The Films Thread

[Dragontao]

The artist is on this weekend. Will watch it but not expecting much.

Doesn't appeal to me, think it might be like watching paint dry.

Had a feeling that one was wasted, I'll get my coat lol.

[styles]

Lol, yes i missed it.

[jman]

I watched 2 films at the weekend.

End of Watch - I dont get the hype sorry... the ending makes you feel like the rest of the film was important and that you should have connected with the characters.. but it wasn't and I hadn't... sure there were some endearing bits, some funny bits, some actiony bits... but they were all short-lived before the film jumped months down the line again... it wasn't helped by the camcorder style viewing - in some parts of the film it worked, but largely it failed for me (it's only ever worked in horror films).... I just couldnt settle on the film and there was barely a story which made everything feel a bit unconnected.  I liked the true gritiness of it all though - 4/10

Safe - a standard Statham movie... loads of fighting, shooting, car chasing... but the plot is just dire.  Too many characters are introduced in the film (theres a high body count).. too many twists to the already fragile plot and above all, very little realism to the whole film - makes this film instantly forgettable - Im a big statham fan.. but really, dont bother. 2/10

[harv]

Realism and Statham do not belong in the same sentence lol

[Dragontao]

Realism and Statham do not belong in the same sentence lol

Realism in 99% of films where they are using guns doesn't exist.

[harv]

Don't start me on guns and realism lol

[jman]

I watched Stone at the weekend.. I thought it was interesting.. but the plot just didnt have substance.. I understood the message the film was trying to get across but found it slightly wanting in several places... Milla Jovavich was fantastic though... even more so than De Niro and Norton.

4.5/10


Might go watch Die Hard 5 on Tuesday.. although missus is wanting to watch Wreck It Ralph .. which actually looks alright for a kids film lol.

[jman]

Watched "The Machinist" last night - I thought it was great.. possibly a little slow in getting going - but if you took "Fight Club" and a pinch of "Memento" - it would end up with something like this.  Christian Bale definitely gets under the characters skin and is fantastic, the weight loss he took on for the role is quite disturbing - but it definitely adds to the character development - the film on a whole is fascinating and kept my attention right until the very end, but I think I preferred Fight Club slightly more.  Still, would definitely recommend if you haven't already seen it.

7/10

[ancelotti]

Just got back from seeing Side Effects. I thought Rooney Mara was outstanding, with Jude Law giving a strong performance too. I went in expecting a story about evil pharmaceuticals but was pleasantly surprised to be wrong. I'll admit I got a little bit lost about 3/4 of the way through but but it all came together in the end. Not exactly groundbreaking, but a solid watch nonetheless - 8/10

Also watched 2 decent films recently:

Zodiac - Surprised this didn't get more attention when it was released. Very suspenseful thriller about a real-life serial killer who was never caught. Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. are all excellent. Quite long at 2 hours 40 mins but definitely worth a watch - 9/10

Copycat - Another thriller about a serial killer who likes to imitate serial killers of the past. Sigourney Weaver is great as an agoraphobic expert criminologist, but as an 'Alien' fan she seemed to be very 'Ripley' like... Not sure why I got that vibe. Also stars a very attractive young Holly Hunter who does well. Doesn't quite have the style or finesse of top thrillers like Silence of the Lambs or Se7en, the actor playing the serial killer wasn't too memorable, but it's not a bad film at all - 7/10

[Dragontao]

Wasn't the serial killer in Copycat Harry Connick Jr, who's more of a singer than an actor.

[jman]

Watched "Welcome to the Punch" at the cinema this weekend - after seeing the adverts of tv, I was expecting quite a decent action film.. but its actually a gritty british crime drama.  To be honest.. it felt like an tv series special - quite low key - although there were a few modest action scenes in places, but on the whole I found the whole film pretty middle of the road.  James McAvoy does a good job as the central character and Mark Strong puts in a decent performance too as the central bad guy - but the rest of the cast are forgettable really.

I liked the fact it was set in London (Canary Wharf I think) - and I liked the fact that it was a british-made film with british actors in - but the story was quite average and the action was average, plus the ending sequence which was being built up throughout the film was quite disappointing and abrupt I thought.  But its certainly watchable - I would say to wait until dvd release - it wasnt our first choice film - we wanted to see Parker but that wasnt being shown at any decent times.

4/10

[jman]

Watched Changeling last night for the first time - great film, incredible to believe that its a real story too 

8/10

[jman]

Few more films I watched in the past week :

Meeting Evil - Luke Wilson & Samuel L Jackson - terrible, horrible movie.. probably the worst SLJ film I have ever seen.. the story is poor with many plot holes, the acting is poor, the characters are poor, the dialogue is poor.. everything about his film was just bad - yeah, dont bother watching.
1/10

Contraband - Mark Wahlberg & Kate Beckinsale - took a while for this one to get going for me, I found there actually was some  substance to the film once it did, but everything was just executed very poorly - Beckinsale might well of just not been there -  I managed to watch it all - but it was hardly thrilling - which is a shame..
3/10

Wreck It Ralph - I actually loved this film, very clever and inventive plot with a bit of humour thrown in for good measure - even better if your a bit of a retro gamer.. so many references to games its quite fun to spot them all - qbert was great too!  Definitely recommend.
7/10

[harv]

Just a quick heads-up for those of you using Unblock Us to access the US version of Netflix, I've found a free DNS via someone on Miiverse: 190.14.36.90 and 109.123.111.24

I was having problems connecting with a decent speed with Unblock Us but now I'm using this free one it's been Medium/High HD all the way.

[Dragontao]

I'll make a note of that for if I ever use netflix.