The Last Film watched (CONTAINS STAR WARS SPOILERS!!)

by Adam D Sat 01 Nov 2014, 9:48 pm

First topic message reminder :

Quite enjoyed rec 3 although it's not really much to do with the first 2 films.

If it had been a standalone film, I think the critical response would have been better. For me it was really entertaining.

by Guest Mon 05 Jan 2015, 11:43 am

SLING BLADE...Billy Bob Thornton plays a man released after decades in a mental facility for killing his mother and a man he found having "his way with her" and how he comes to terms with being reintroduced to society.

Highly rated by some and whilst I enjoyed it, it didn't blow my mind. Fairly predictable outcome to be honest. Unsure of Thornton's performance as it seems almost to be a parody of a man with learning difficulties. I suppose if Daniel Day Lewis had done it people would be w*nking themselves silly.

TUSK - The latest Kevin Smith film. Justin Long plays a podcaster who stumbles upon the eccentric Michael Park. Park abducts him and sets about turning him into a walrus....exactly!!!!!!! WTF is this all about? Johnny Depp plays a slightly deranged investigator, Haley Joel Osment (Sixth Sense) is a fatter version of himself. Totally bizarre and seemingly part of a trilogy that's in production.

THE NECESSARY DEATH OF CHARLIE COUNTRYMAN - the ever annoying Shia Labouf plays a man who travels to Bucharest after the death of his mother. En route, the man next to him dies and tells Labouf AFTER he's died that he would like him to deliver a message to his daughter. He meets the daughter, fancies her immediately and pursues her only to be confronted by the sinister Mads Mikkelson. It's ok and basically enjoyable for watching Shia get beaten up regularly.

THE EQUALIZER - The latest Denzel Washington flick loosely based on the Edward Woodward series. I'll keep this short and sweet....BLOODY BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!

by nadeem2099 Mon 05 Jan 2015, 2:59 pm

The house at the end of the street

Review - nope

by RuggerRadge2611 Tue 06 Jan 2015, 1:59 pm

I'll save you all some time.

I watched Iron Sky last night, it's up there with Wrong Turn, Open Water and the perfect storm in terms of how dire it was.

A couple of hours of my life I'll never get back.

by Mr Bounce Tue 06 Jan 2015, 11:04 pm

The Beast wrote:Birdman (or the unexpected virtue of ignorance)

Very interesting film, brilliantly acted (Keaton, Norton and a surprise for me, Emma Stone wow) written and filmed. NOT however I suspect for everyone, there is not much of a story and the humor is quite dark. If you prefer stories over style/satire/dialogue not too sure, if you enjoy good writing and acting or want something different go for it.

I watched Birdman and it is exceptionally well-acted. However, I hated it. It's a film specifically designed to appeal to the critics because it focusses almost entirely on how actors use their craft. Given all the hype I was expecting it to be something amazing, but it was a total waste of two hours of my life. I expect it will pick up awards but I did not "get" it, presumably because I am not a theatre person. If I wasn't being given a lift home I would have walked out. 3/10

This year's films can only get better. Now where's my brother's copy of Sharknado 2? laughing

by **Galted** Wed 07 Jan 2015, 10:07 pm

Mr Bounce wrote:
The Beast wrote:Birdman (or the unexpected virtue of ignorance)

Very interesting film, brilliantly acted (Keaton, Norton and a surprise for me, Emma Stone wow) written and filmed. NOT however I suspect for everyone, there is not much of a story and the humor is quite dark. If you prefer stories over style/satire/dialogue not too sure, if you enjoy good writing and acting or want something different go for it.

I watched Birdman and it is exceptionally well-acted. However, I hated it. It's a film specifically designed to appeal to the critics because it focusses almost entirely on how actors use their craft. Given all the hype I was expecting it to be something amazing, but it was a total waste of two hours of my life. I expect it will pick up awards but I did not "get" it, presumably because I am not a theatre person. If I wasn't being given a lift home I would have walked out. 3/10

This year's films can only get better. Now where's my brother's copy of Sharknado 2?

Saw Birdman as well. Was ok though the long takes were a bit gimmicky.

by The Saint Wed 07 Jan 2015, 11:04 pm

As you do, I finally got around to watching the latest Hobbit movie. I watched via a streaming site. I've been disappointed with this franchise and decided not to ever pay to go to the cinema to watch one (I seen the previous 2 films on Netflix, both average and over-the-top). Battle of the 5 Armies was BY FAR the worst one in the trilogy. I read a lot of eager anticipation from friends in the build-up to this film, only for them to come out of the cinema saying how boring and disappointing it was. This unusually sparked my curiosity, so I got around to watching it. I don't think Peter Jackson even knew what he was doing and I sure as hell didn't have a clue what was going on. Cac film, just like his version of King Kong.

