being regarded as a good movie, I read a synopsis about six months ago and thought it sounded like something I'd be interested in.

[ukedge87]

Blades Of Glory

 

I was looking forward to this film so much, it looked like the great frat pack film which has been mysteriously vanquished from our cinemas in the last couple of years with the likes of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby just keeping the seat warm.

 

Sadly, although this is a few notches up from the aforementioned flick, it's not Anchorman or Dodgeball.

 

Both Ferrell and Heder feel limited in their roles, as if the roles have been written based on a few funny aspects of their previous roles, and Arnett's tiny role as the villian and one-diemension-gob-rip-off character is a shame.

 

However, there are a number of good one liners, funny sequences and enough sattire to keep you giggling throughout - and a very funny chase sequence.

 

If I were you, I'd wait for the DVD.

[Au]

I'm glad that Sunshine is being regarded as a good movie, I read a synopsis about six months ago and thought it sounded like something I'd be interested in.

Yeah, I went to see it last night and I wasn't expecting too much from it and was happilly surprised to find that I loved it. I can see where the criticisms of the last quarter of the film not being so good are coming from, it seemed a shame after so much excellent build up and storytelling but not nearly to the point that it ruined a great film.Sort of reminded me of an odd combination of Aliens crossed with Event Horizon crossed with The Abyss. Only without any aliens.The effects are stunning, too. Pretty believable that's what the sun would look like, I thiought.