What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[forehead7]

Was gonna post a review about Lawless since I saw that today but tbh, Yoda's review is pretty spot on.

Lawless

It certainly packs a punch. There is a fair bit of violence and they don't shy away from showing you some fairly "in your face" stuff. At times the line between the good guys (perhaps "good" is stretching it, these guys are more anti-hero than hero) and the bad guys is a tad blurred.

Tom Hardy is, unsurprisingly, excellent. He may lack a lot of dialogue - if you struggled to understand Bane then you're fucked - but his physical acting is tremendous. I genuinely think he's going to be considered one of the best actors of my lifetime. There's a scene near the end between him and Jessica Chastain which is incredible, and one of my favourite scenes in the entire film.

Guy Pearce somehow steals the show from Hardy though. His character is pure evil. He's the best "real" villain since Chigurh in No Country For Old Men. He looks evil and he backs it up throughout the film. Pearce delivers his lines in a rather unnerving manner and I was never sure what he was going to do next.

The rest of the performances are solid (although I did find that Oldman and Chastain were a bit underused). LaBeouf (I can't stand him) looks to have shaken off the whole "Hey it's that guy from Even Stevens and Transformers. Isn't he a bit shit?" thing that many people thought when they saw him. He's very good in this whilst never being spectacular.

The film looks great. It's visually very good and the occasional shot of breathtaking scenery helps. The score is great and is one of the best parts of the film.

That said, there are some flaws. I think the script is alright for the most part but it's very poor at some points, which is a shame because Nick Cave has a reputation as a good writer. Most of the characters aren't developed particularly well. It does remind me of The Proposition and The Road (both directed by Hillcoat) in that I can't place why they aren't as good as they try to be but are still thoroughly enjoyable films IMO.

7.5/10

There was a moment where he was talking to Shia LeBeouf and I burst out laughing because I imagined him busting out the Bane voice!

Hardy and Pearce were fantastic. Oldman, Chastain and Wasikowska were all good enough but really weren't used enough to get Hardy/Pearce status of greatness. I'm also in agreement that LeBeouf is usually pretty awful but he put in a decent performance. Also the first time I've encountered Jason Clarke(Howard - the other brother), he was good.

Yeah it's that bit. When she tries to cover up getting raped by Floyd Banner's men and he can tell something bad happened. Hairs. End. On. Standing.

Something that popped into my head after my OP was Mia Wasikowska's performance. It wasn't ground breaking but I liked it. I've only seen her in two or three films but I've liked what I've seen.

Weren't those men hired by Rakes? Or was Banner telling lies?

[Wellboy1978]

Watched 'IP Man' on Film4 last.

Based on the Chinese martial art master Yip Man, grandmaster of the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu.

He's the guy who taught Bruce Lee and many others.

8/10

IP Man 2 was on after but I've Sky + that for tonight.

[yoda]

Killing Them Softly

I like Andrew Dominik as a director, he directed (IMO) one of the best made film of the last decade: The Assassination Of Jesse James.

This is a very good film. It's great visually (some scenes are shot fantastically, complimenting what is actually happening in the film) and it's a brilliant story. It keeps you engrossed and the running time is just right (I thought it might be too short). It's incredibly tense at times keeping you on the edge of your seat, and there's one sequence - featuring Ray Liotta - which is uncomfortably intense. The soundtrack is good as well, however they keep the music to the minimum leaving large chunks with only background noise, which is for the better IMO.

It's the 2008 financial crisis at pondlife level - we're below the grassroots here. In fact one excellent thing about the film is that we have audio clips from the 2008 US election race narrating the film for us.

The dialogue is good and sometimes utterly vile, but it reflects the nature of the people in the film. There are solid performances from everyone (I hope we're going to see more of Mendelsohn over the next few years) but Pitt is excellent. It's also good to see Liotta and Gandolfini on the big screen, both need more time on it.

It's a gangster film without the romanticised characters. The characters are stripped down, miserable people who are completely realistic. They aren't your usual big screen gangsters living the life of luxury and acting with a level of class. These are people doing a job and running a business (which links in to the spoiler tagged bit).

This will split opinion I think. Still I'm giving it a 8.5/10. Another watch might boost it up to a 9. It's my favourite film of the year (ignoring my Nolan fanboy love of TDKR).

[DarkBlue62]

Avatar

Watched this for the first time a few nights ago and I really enjoyed it. Maybe it wasn't as good as some people made it out to be but well worth the watch!

8/10

[Ledley 1877]

Went to go see the House At The End of The Road last night and it was a bit meh. Classic American type horror where a new family move in beside the horror incident from 5/10 years ago and it all turns to shit. However, it had a few brilliant twists to carry it away from that type of movie and the acting from Jennifer Lawrence was brilliant too.

6.5/10

Because the utter babe Jennifer Lawrence is all the way through, 7.5/10

[Estragon]

Taylor Kitsch's movie CV to date runs something like this.... John Tucker Must Die; Snakes on a Plane; Wolverine; John Carter; and Battleship. With this in mind, I can't really explain why I went to see his latest offering on Saturday night - but I did.

Savages (2012)

Two best-friend dope farmers in a mutually accepted love triangle with the same girl, incur the wrath of a Mexican drug cartel. Oh, and she gets kidnapped. Oh, and one of the main characters is really tough, and the other is really sensitive. And there's a corrupt DEA official, and a heartless Mexican hitman, and the gang-leader of the baddies is a woman! And let me underline this, if the above hasn't yet convinced you - this has to be avoided at all costs.