On a more positive note, I watched Fury and thought it was very good. There's not much story in it, just epic WWII battle scenes and a good portrayal of what happens during war.

I watched The Town, with Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner. Not a big movie, but it was pretty good. Helped me get over the few hours I wasted on The Hobbit.

by **Crimey** Thu 08 Jan 2015, 12:21 am

Watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Man of Steel the last two days.

Captain America I only watched because I had heard it was different and much better than the other Marvel films (the same I had heard about Guardians of the Galaxy which I also didn't like) that peaked my interest as I thought it might have some good things but I was bored all the way through. The action scenes were poor and felt like a bad version of the Batman fight scenes. The story was a good idea poorly implemented for me. It was just very similar to all the other Marvel films and it's growing tedious with each film and considering Captain America is one of the least interesting characters they have, this film really struggled, I was surprised it got such positive reviews. I thought it lacked a good villain, the Bucky/Winter Soldier stuff wasn't really explored enough considering he's the other titular character.

Man of Steel was probably about the same, my expectations were obviously less because of the muted reception this film got but all in all I felt the films were about the same in terms of quality. Henry Cavill is good, but it's Superman and he is just so very boring. The film was all over the place, part Nolan Batman part Star Trek reboot. It seemed to want to emphasise the sci-fi element but for me that is such a weird thing to do for the origin story. The pacing was really off and the final fight scene was so ridiculously destructive you could only laugh, and yet we see him start at the Daily Planet what seems like weeks later and everything seems relatively okay. The destruction would have been what 9/11 hundreds of times over? It was just unbelievable how quickly the film-makers made a building crumpling have such little impact. There was very little chemistry between Cavill and Amy Adams which made their relationship really unbelievable and their scenes lacked any sort of emotional tug. It wanted to make Superman more dark and gritty but it came across just grey and boring.

by The Saint Thu 08 Jan 2015, 11:31 am

Can't agree on Winter Soldier, but definitely on Man of Steel! No offence to my friends but I don't think they're very smart having walked out of the cinema and disagreed with me on MoS! Some are easily entertained I guess.

by Mr Bounce Fri 09 Jan 2015, 7:53 pm

I have to report that I have watched Sharknado 2: The Second One.

What can I say? It is like watching a car crash. It is a terrible thing, but you can't turn away. There are cameos galore: take a "bow" Wil Wheaton (and his wife!), Kelly Osborne, Robert Hays (Ted Striker from Airplane - as a pilot naturally), Judd Hirsch (a taxi driver!), Pepa from Salt & Pepa, Kurt Angle, Perez Hilton and Vivica Fox. Nearly all of them meet a fishy end.

As a nod to Jaws, most of the cast are named after characters from that film. The hero's sister is called Ellen and she's married to... yup, you guessed it, Martin Brody. There's also reporting from what I can only assume is the entire cast of a daytime New York news show, who clearly are having a good laugh doing it.

Total garbage, yet strangely appealing. I can't give it more than 4/10 but it's good for a giggle. Let's face it - you don't watch a film like this for its scientific and biological accuracy!

by Rowley Mon 12 Jan 2015, 7:58 am

Watched The Imitation Game. A fascinating story well told and brilliantly acted. As someone who doesn't really get maths I was worried the film would just make me feel thick, but it was extremely well told and easy to follow. Highly recommended.

by trottb Mon 12 Jan 2015, 12:39 pm

I Frankenstein. It was made by the same team that did Underworld and it was basically the same film with Demons and Gargoyles. If you had a couple of hours with nothing better to do then give it a shot, but I wouldn't recommend it.

The Hobbit battle of the 5 armies. Whilst I did enjoy the film and I think it ended the series well it did seem a little too busy at times and I don't think that the main battles had the effect that they should have. Still a decent end to a decent trilogy.

by incontinentia Mon 12 Jan 2015, 2:43 pm

Foxcatcher, not as good as I expected but decent all the same- 7/10.

Can't wait for Whiplash in a couple of weeks, it looks brilliant!!

by Mad for Chelsea Mon 12 Jan 2015, 10:56 pm

I second Rowley's recommendation to The Imitation Game.

