Rate the last movie you watched out of 10

[20thCenturyBoy]

Magic Mike

6.5/10

This was better than I expected, really quite funny in places. I like Channing Tatum, I'd never heard of him until The Dilemma (his hilarious turn in that was the only worthwhile thing) but since then he's began to make his mark. Of course I like McConaughey as previously mentioned, plus this has Kevin Nash in it! Although the big man can't dance to save himself, but I suppose it's to be expected when his knees are shot. I wasn't too keen on Pettyfer or his character, not likeable in the slightest.

I thought the relationship between Mike/Brook was well done, didn't follow the standard movie outline of having them hook up in the middle and then have them break up before getting back together. Steven Soderbergh seems to like bathing his films in this weird yellow/orange light, it was the same in this, Haywire (terrible movie) and The Informant (excellent movie). It's not very off putting but is still noticeable.

 

[neptune2venus]

Requiem For a Dream

I wonder why I didn't watch this sooner. It is a bleak tale of the devastating effects of drugs and how it intertwines into the lives of four people. I very much enjoyed it, despite the harsh imagery near the end which left little to the imagination so to speak! Not a film for everyone but those that like a bit of psychological spin when watching films may enjoy it.

Also there is a scene present from Perfect Blue which is directly copied. Darren Aronofsky must enjoy gaining inspiration from it as Black Swan also had a few nods to Perfect Blue here and there.

Overall: 8/10

 

[Professor Irony]

Golgo 13 (1973)

The first live-action outing for the iconic assassin sees him summoned to Iran, in order to eliminate the head of a human-trafficking operation. The film remains very faithful to the manga and Ken Takakura is perfectly cast as Golgo, remaining stoney-faced and stoic throughout. Unfortunately, the script is somewhat unremarkable, mostly leaving it to the picturesque scenery of (pre-revolutionary!) Iran to maintain interest for much of the film. Things do pick up towards the end though, with director Junya Sato producing some neat action scenes, and the writers offering a rather clever solution for Golgo to pick out the bad guy from his team of Saddam Hussein-style look-a-likes.

The film is not as memorable as Osamu Dezaki's later anime version, but it's a watchable little thriller with a few nice touches for fans of the franchise.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

The Dark Knight Rises - 9/10

Well it wasn’t quite ‘The Dark Knight’, though it was never going to be without a villain as big as the Joker, or a performance as mold-shattering as Ledgers, but it was still amazing. For such a lengthy movie it had quite some pace to it, although it dragged a little in the middle.

There were some great nods to the comics and Hathaway was a brilliant Selina, a character who’s never been top of my ‘favourite Bat-characters’ list, but was remarkable in this film.

Hardy’s Bane was good too, though hardly a revelation. His voice had definitely been made to sound clearer, perhaps oddly so, but his fights were magnificent, there was a speed and ferocity unlike any other hand-to-hand fight I’ve seen on film.

Alfred also got several choice moments too, as did Lucius Fox and Gordon.

Essentially the action was great and the plot was compelling, brilliant movie, though I’m afraid it has not dethroned ‘Avengers’ as my movie of the year thus far.

My only real gripe is the films tendency to treat the audience as dumb. There were a lot of Batman Begins flashbacks as if to say "Do you remember? They're referencing this part of that film here" in a way that was a little unnecessary. There was also a fanpleasing line that was just so crowbarred in it made me cringe. It's right near the end, you'll know the one concerning John Blake's full name[/quote][/b]

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

So has no one else seen TDKR yet, or did you all hate it so much that no one wants to talk about it?

 

[mangaman74]

So has no one else seen TDKR yet, or did you all hate it so much that no one wants to talk about it?

I was thinking of waiting a week for the crowds to die down a bit (in other words go this weekend if the weather holds up).

Saying that I never got around to seeing either of the other two Batman films in this trilogy at the cinema.

 

[Professor Irony]

Took it upon myself to watch Cannibal Holocaust (1980) the other night. Not a fun trip.

