The Film Thread

[darrenm]

8 minutes ago, BOF said:

I've never seen a single second of House of Cards. 

With Kate Mara in some compromising positions?!

[stuart_75]

Hell or High Water

Fantastic

Edited September 16, 2016 by stuart_75

[V01]

You're missing out

 

not just because she has sexy time.

[HanoiVillan]

 

Watched these over the last two nights, in the hope of some 'so bad it's good' action, but was disappointed on both fronts, as they were both pretty good. LM has some badly dated 'virtual reality' graphics, but that's fair enough really. Brosnan is a boffin trying to make his neighbourhood simpleton into a genius by hooking him up to some frankly frightening looking VR equipment. The plot has bits of ExistenZ and Videodrome and even 2001 so it's hardly original but having a lawnmowing simpleton as one of the main characters was a bold choice. It's always interesting to see Brosnan in not-Bond films as well. 

The Edge was actually really pretty decent. A David Mamet adaptation so there are almost no female characters and the one that is in the movie is badly written and has no plausible motivations, but the dudes-being-dudes stuff in the Alaskan wilderness - where they have to survive after a plane crash - is excellent. Sir Anthony Hopkins is surprisingly convincing as a know-it-all billionaire, Baldwin a bit more off-key as a mendacious fashion photographer but a good effort, and the mean bear that stalks them through the wilderness is appropriately scary (credited as 'Bart the Bear'). Alaska looks amazing, although examining the credits it might be the Calgary region standing in. Stunning photography though. 

LM: 6.5/10

TE: 8/10

[hogso]

King sued the makers of Lawnmower Man, because his name was attached, as it's 'based' on a short story of his - but in reality it was an original screenplay with just the name put on for marketing purposes. The movie is alright. The sequel is pukey. 

[villa4europe]

Caught up with a couple of badly reviewed films this weekend, the new turtles film and Tarzan 

turtles film IMO is now almost solely aimed at kids, any hint of nostalgia or cleverness appealing to the likes of me who grew up with them has long gone, it's completely mindless rubbish that's somehow worse than transformers

tarzan is just a confusing mess, it starts in a weird place, had an OK tale to tell but tells it really badly, the 2 villains don't work (you know youve got problems when waltz doesn't work...) it's a bit boring

[HanoiVillan]

 

Found some British WWII movies the other day. This is a rare female-focused effort, based on a women's internment camp in occupied France. A whole bunch of British women are held prisoner in a swanky hotel/spa, and have difficulty rubbing along, but then get a project when three airmen, 2 British and 1 Canadian, bail out of their bombers and land in the grounds, and the women decide to try to help them escape. 

Some of the dialogue is ridiculous, plummy and wordy even by the standards of the era, but there are some good performances, mainly from the female cast. The film has a bit of an identity crisis, not knowing whether it's a serious effort about evading those ghastly Nazis or a bawdy romp about man-starved shut-ins, so there's a lot of switching between serious and silly, but the low comedy tends to be better - a particular highlight is when a married airmen is rescued by two prim elderly POWs in their bedroom, only for them all to be landed with the problem of how to decorously take their clothes off. 

Film suffers from a very abrupt ending. The airmen seem to be escaping in the dark, but you can't be sure, and a POW character who was obviously evil all along seems to be just about to get her comeuppance, but then the film ends with no obvious resolution. 

6/10

[dont_do_it_doug.]

On 03/09/2016 at 12:52, villa4europe said:

no you're missing my point, american history films dont bother me, none of those films you listed bother me in the slightest, what i hate watching are films that are trying to tickle the bollocks of patriotic americans, hollywood spending 2 hours telling what an amazing military might the US of A is, so like i said act of valor, lone survivor, olympus has fallen, the secret soldiers of Benghazi 

I don't really recall Lone Survivor being like that. Ostensibly the Americans are the goodies, but you gotta have goodies and badies right?

I guess I don't watch any film with the wider politics in mind unless it intentionally invokes them. Lone Survivor, for example, is a film about human endeavour and brutality. I might be wrong but I don't recall George Bush being in it. 

It feels like the only point to this conversation is that America is bad, so we don't like it when an America isn't a baddie. That said, you'd have to be a sociopath to walk away from Zero Dark Thirty hollering "**** yeah", they commit so many war crimes during that film it could be called 'Slobadan Milosevic - the highlights'. 

[darrenm]

ARQ Netflix original

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5640450/

Low budget but great concept ti-sci-fi. Standard Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow type time shenanigans but with a Cabin Fever feel to it.

Really enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of Parallels.

8/10

[bannedfromHandV]

1 hour ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I don't really recall Lone Survivor being like that. Ostensibly the Americans are the goodies, but you gotta have goodies and badies right?

I guess I don't watch any film with the wider politics in mind unless it intentionally invokes them. Lone Survivor, for example, is a film about human endeavour and brutality. I might be wrong but I don't recall George Bush being in it. 

It feels like the only point to this conversation is that America is bad, so we don't like it when an America isn't a baddie. That said, you'd have to be a sociopath to walk away from Zero Dark Thirty hollering "**** yeah", they commit so many war crimes during that film it could be called 'Slobadan Milosevic - the highlights'. 

I don't recall every scene in Lone Survivor but it was defo a bit of classic american propaganda, same category as american sniper and battleship imo

[Gillz]

Had a long train journey so watched 'Eye in the Sky' and 'Looper'

 

Eye in the Sky - A very gripping film that creates tension and frustration in equal amounts. (Worth noting that the director probably wants us to grow frustrated with the lack of decisions, highlighting what a tough choice it is that no one wants to make etc). You form opinions on the characters, the decisions they make and the outcome of the films. The type of film i want to discuss for hours afterwards (not the film itself, but the situations and decisions its presents). Decent performance by many, though not really sure why they cast Aaron Paul + Ian Glen in such a minor role. Very sad to see Rickman's final role, but one he delivered very well. A solid 8/10 

 

Looper - A film ive been meaning to watch for a while but never got round too. An interesting idea set in a dystopian near future. Well paced with good dialogue and acting, the action was well choreographed too. There were a few plot holes which id expect when taking on such a large range of ideas and there was also a laughable continuity error at one point.