Unlike him (apparently), I am a Maths geek, and found it an excellent watch. It struck just the right balance for me between telling enough of the true story (including the sciency bits) and the dramatic ambellishment necessary to make a good movie. The strength though is undoubtedly the cast, who to a man (and woman) are spot on.

Would also recommend anyone interested in the code-breaking story of the war to read some of the plentiful books on the subject, and more importantly, get yourselves off to Bletchley park where it all happened (I actually went back there over Christmas, and it really is fascinating). Easy access from London (half-hour train trip from Euston, the park is just next to the train station). Make sure you get there early as it closes at four...

by Gwlad Mon 12 Jan 2015, 11:30 pm

Rowley wrote:Watched The Imitation Game. A fascinating story well told and brilliantly acted. As someone who doesn't really get maths I was worried the film would just make me feel thick, but it was extremely well told and easy to follow. Highly recommended.

The film was so dumbed down anyone could understand it, they managed to make the greatest WW2 story into a farce….no effot whatsoever was made to show you how the Turing machine worked…you just spent endless minutes watching the rotors turn like some 1940s food mixer until they stopped and as if by magic all was revealed. Also the script was horrendous….take for example the red cap sergeant searching Turing's desk for incriminating spy evidence…as if a military police soldier would even know what he was looking for….and what the rest of the British counter espionage establishment could never definitely ascertain - the ID of the 5th man - was discovered by Turing because Cairncross left his bible on his desk! What a simplistic crock of shoite this film is.

by Ent Tue 13 Jan 2015, 8:37 am

X men days of future past.

Good for an x men film (which are pretty atrocious) and a convenient way for them to reset it all and make more films (and money).

Though I thought xavier died in the last stand yet he appears here with no explanation.

by **hampo17** Tue 13 Jan 2015, 11:50 am

I think they've jumbled the time line Ent, days of future past was set before Last Stand.

by **superflyweight** Tue 13 Jan 2015, 1:13 pm

hampo171 wrote:I think they've jumbled the time line Ent, days of future past was set before Last Stand.

Not sure on that Hampo. I believe, although I haven't seen it myself, that there is some kind of reveal after the end credits of Last Stand that suggest that Xavier is not dead. I've seen Last Stand but I don't tend to watch the end credits so not definite on this.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Tue 13 Jan 2015, 3:14 pm

Superflyweight has it spot on. Was a post credits scene that kind of explained it.

by **hampo17** Tue 13 Jan 2015, 3:30 pm

Didn't realise there was a post credit scene, just youtubed it.

by JDizzle Tue 13 Jan 2015, 3:45 pm

As I understand, Bryan Singer (who directed X-Men and X2) absolutely hated the Last Stand, directed by someone else, so basically used DOFP to wipe out everything that happened in it. Think there is an end credit scene after one of the Wolverine ones that shows Magneto and Xavier meeting up with Wolverine to prelude DOFP.

Watched a couple of films that I've seen before recently. Inglorious Basterds is one of my favourite Tarantino films, and Christoph Waltz is genuinely brilliant as Hans Landa. Thought his Oscar for Django was a little bit undeserved, but he was absolutely fantastic in this. Can't help but enjoy Brad Pitt in it too!

Watched the Naked Gun too. Some classic Nielsen, it's no Airplane which is one of the funniest films ever made but it is enjoyable enough and has some laugh out loud moments and some very quotable scenes. 'Nice Beaver'.

by Rowley Tue 13 Jan 2015, 5:16 pm

JDizzle wrote:As I understand, Bryan Singer (who directed X-Men and X2) absolutely hated the Last Stand, directed by someone else, .

Brett Ratner. Just thought I'd show off there.

by JDizzle Tue 13 Jan 2015, 5:22 pm

Rowley wrote:
JDizzle wrote:As I understand, Bryan Singer (who directed X-Men and X2) absolutely hated the Last Stand, directed by someone else, .

Brett Ratner. Just thought I'd show off there.

Spoiler:

by Mr Bounce Tue 13 Jan 2015, 8:59 pm

I went to see Foxcatcher last night. I found it unnecessarily long and the subject matter of the wrestling is both uninteresting and not particularly well filmed. However, there are two reasons to watch this film: Steve Carrell and Channing Tatum play their respective parts superbly. Carrell especially is eerily good in his role.

