rjw63 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Been to see "Looper" - I liked it. Joseph Gordon Levitt is one of my fave actors of recent times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted October 26, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 26, 2012 Skyfall was pure class.. It will be interesting to see if it all goes to shit in the next film with all the new people.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Skyfall was pure class.. It will be interesting to see if it all goes to shit in the next film with all the new people.. Can't wait, to go see it tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaForever1970 Posted October 26, 2012 Share Posted October 26, 2012 Skyfall is excellent, even the Bond snobs should go and see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 27, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 27, 2012 Saw Skyfall last night myself. I'm a bit torn on it. It's clearly better than Quantum of Solace (which is shite) but there are things I just didn't love about it. It's a good film, I'm not sure how good of a 'Bond film' it is. It has pretty much the complete checklist of a proper Bond film covered - exotic locations, beautiful women, gadgets and some fine action, for instance - but it doesn't feel like any other Bond film. The final act doesn't feel like a Bond film at all, a complete switch in style from anything 007 has done before now if my memory serves me well. We have a fun, overblown, at times slightly daft but exhilarating all the same opening sequence that sets up a sequence of events that the film could have spent an entire film dealing with, along side the main plot that it kickstarts. But it doesn't - we deal with the fallout of that moment in a brief sequence at the beginning and then gets a few cursory mentions later on when the film decides it wants to play a bit more straight with Bond. I think the main problem is it's villain. Bardem's character just... isn't that good imo. He takes a surprisingly long time to appear, his activities until that point remote controlled. The film tosses revelations about his character aside with careless abandon - theres a particularly amateurishly clunky moment where Judy Dench in effect turns to the audience and inside 15 seconds explains his entire motivation, a little moment which amounts to 'I pissed him off, now just sit back and lets get on with things'. I never bought or cared about the character. Bardem plays him camp, unhinged, and there are moments where its brilliant - a moment in his opening scene is genuinely quite unsettling and brings out a great Bond one liner - but at other times it was just too... weird. He is much more of a straight 'baddie' than any other Bond villain, his aims are not particularly grand and, to be frank, I didn't really care about them, when it was vital that I should for such a motivation to engage me. He is also given a surprisingly ropey and sadly unnecessary bit of CGI which is used to help illustrate some of his backstory which really does not work to my mind at all. My feeling is that that is because the film throws his backstory at you with pretty much no build up, you don't have the connection to what drives him, but equally it doesn't do the Dark Knight Joker style back story of there being no back story but clearly developing his aims. An allegory might be made with someone you just met telling you their mother had died and then expecting you to be genuinely emotionally invested in the revelation - you just wouldn't be that affected by it because you've no stake in this person. The film looks stunning and it rockets along, although you might be struck afterwards by the fact that it rockets along doing not a lot. We have... a sort of Bond girl cut in 2, really, Naomi Harris in a small supporting role and then a more run of the mill Bond girl who effectively acts a pretty map and then is discarded like one too. There aren't many action sequences, the opener is probably the best in the film and sets a high water mark that it never really quite reaches again. And there are some glorious moments in it, particularly references to 50 years of Bond, a couple of which will make you chuckle or groan, and some of which you simply will not see coming. It's a shame that can't be said of some of what the film seems to want to be nice little revelations - you will guess the pay offs/conclusions to numerous characters the moment they first set foot on screen. We get Q back and it's a nice take on the character, a geeky hacker grounded in the real world, who comes to embody the theme the film has running underneath everything which it spends the entire running time bashing you over the head with, the old and the new. Honestly, you could play a game with yourself when watching counting how many references to the old and the new there were. And none of them subtle, it smacks you round the face with it again and again, a couple of them are like sledgehammers to the cranium. Q also marks a return to gadgets but even they feel almost like an afterthought. The only real gadget has such a straightforward 'trick' that you know exactly whats going to happen at some point and you know that that will be a disappointment. In actually the scene where the gadget comes into play (which is in itself fairly inconsequential) would probably have been far more interesting without the gadget, as it completely undermined any sense of tension in it, it turned the scene into rather more of a gag than anything when they might have turned it into a far more climatic tussle. I'm making out the film is pretty ropey - it really isn't. It's a good film, Craig's on decent form as his brutish, sarcastic Bond, it does a lot of things we're not really used to with a Bond film (it's a very.. British Bond film this time round), there are those great little moments you'll love and remember for some time to come, some of which could become classic Bond moments, you'll be gripped start to end and you'll even get a few laughs, there are genuinely gags in this film that fit it surprisingly well, and the cast is across the board on top form, supporting cast up - Harris and Fiennes are particularly enjoyable in smaller roles. It's just a shame that it fudges it's plot a little and subsequently makes a few missteps. I'd definitely recommend seeing it, it's a clearly quality film and I think a great many people will rank it as one of the absolute best Bond films, and I also think it will play to a crowd that doesn't like Bond because it does, clearly, feel different to any other Bond film. It feels a distance away from even Casino Royale which was itself a shift away from the Bond of old. Go see it - but maybe don't go in expecting the best Bond ever. You might get that anyway, but it's better you don't expect