Smurph Posted November 23, 2013 Share Posted November 23, 2013 The Invention of Lying. Was a really interesting concept. 7/10. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albino Rover Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 The Magnificent Seven 1960 western classic, which was recommended by our very own King Kebab so strongly that I went out and bought it on DVD. Set in a village in Mexico, pillaged by banditos every harvest, whose inhabitants hire seven phenomenal gunmen to protect them, on the surface it's a basic skeleton plot, inspired by/copied from Seven Samurai, but added to that skeleton are the experienced directorial hand of John Sturges, a punchy Hollywood screenplay by William Roberts and some memorable performances from a constellation of a cast. Last but far from least, Elmer Bernstein provides one of the most iconic themes in movie history. Suffice to say, the meat ends up outweighing the skeleton- the characters are well-played, the shooting attractive and the script sharp, but there's not a lot to the film and although the action is almost non-stop I can't help but think of it a little bit simple and unrealistic. That's part of what made it a crowd-pleaser at the time but it ruined an otherwise good foundation. A film without too much depth allows for better pacing of the exciting stuff though, and that's what's done very well. It's an excellent, entertaining film but a flawed one, which falls short of its inspiration in almost every aspect. Worthy of a score to suit the title. 7/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Father Dougal McGuire Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 The Invention of Lying. Was a really interesting concept. 7/10. I would agree that it was an interesting concept but I thought it was done very poorly 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev23 Posted November 24, 2013 Share Posted November 24, 2013 The Untouchables Very good. Really enjoyed it. 7.5/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albino Rover Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Alfie A light-hearted character study with Michael Caine in the title role of a lifetime. Alfie is a wannabe 1960s play boy- he does as he pleases and doesn't care about the consequences. He drifts from job to job, objectifies birds and sleeps with as many of them as he can, never learning or growing from his life experiences until a few things happen to him which he can't sweep under the carpet. I won't spoil the plot but the lead character and his progress over the years we see him live has stayed with me long after watching the film, and that was months ago. He talks to the viewer right through the fourth wall and gives us a guided tour of his life, but as likeable as he is talking to us, he's so naive and extreme in his views about women that (as well as being jealous of his pulling ability) at first I felt sorry for him, but he slowly learns and becomes a fairer person. As well as being perfectly scripted it's the best I've ever seen Michael Caine; he got that character spot on, and all the supporting actresses are sublime in a rainbow of varying roles. So it's a 24-carat character study, and one of the most authentic cinematic samples at life in London in the '60s, but my big complaint is that parts of the film are a little plain, visually and with regards to pacing. If the story was told in 90 minutes rather than almost 2 hours I think I'd have found it much more enjoyable. As it is, it's a wonderful story that I'll be watching again and again, and you should too. 8/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albino Rover Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Dead Man's Shoes Shane Meadows psychological drama/thriller about an ex-serviceman on a personal revenge mission. The story is brilliantly told by an inventive narrative style and some stylish camera work and editing from Meadows' crew, working on a real shoestring budget and shooting the film in just 3 weeks. The script by Meadows and Paddy Considine is also very impressive and, even though at times the plot stretches realism a little bit, the action and tension is relentless. Excellent dialogue too, with belly laughs and chilling terror provided just through spoken word and rather an emotional twist at the end. Paddy Considine is terrifying in the lead role, delivering payback to a local gang from his home town for a back story we find out about as the action unravels. The flashbacks are heavy going, filmed in lo-tech monochrome with some gruesome stuff going on, but it's that impetus that makes Richard (Considine) our hero and completely justifies everything he does for his disabled brother. Like I mentioned, it's a little bit on the unbelievable side at times and comes to a strange conclusion but this is a very admirable effort under the circumstances these guys were working. There's a lot of talent on show, and it's a big shame this film was not a commercial success. 7/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MONKMAN Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Gravity Stunning visual effects. Had the potential to be very good, but it wasn't. 4/10 Hunger games - Catching fire Excellent. Can't wait for the 3rd instalment already 8/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Rewatched Pacific Rim on blu ray with my mates new speaker system, by god i still love that film. Looked and sounded great 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 (edited) Bottle Rocket (1996) - 8 or 9/10. A really funny film. Edited November 25, 2013 by Enigma 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southside Hibee Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 The Hunger Games : Catching Fire On a par with the first, definitely. First forty-five minutes is pretty much filler imo but when it gets down to the action it's fantastic. Peeta is a cool guy too. 8/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Went to cineworld secret screening tonight and it was the secret life of Walter Mitty. Was ok i def wouldnt of gone to see it. Typical dont let life pass you buy kinda film 6/10 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Taranbino Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Went to cineworld secret screening tonight and it was the secret life of Walter Mitty. Was ok i def wouldnt of gone to see it. Typical dont let life pass you buy kinda film 6/10 Unlucky, I would have raged at that being the film 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forehead7 Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Unlucky, I would have raged at that being the film I'd probably have walked out, that film looks utterly terrible. At least with other new Ben Stiller films there will be a decent support cast (The Watch, for instance) but that one looks to not really have one (Adam Scott's role looks small and I hate Kristen Wiig). Pass. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 Seen an "advert" for that film the other night and it looked pretty good in comparison to the other one I saw. Frankenstein 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smurph Posted November 25, 2013 Share Posted November 25, 2013 (edited) Captain Phillips. Hanks was superb as people have said. The Somalian captain was brilliant too. 8/10. Edited November 26, 2013 by Smurph 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Unlucky, I would have raged at that being the film To be fair our fear was it was going to be Oldboy.. so just about anything else was a bonus. Quite a few folk walked out tho. End of the day its not costing you anything extra, plus we got a big bar of free chocolate 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Unlucky, I would have raged at that being the film People literally did walk out of it when it came up what it was ... A good 7 or 8 in the smaller of the 2 screens. It was a pretty decent film in faitrness. The supporting cast is reasonable, the cut scenes relatively imaginative and funny and Stiller didn't make me want to rip my eyes out as much as normal. Didn't realise he was directing too - I'd say he's a better director than he is an actor. 6/10 I've been to see a few things recently, so I'll run through the wee list; Catching Fire - I thought this was better than the first one, which I also thought was pretty good. Can't agree about the comments earlier that the first 45 minutes were filler - without giving too much away, they will turn out to be essential to the overall story. I loved the cat and mouse between the President and the tributes. Aside from that, Jennifer Lawrence is the obvious stand out, but the supporting cast all do a commendable enough job too. The movie on its own is probably a 7, made a 8 out of 10 by Lawrence. Parkland - Quite a chaotic watch really, but it was good to see the Kennedy assassination from the points of view of a few people directly affected, but who had nothing to do with the shooting. I'm not sure how historically accurate the film is, but it was reasonably entertaining. 5/10 The Family - I'm not sure what this film was trying to be. A slapstick mob film, a drama, a coming of age story? It kind of verged on each, with some suggestions of extreme violence thrown in for good measure. Not one of De Niro's best to be honest. 3/10 - one of the points is for Dianna Agron 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quentin Taranbino Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 It's weird because De Niro has been an abysmal actor in pretty much my whole film watching life. I can of course appreciate his previous back catalogue but he has been pretty brutal for 15-20 years 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.C Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 Think the last good film I probably saw him in was Heat 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted November 26, 2013 Share Posted November 26, 2013 His less serious stuff has been better at times. I liked him in Meet the Parents, although he had to work alongside Ben Stiller, which automatically lost him credibility points. He's made some strange choices over the last few years though. He was however excellent, along with the rest of the cast, in Silver Linings Playbook. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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