I won't go into great detail about the plot of the film as it is fairly well documented as it is based on a true story. Tatum plays Mark Schultz with a wonderfully detached intensity (even appearing to mimic Arnie from the first Terminator film in an early scene), and shows the highs and lows of a top sportsman when all that's good goes wrong. However Carrell steals the show. He is so adept at playing oddball that he should take care to avoid being typecast after this film. I have no doubts that he'll be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I give him 10/10 for his performance; the film overall gets 7.5 from me.

by Ent Wed 14 Jan 2015, 12:01 am

SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:Superflyweight has it spot on. Was a post credits scene that kind of explained it.

It just shows him alive, there is no explanation.

Same as why the mutant cure from last stand just stopped working.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Wed 14 Jan 2015, 10:50 am

There's a scene in the film where they talk about transferring consciousness and you see the same man (who is brain dead) that appears in the post credit scene. Pretty crappy cop out but Xavier supposedly transfers his consciousness to the man before being killed,

by Guest Wed 14 Jan 2015, 10:59 am

Behind enemy lines 4 - essentially same script as saving private Ryan with Tom Sizemore again. fubar comes up, chewing gum/mirror/knife combo like Tom hanks used to see round the corner, everyone huddled round a shot man & gives him morphine ala saving private ryan. As for the film, total garbage with many African soldiers dying left right & centre. How this franchise had made it to four is beyond me. 3/10

Foxcatcher - echo the words of Mr bounce, decent film, not spectacular but Oscar nominated films usually aren't a great watch. Steve Carell was outstanding though, only real highlight 7/10

by Mike Selig Wed 14 Jan 2015, 11:13 am

I enjoyed the Imitation Game. It's a film, it was entertaining, and if you want to find out more then there are plenty of other sources.

Also watched the Raid 2 over Christmas. Outstanding. Very different in plot and tone from the first one (although similarly loads of people die, in a variety of violent ways).

Must say I'm really looking forward to Whiplash.

by Guest Wed 14 Jan 2015, 12:42 pm

As a metal fan and air drummer extraordinaire, unless this lad in "Whiplash" is the genetically mutated combination of Gene Hoglan, Dave Suzuki (on Dechristianize...Google it b!tches!), Nick Barker etc...it'll be as interesting a watching Lars Ulrich f*ck his way up through "Nothing Else Matters" for two hours

by Mind the windows Tino. Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:02 pm

DAVE667 wrote:As a metal fan and air drummer extraordinaire, unless this lad in "Whiplash" is the genetically mutated combination of Gene Hoglan, Dave Suzuki (on Dechristianize...Google it b!tches!), Nick Barker etc...it'll be as interesting a watching Lars Ulrich f*ck his way up through "Nothing Else Matters" for two hours

Does anybody know what Dave is talking about? I think you'll find Tico Torres from BON JOVI is the outstanding drummer of his generation, Dave lad.

I watched Teen Wolf (1984) at the weekend. Mrs Windows had never seen it. Can you believe that.

I did fall asleep for large parts of it but woke up just in time for the "shoot it, fat boy" scene which raised a smile.

I'll try and dig out the review I wrote back in 1991 as a fourteen year old. That was when I first watched it and probably stayed awake for the duration.

by Rowley Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:04 pm

Whiplash is about Jazz, as such it will be awesome.

by **superflyweight** Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:06 pm

Mind the windows Tino. wrote:
DAVE667 wrote:As a metal fan and air drummer extraordinaire, unless this lad in "Whiplash" is the genetically mutated combination of Gene Hoglan, Dave Suzuki (on Dechristianize...Google it b!tches!), Nick Barker etc...it'll be as interesting a watching Lars Ulrich f*ck his way up through "Nothing Else Matters" for two hours

Does anybody know what Dave is talking about? I think you'll find Tico Torres from BON JOVI is the outstanding drummer of his generation, Dave lad.

I watched Teen Wolf (1984) at the weekend. Mrs Windows had never seen it. Can you believe that.

I did fall asleep for large parts of it but woke up just in time for the "shoot it, fat boy" scene which raised a smile.

I'll try and dig out the review I wrote back in 1991 as a fourteen year old. That was when I first watched it and probably stayed awake for the duration.