it... just in case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Lets face it there are not many films out there worse than Quantum of Solace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 i thought skyfall was brilliant thought it tried to be surprisingly deep (the whole M vs the MP panel) and maybe even went over the top about Bond is 50 (and certainly about riding the Bristish 2012 wave IMO) which isnt always as clever as they tried to be (there seemed to be a whole undercurrent of is a james bond style spy (and film?) still relevant in modern society) i loved the "you win" bit and the nod to goldfinger had me in stitches, cast was superb and unlike QoS the pacing was bang on pretty much everything i hoped it would be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCforever1991 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 About to watch Skyfall Edit: It was a good film, but I don't see what all the hype is about. Casino Royale is better in every single way IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ads Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I saw Skyfall and TDKR again last night. Both fantastic films. I completely disagree with Chindie on Bardem's villain. He would make a great villain in any film, let alone the Bond universe. He is mentally and evidently physically broken and he has this great maniachal unhinged quality which is amplified by his look. It ticks all the Bond boxes and the final scenes I think will make you smile if you like Bond. Is it better than Casino Royale? I think its got more heart with an unusual direction in the final act. Ultimately it doesn't matter- its a great film and whether you like Bond or not, its excellent. Spoilers ahoy... As to the TDKR, I have had a Sopranos reaction to the ending. The second time I see it I "get it". It is definitely an Inception make your mind up. The whole scene with Fox is only there to make you question whether what Alfred sees is in fact not a dream, as without it I dont think the film would be giving you any choice as to how its ending. Its a great film too. A remarkable trillogy. For quality across the board I dont think there is a better one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I watched the American remake of Straw Dogs last night and quite enjoyed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Watched the Korean film 'I Saw The Devil' last night - pretty decent and took a different twist at the usual 'psycho killer vs cop' plot, in that the cop hunts the killer over and over again, beating him and then releasing him each time! Stars the geezer who played 'Oldboy' in the role of the psycho killer. As I say, pretty good but not startlingly brilliant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chindie Posted October 28, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 28, 2012 Cloud Atlas opened in the US this week. Highly anticipated and critically lauded following showings at the Toronto Film Festival, it's made by the guys behind the Matrix and based on an extremely well received novel by David Mitchell which was called unfilmable. As such the Wachowski's had to raise the funds to make it on their own, eventually making this a $100m indie movie in effect. It's done terribly at the box office, $9m. Destined to be a flop it seems. Doesn't open over here till well into 2013 - it's ****. A shame because it seems to be have been supremely ambitious, and a really different project, and genuinely looks well made, but looks to just not be able to pull in an audience. Admittedly, the premise of the film (it's basically the same cast playing different characters across 6 separate storylines, switching race and even genders between plotlines that span a range of time periods from 19th Century to a distant future) is a bit... out there and hard to grasp but it'd have been nice if it could have opened big. Will need to do insanely well in other territories to get it's money back. Speaking of novel adaptations, watching Skyfall the other night the trailers included Ang Lee's take on Life of Pi. I didn't even know a film was in the making but what I know of that novel, and what I've now seen in the trailer - that film better have cost the money down the back of Ang Lee's sofa because if it didn't, that's a flop and a half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Just watched this and it was wunderbar. Features Hitler, Columbo and Nick Cave. Also watched Cockneys vs Zombies which was pretty crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Designer1 Posted October 28, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 28, 2012 Wings of Desire is another one of those movies I would put in the 'everyone should watch' category. Wonderful movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 28, 2012 Moderator Share Posted October 28, 2012 Wings of desire is just a work of genius. Wenders is an amazing filmmaker, Paris, Texas is also a fantastic film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 I'll have to watch it again as it was difficult to take it all in while reading the subtitles. When the angels hear people's thoughts it's almost impossible to read facial expressions and all the text. Particularly enjoyed the scene in the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 Saw Sinister tonight, had its flaws but it's probably the best American modern supernatural type film thingy I've seen in a while. That's not saying much though. Bits of it were genuinely creepy but it was never scary. 7/10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 had a surprise last night as I actually enjoyed Battleships - regardless of it's complete cheesiness, predicatibility and laughable plot/script, it was 'entertaining'... made me chuckle anyway! (maybe I was in the mood for a junk movie?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Really enjoyed Skyfall last night. Bond at it's very best, nice and gritty, but at the same time you knew it was a Bond film and not just another action film (this was my problem with previous Craig performances). Though I don't really 'get' the timeline of things with regards to the more familiar supporting characters. Those who have seen it will know what I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted October 29, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted October 29, 2012 Finally got round to Midnight in Paris last night. Was enjoying it until about 70 minutes in when the disc went skippity-skip and then stopped. Tried it in several different machines to no avail. Evidently there are finger prints actually on the disc, under the plastic so I'm going to have to shell out again just for the last 20 minutes of the film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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