Film The General Film Thread

[Wazzerphuk]

We have Genreal TV and music threads etc. but not one for film!

So this can be it. A general thread for all things filmy. Obviously specific films of interest may generate their own thread (like TV shows) but it'd be good to have somewhere to chat about films that's not the random spam thread!

Anyway, just finished watching Hanna. Really, really impressed with this. Fantastic to have an action/thriller of this type come from a commercial background. It's not clichéd, formulaic and has its own style that works with the film rather than being seperate from it. The soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers fits perfectly. I was really surprised by just how good it was. Love Tom Hollander's sadistic German, a bit different to watching him in Rev.

Also recently managed to finally watching the full length (3hr 20) version of Seven Samurai. It doesn't drag at all despite the length, is surprisingly enjoyable and coherent for an old film with a lot of action: the action sequences themselves are very well done. The only thing I would have liked would maybe be a little more character development for some of the 'lesser' samurai as they weren't particularly fleshed out, whereas others are quite detailed.

Breathless (no, not the pretentious bag of shite that is A bout de soufflé, or the horrific Kilmer/Liotta film from last year), a Korean film about domestic violence. As you can imagine it's not the easiest watch, but it's not so violent it's horrible. The violence is quite realistic so hits hard in that way, rather than the visceral violence that often comes from Korean cinema. It's written, directed, produced and starred by one man, which gives it a very focused feel. Initially the film starts quite relentlessly, but it soon settles and gradually opens up, allowing the audience into the emotion and cause/cycles of violence.

Really enjoyed all these three films this week, and they're all very different. What's everyone else been watching?

 

[Nate]

hobbit

liked it

 

[caLLous]

The last fillum I watched was Leon (for the first time :$) and it was bloody great.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

The first time?! Sweet Lord you're late. It's utterly fantastic and so, so good the first time you watch it. Oldman as usual is brilliant

 

[soze]

I watched a film called "Now's Good" with a lady friend. There was some onion cutting going on during that. I then watched Hard Candy again and I love that film.

 

[ileks]

Maybe everyone should give the film a mark out of ten? These threads are great when you are looking for a good film to watch but can't think of anything good you haven't seen.

Django Unchained - 8/10 - Overall a really entertaining film. Great characters and a great story. It's very funny at times too.

Dredd - 7/10 - I thought this would be a shit 3D gimmick. It's actually a solid action film. When watching it in 2D I got the impression lots of scenes were only there for the 3D effects but it wasn't overly irritating. I've never seen the originals so can't make any comparisons there.

X-Men: First Class - 7/10 - Entertaining and some good action scenes. Magneto & Xavier's characters are cool. Unfortunately some of the characters irritated me a bit and the fit blonde didn't get her tits out.

 

[dysfunction]

Been watching The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child with my 2.5 yr old boy.

They are actually very well made and quite entertaining.

There is a superb scene with the mouse walking through some water...all sorts of things get caught or eaten, and the mouse seems not to notice.

 

[Calaen]

I watched hanna recently and thought it was terrible. It was far too forced and felt way too arty! I then watched Leon to get over it.

Really enjoyed the Hobbit!

 

[Overdriven]

Django Unchained: 8/10 - Just watched it for the 2nd time, likely to be watching it again in the next few weeks.
Seven Psychopaths: 6/10 - Is something I'm going to need to see again before I re-judge it. (Same thing happened with Moon for me, watched it once and was 'meh', second+ time round really enjoyed it)

 

[old.Osy]

Hanna was a surprise for me. I liked it a lot. Very interesting plot.

Seven Psychopaths has a certain charm to it, even though at times my brain was flagging the script as ridiculous. I think the acting was excellent, all around. The script suffers from wanting to be too "deep" but it doesn't make it.

Dredd was satisfactory - it did the job.

I also saw "Catch me if you can" for the first time. Great movie, bloody Caprio can act.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

I watched hanna recently and thought it was terrible. It was far too forced and felt way too arty! I then watched Leon to get over it.

I don't get this criticism really, does every action/thriller have to be shot and presented in the same formulaic way?

 

[Calaen]

I don't get this criticism really, does every action/thriller have to be shot and presented in the same formulaic way?

She shot a bloke in the middle of the park and the next scene showed him on the roundabout with the other dead guy, I know she didn't carry him over there. It tried to be something and personally it just didnt work. It just limped from scene to scene

 

[fettoken]

Watched "Rambo: First Blood" (again)

Great great great movie. It has a brilliant beginning, and end. Portrays the struggle of one man who only wants to be treated like a human being. Deep, thoughtful, harsh and emotional movie. Love it. Also seeing him fuck up some douchebags makes the day.

 

[Edmond]

Loved 'Moon' it was on over Christmas, so watched it again. Sam Rockwell in the film was very good

 

[Raven]

Didn't like Hanna either, felt I wanted to but it was just meh.

Django Unchained, excellent film, funny bits, action bits and a decent story.
Cloud Atlas, pretty good - have to watch it a couple of times to take it all in.

Watched the 5th element all the way through for the first time the other week too, great stuff. I had seen the first half hour about 20 times but it's one of those films where something always comes up and interrupts my viewing.