Blake Lively is the female lead, and is chosen to narrate the film - and this, from minute one, kills it stone dead. Aside from the fact that the nearest the other two main protagonists get to character development is the stomach churning line "...Chon fucks, Ben makes love. Chon is cold metal, Ben is warm wood - together they are one perfect man..." - the film relies on the viewer sympathising with our female lead, and for me it never happened.

Experienced heads in Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek and John Travolta do their best to rescue this abortion with three very good performances - but it's not enough to have you overlook an atrocious script. Soundtrack is excellent - for those of you into that kind of thing.

The most frustrating thing about this movie, is that there is a great film waiting to be made about 21st century Mexican drug cartels. This definitely wasn't it - and I'm not sure I would trust modern Hollywood to make it.

Vapid, vacuous, very annoying - 4/10

[Ledley 1877]

Total Recall (2012)

I had never seen the original version of this movie, so I didn't really know what to expect from it! It was a great watch and very action packed. However, it seemed to me that the main character came out of his confused state a bit too quickly before he was jumping around killing people. Thoroughly enjoyable though

7/10

[Nick_BCFC]

I rented The Hunger Games last night. I watched it at the cinema when it came out but thought i'd give it another go now a few months have passed. I can't remember what I scored it last time but I guess it was something like a 7/10 as that's what it scores again on second viewing! I like the concept of it but it seemed to drag on a little too long before the game actually started. I think the film was about 2 hours 20 minutes long and they didn't get to the game until about an hour from the end.

[Co.Down Hibee]

Evan Almighty : Steve Carrell in the seuel to the Jim Carey original, pretty enjoyable stuff, good family film for a wet day with the kids and various bags of sweets(Revels)

7/10

[Ayrforce1]

Prometheus 4/10

Had high hopes for this when it was first announced and the concept was interesting in theory. However, this film is just a mess with a fairly dodgy script. There are a few decent performances mainly from Fassbender and Rapace but it cant save the film which is massively underwhelming and basically moronic at times. Poor, poor stuff.

Just watched it the other night and feel underwhelmed.

It's one of those films that keep threatening to get good without ever getting there.

4/10.

[P.C]

Killing Them Softly

I like Andrew Dominik as a director, he directed (IMO) one of the best made film of the last decade: The Assassination Of Jesse James.

This is a very good film. It's great visually (some scenes are shot fantastically, complimenting what is actually happening in the film) and it's a brilliant story. It keeps you engrossed and the running time is just right (I thought it might be too short). It's incredibly tense at times keeping you on the edge of your seat, and there's one sequence - featuring Ray Liotta - which is uncomfortably intense. The soundtrack is good as well, however they keep the music to the minimum leaving large chunks with only background noise, which is for the better IMO.

It's the 2008 financial crisis at pondlife level - we're below the grassroots here. In fact one excellent thing about the film is that we have audio clips from the 2008 US election race narrating the film for us.

The dialogue is good and sometimes utterly vile, but it reflects the nature of the people in the film. There are solid performances from everyone (I hope we're going to see more of Mendelsohn over the next few years) but Pitt is excellent. It's also good to see Liotta and Gandolfini on the big screen, both need more time on it.

It's a gangster film without the romanticised characters. The characters are stripped down, miserable people who are completely realistic. They aren't your usual big screen gangsters living the life of luxury and acting with a level of class. These are people doing a job and running a business (which links in to the spoiler tagged bit).

This will split opinion I think. Still I'm giving it a 8.5/10. Another watch might boost it up to a 9. It's my favourite film of the year (ignoring my Nolan fanboy love of TDKR).

Really looking forward to this

[11thHour]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows 7/10. Decent but not as good as the first one.

[rustyarabnuts]

Barry Lyndon- got the dvd for a fiver

9/10 I absolutely love this although its a wee bit long, its a fantastic story

real masterclass from Mr Kubrick

apparently he insisted on NOT using stage lighting but only natural light and this gives it a very real period feel

[P.C]

Watched 'IP Man' on Film4 last.

Based on the Chinese martial art master Yip Man, grandmaster of the Wing Chun style of Kung Fu.

He's the guy who taught Bruce Lee and many others.

8/10

IP Man 2 was on after but I've Sky + that for tonight.

Some of the fight sequences are pretty good, been a while since ive seen it

[P.C]

I watched the Raid last night.

great film

[jojo]

Just watched the last picture show.

I would go as far as saying this is a must see. I had previously never heard of it but it is exceptionally good. About american town life, and i think it more or less sums it up Also, it has a young jeff bridges who is very good. All his films are at least good.

[DomDom]

Mississippi Burning

I had never seen this before, despite being really interested in it. The backwards nature of the people in the town is put across magnificently, and Brad Dourif especially plays his part down to a tee. The casting right across the board is actually amazing. Gene Hackman in particular is astonishingly good. He always seems on the brink of something, and the straight Willem Defoe makes a great contrast to Hackman and his close madness the whole way. It's a bit sentimental with it's ending. I get that the movie had a point to make, but the movie lost some of it's narrative credibility in that sense. If people are backwards, they'll most likely remain that way.

9/10

[wunfellaff]

Just watched the last picture show.

I would go as far as saying this is a must see. I had previously never heard of it but it is exceptionally good. About american town life, and i think it more or less sums it up Also, it has a young jeff bridges who is very good. All his films are at least good.

Sorry, but his version of True Grit was awful as was his performance.

[DomDom]

Jeff Bridges was magnificent, and that version of True Grit is far superior to the overrated original.

[wunfellaff]

lol........