Spoiler

The ending was gripping, it was probably quite predictable, but i guess i quite liked the character so didnt want him to die

An enjoyable film which perhaps takes on a little bit more than it should have: telekinesis and time travel - take one not both! 7/10 

 

 

For the train ride back ive got The illusionist and the new Macbeth film downloaded!

[dont_do_it_doug.]

1 hour ago, bannedfromHandV said:

I don't recall every scene in Lone Survivor but it was defo a bit of classic american propaganda, same category as american sniper and battleship imo

In what way? Recall one scene for me because I might be misremembering it. 

It was about a few special forces lads stranded out in the woods being shot at, IIRC. It's about as 'propaganda' as Rambo. 

[villa4europe]

It's a propaganda film about the worlds best fighting force, how members of the us forces are modern day superheroes without capes, they get shot they keep going, their training is better, their equipment is better, their shooting is better, everything about them is better...they lose because of the imbalance in the numbers...no mention of their being 19 of them in the actual events or any details or all the American errors that lead to the mission failing

and that's before you start to look at how the taliban are portrayed in the film

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Fair enough. 

I just watched it as a film. As a work of fiction. I didn't really care that the soldiers were American or not, I just kinda went with it and enjoyed the ride. 

I don't take films as seriously as most I guess, I like to get lost in them rather than worrying about such matters as political motivation unless it's part and parcel of its theme. 

I certainly don't feel any different about America having watched it. 

[OutByEaster?]

8 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

It's about as 'propaganda' as Rambo. 

Rambo features some of the finest propaganda ever committed to celluloid. 

"Dedicated to the brave Mujaheddin fighters" 

[Meath_Villan]

19 hours ago, darrenm said:

ARQ Netflix original

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5640450/

Low budget but great concept ti-sci-fi. Standard Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow type time shenanigans but with a Cabin Fever feel to it.

Really enjoyed it. Reminded me a bit of Parallels.

8/10

Thought it was a bit shite myself .......4/10 

 

Watched a film called ninja on clfilm 4 last night fairly ok the main actor is from Sutton Coldfield

[dAVe80]

15 hours ago, villa4europe said:

It's a propaganda film about the worlds best fighting force, how members of the us forces are modern day superheroes without capes, they get shot they keep going, their training is better, their equipment is better, their shooting is better, everything about them is better...they lose because of the imbalance in the numbers...no mention of their being 19 of them in the actual events or any details or all the American errors that lead to the mission failing

and that's before you start to look at how the taliban are portrayed in the film

 

14 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Fair enough. 

I just watched it as a film. As a work of fiction. I didn't really care that the soldiers were American or not, I just kinda went with it and enjoyed the ride. 

I don't take films as seriously as most I guess, I like to get lost in them rather than worrying about such matters as political motivation unless it's part and parcel of its theme. 

I certainly don't feel any different about America having watched it. 

Hollywood has been making US military propaganda films for years, going back to when Errol Flynn won WWII on his own, by beating the Nazis and Japanese around the head with his giant penis.

[Ginko]

I went to the local indie cinema last night and watched Taika Waititi's 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople'.

It was brilliant. Very funny and charming. Similar sort of humour as Flight of the Conchords as you'd expect with him, though a little less trippy and musical, it was more similar in that deadpan delivery. 

Either way it was a wonderful little film and made me laugh out loud a number of times, but then again I'm a big fan of his stuff with FotC so I knew what to expect. The kid was brilliant, as was Sam Neill and there are brief cameos from Waititi himself in what should be the saddest scene in the film and yet is one of its funniest but it really works, and Rhys D'Arby. No Brett or Jemaine but the cast was good enough that it didn't need them. Lots of pop culture references as well, some subtle and others not so much but still very funny.

The music was great too and worked really well with the vibe they were going for. Also, in case you didn't know, New Zealand is **** gorgeous, so it looked beautiful to boot.

Really enjoyed it. It won't be for everyone but if you're a fan of Conchords/What We Do In The Shadows-style comedy then you'll love it.

9/10 

[coda]

5 minutes ago, Ginko said:

I went to the local indie cinema last night and watched Taika Waititi's 'Hunt for the Wilderpeople'.

It was brilliant. Very funny and charming. Similar sort of humour as Flight of the Conchords as you'd expect with him, though a little less trippy and musical, it was more similar in that deadpan delivery. 

Either way it was a wonderful little film and made me laugh out loud a number of times, but then again I'm a big fan of his stuff with FotC so I knew what to expect. The kid was brilliant, as was Sam Neill and there are brief cameos from Waititi himself in what should be the saddest scene in the film and yet is one of its funniest but it really works, and Rhys D'Arby. No Brett or Jemaine but the cast was good enough that it didn't need them. Lots of pop culture references as well, some subtle and others not so much but still very funny.

The music was great too and worked really well with the vibe they were going for. Also, in case you didn't know, New Zealand is **** gorgeous, so it looked beautiful to boot.

Really enjoyed it. It won't be for everyone but if you're a fan of Conchords/What We Do In The Shadows-style comedy then you'll love it.

9/10 

The priest is the director? 

[darrenm]

Must go and see that then. What We Do In The Shadows is my favourite ever film.