Not the one armed one from DEF LEPPARD?

by Mind the windows Tino. Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:08 pm

superflyweight wrote:
Mind the windows Tino. wrote:
DAVE667 wrote:As a metal fan and air drummer extraordinaire, unless this lad in "Whiplash" is the genetically mutated combination of Gene Hoglan, Dave Suzuki (on Dechristianize...Google it b!tches!), Nick Barker etc...it'll be as interesting a watching Lars Ulrich f*ck his way up through "Nothing Else Matters" for two hours

Does anybody know what Dave is talking about? I think you'll find Tico Torres from BON JOVI is the outstanding drummer of his generation, Dave lad.

I watched Teen Wolf (1984) at the weekend. Mrs Windows had never seen it. Can you believe that.

I did fall asleep for large parts of it but woke up just in time for the "shoot it, fat boy" scene which raised a smile.

I'll try and dig out the review I wrote back in 1991 as a fourteen year old. That was when I first watched it and probably stayed awake for the duration.

Not the one armed one from DEF LEPPARD?

Yeah, I think he was ace. As was Don Powell from SLADE.

by incontinentia Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:12 pm

Matt Cameron

by Rowley Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:15 pm

Are we just naming drummers now? Awesome. Ginger Baker.

by Mind the windows Tino. Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:16 pm

Little Drummer boy.

Per rump a pum pumm.

by **superflyweight** Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:23 pm

Animal from the Muppets.

by **rIck_dAgless** Wed 14 Jan 2015, 1:45 pm

Bernard Matthews chief Butcher

by Guest Wed 14 Jan 2015, 2:43 pm

F*CK THE LOT OF YOU. YOU BUNCH OF NO NOTHING C*NTS!!!!!!!!!!!

by Rowley Wed 14 Jan 2015, 2:52 pm

Even in what was obviously a very angry post Dave not sure such a poor spelling of know is ever acceptable.

by Guest Wed 14 Jan 2015, 2:55 pm

I'm offended on behalf on myself for that. I should no better.

by Mr Bounce Wed 14 Jan 2015, 5:34 pm

Rowley wrote:Whiplash is about Jazz, as such it will be awesome.

Perfect reason for me not to watch it... Whistle

by Gwlad Wed 14 Jan 2015, 5:38 pm

Saw Birdman last night…epic.

by Rowley Wed 14 Jan 2015, 5:44 pm

Mr Bounce wrote:
Rowley wrote:Whiplash is about Jazz, as such it will be awesome.

Perfect reason for me not to watch it...

Philistine!

by Ent Wed 14 Jan 2015, 8:23 pm

SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:There's a scene in the film where they talk about transferring consciousness and you see the same man (who is brain dead) that appears in the post credit scene. Pretty crappy cop out but Xavier supposedly transfers his consciousness to the man before being killed,

Is that in last stand, fair enough if so - nearly 10 years from I saw it.

Next film is about apocalypse- how they are going to cover that in 2.5 hours I don't know!

by Derbymanc Wed 14 Jan 2015, 8:49 pm

Your supposed to ignore the Last Stand, as a standalone film it's not too bad, as an X-men film it's pants and ruined the phoenix story, arriswipes..............................

by Ent Wed 14 Jan 2015, 9:01 pm

Don't suppose story telling is going to be as good as a comic series or hours of cartoon footage.

Can't really remember last stand but was the Phoenix storyline not a side issue/storyline along with the cure?

by **hampo17** Wed 14 Jan 2015, 10:19 pm

Watched the final hobbit film earlier and while the whole series hasn't been as good as LOTR, I've enjoyed them. Legolas is a miserable barsteward during these films though compared to the light hearted jovial character in LOTR. I thought Bilbos return to Bagend was funny, gave some backing to the mention of his family in LOTR as well.

Spoiler:

by Derbymanc Thu 15 Jan 2015, 8:11 am

Ent wrote:Don't suppose story telling is going to be as good as a comic series or hours of cartoon footage.

Can't really remember last stand but was the Phoenix storyline not a side issue/storyline along with the cure?

It was built up at the end of the second film (I proper marked out at the end of that) and should have been a major major storyline to set it up for the next few years, unfortunately they also shoehorned the cure storyline in and messed that up too. (See Astonishing X-men 01 - 06 - Gifted)

As a comic book geek it's infuriating, watching it and take it out of the X-men universe and it isn't too bad.

by Rowley Thu 15 Jan 2015, 8:57 am

Derbymanc wrote:

As a comic book geek it's infuriating,

No more infuriating than an ongoing ability to speak to a real live girl I would imagine.

by Derbymanc Thu 15 Jan 2015, 9:00 am

tut tut tut, that's low think you've been hanging on the boxing board too much as I'd expect better from you.

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