 

[dysfunction]

I absolutely love the 5th Element. Watched it loads of times.

 

[Chilly]

Age of Heroes 8/10
Set in WWII - it's about the inception of the SOE (special operations executive) aka special forces/sas type stuff. A bunch of nutters go off to blow up some radar array somewhere. Film is amazingly shot with some seriously epic Norwegian scenery. Some may not like the casting of Danny Dyer ( I don't much like him) but he actually goes well for the character - his persona fits the role well (twat).

A good, modern, war flick to come out of the UK (which is quite rare) which is worth a watch. I have no idea if the film is based on actual war records or whether it's fictional, but it doesn't really matter IMO.

 

[Chilly]

Ill Manors 7.5/10
Set in Hackney (or somewhere equally shitty, I don't actually remember) in the modern day, it's about a group of fuckups trying to make their way in a shitty council estate full of drugs and violence. It talks about racism, drugs and prostitution and the interplay between people are basically good but can't really be so due to circumstances and people are genuinely shits who they are forced to associate with due to family ties or childhood friendships. It was written and made by Plan B with very little help from the UK film establishment. He himself is from a similar background so there's at least a bit of autobiographical material in there. It's a hard watch, a lot of uncomfortable scenes depicting some nasty stuff, but it's probably the best "street movie" I've seen to come from the UK. Makes the lads in attack the block look like good little boys. If you're not English, you'll still deffo get it but much of the dialogue may be difficult as there is a lot of thick SE London slang and dialect.

 

[Chilly]

Some comedys worth watching (cba with a review, it doesnt really matter):

Grandma's Boy (set in a computer game studio, lots of fun)
Old school (old men reliving young times, but very very worth watching. And old dude dies in a jacuzzi with two topless birds covered in lube)
Employee of the month (set in a cosco or something, god banter)
Office Space - if you have not seen this, see it immediately. That is all.
Harold and Kumar series is quality. Silly stoner films about getting munchies and stuff. Excellent acting and lots of good humour.

 

[TdC]

Loved 'Moon' it was on over Christmas, so watched it again. Sam Rockwell in the film was very good

Bah I forgot about that. Still not seen it

Some comedys worth watching (cba with a review, it doesnt really matter):
Office Space - if you have not seen this, see it immediately. That is all.

Still not seen that either

 

[Wazzerphuk]

She shot a bloke in the middle of the park and the next scene showed him on the roundabout with the other dead guy, I know she didn't carry him over there. It tried to be something and personally it just didnt work. It just limped from scene to scene

Spoiler

I find it hard that you "know" this: the shooting happened off screen. Given Bana's elite training, it's perfectly possible there was a scuffle before hand, or an escape attempt. A bit silly to crticise the film on this element when it's deliberately off-screen to place uncertainty as to what happened (who has been shot? we don't know until we see him).

It also perfectly mirrors a couple of other points of imagery: the rotation of the wheel is near identical to that of the heavy door locks being span earlier in the film; suggesting that Hanna is free from her training and free in the world completely now.

 

[Calaen]

I really tried to enjoy it, but non of it worked for me at all.

Watched Thor last night, one of my fav out of all the marvel stuff!

 

[megadave]

Just watched SkyFall, pile of crap, avoid.

 

[TdC]

Really? I thought it was fairly decent as far as Bonds go. What was wrong with it then?

 

[Overdriven]

Office Space

BIG GRAINS OF SALT!

Office Space is certainly one to watch. 'Super' too, very surreal black comedy.

 

[caLLous]

TdC, seriously watch Office Space. I thought everybody had seen Office Space.

 

[georgie]

Watched Searching For Sugar Man.
I enjoyed it. Knew nothing about it going into it but enjoyed it nonetheless.

Spoiler

Loved the bit when the record exec got angry. guess we know where all the money went...

 

[Calaen]

Just watched SkyFall, pile of crap, avoid.

I agree, found myself looking at the watch, waiting for it to be over. You cant have it both ways, he either has the gadgets to get himself out of trouble or you have to put him in circumstances where a trained person has a chance of getting out of.

The komodo dragon scene was horrible only bettered by the terrible motor bike chase.

I liked the introduction of the new characters though.

 

[Cerb]

Been a great year for films. I thought Django: Unchained was immensely satisfying and I really liked all the little nods to the original. ("The D is silent"....."I know")

I still think Looper was the best movie I've seen this year.


Have any of you seen the french film"Holy Motors"? It hasn't been given widespread release here in the states yet but the Harvard Film Archive is actually giving a showing of it next month where the director comes in after and does a Q&A so I'll be first in line for that.

 

[DaGaffer]

Been a great year for films. I thought Django: Unchained was immensely satisfying and I really liked all the little nods to the original. ("The D is silent"....."I know")

I still think Looper was the best movie I've seen this year.


Have any of you seen the french film"Holy Motors"? It hasn't been given widespread release here in the states yet but the Harvard Film Archive is actually giving a showing of it next month where the director comes in after and does a Q&A so I'll be first in line for that.

Looper is fucking rubbish. Well acted, nice concept, great set design, absolute pile of turd internal logic.