Racist, sexually violent, (genuinely) cruel to animals and frankly just downright nasty, this is a truly vile film that, even today, remains a hot potato with the censors. Following an attempt to discover the fate of a missing American documentary crew in the Amazon rainforest, the film tries to condemn the actions of the increasingly depraved (and possibly murderous) filmmakers, but simply ends up becoming part of what it criticises.

It does have a certain amount of artistic merit, having possibly originated the trend for the verite-style 'found footage' approach to horror filmmaking and containing a prescient warning about the endless thirst for news media, but you'll need to be made of sterner stuff to appreciate it. I know the entire point here is how these people exploit their subjects to gain lurid film footage, but having to then sit through it is a distressing ordeal to say the least. This is not helped by the film managing to cram in some already graphic and distasteful scenes in its first half, before the offending film-cans are found.

I won't say not to watch it, but I can't say I'd recommend it. I don't mind admitting that I wound up skipping through the most offensive scenes. As one critic rather brilliantly put it, the film is "artful enough to demand serious critical consideration, yet foul enough to christen you a pervert for even bothering".

 

[mangaman74]

TDKR - 9/10 Much better than the last Batman film I saw at the Cinema (Batman & Robin ).

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

The Dark Knight Rises

9/10

There's problems with dialogue, particularly the opening 20mins or so, too many pointless characters (hello Juno Temple) and ones who are never really fleshed out. But, it does what it has to do very well, I was pretty much captivated and enjoying it for it's full abusrd running time (seriously, Nolan, learn to cut things. I like long films when they're good, like this, but it doesn't work all the time).

Micheal Caine is easily top performer in this film, this whole series of films. I love the man, always brings a touch of class to things and is a terrific actor, his Florence speech was probably my favourite part.

Anne Hathaway was surprisingly better as Catwoman than I thought she would be, credit must go to her for that. The writing of the character at times not so much though.

Hardy as Bane is great and I'm just a bit disappointed there wasn't more of him. The guy looked and moved, fought like a huge silverback, the low shot in the plane of him hanging from the seat a great example of simple imagery.

Oldman is much like Caine, always brings the goods, classy actor.

JGL is good as John Blake, though I wasn't overly keen on him having figured out Batman's identity so easily, that scene a prime example of some poor scripting/dialogue.

As for the ending pretty much perfect, although I would have liked more a tease of the florence scene as the very last image, rather than a full on reveal of it.

Oh, I hated ghost (hallucination, whatever) Ra'as Al Ghul, terrible scene no need for it.

 

[ayase]

^ This*. I was just in the middle of writing up my thoughts on the film but there's really no point now. I almost cried at that Bruce / Alfred scene. And again at the end. A Batman film almost made me cry, twice. If that isn't a testament to how the actors, writers and director of this brilliant trilogy brought these characters to life like never before then I don't know what is. And a Hollywood film with a twist I didn't see coming a mile off! Bravo.



*except for the bit about Anne Hathaway - I knew she'd be good. And the bit about cutting, I love long films.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

I almost cried at that Bruce / Alfred scene. And again at the end.

Forget almost; stream of tears, quivering lip, the whole kit and kaboodle.

*except for the bit about Anne Hathaway - I knew she'd be good. And the bit about cutting, I love long films.

I enjoy long films too, when they're good, as this was. It does however make films that are not quite so good worse when they drag on (a Nolan specific example would be Inception), but Nolan's output has for the most part been great and has generally benefitted from longer running times.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Ted

5/10

Seth Macfarlane in same schitck shocker!

There's really not much to say about this, I didn't find it particularly funny. Only laughed at a couple of bits, by and large it's simply dull and forgettable. It feels often just like an extended episode of Family Guy (or any other Macfarlane show for that matter).

I did like the cameo by Ryan Reynolds though. But that's probably just because I have a man crush for him.

 

[Sy]

My only real gripe is the films tendency to treat the audience as dumb. There were a lot of Batman Begins flashbacks as if to say "Do you remember? They're referencing this part of that film here" in a way that was a little unnecessary.

I felt like this a little bit too but a few of the people I was with when I saw it actually found the flashbacks useful because they hadn't either seen the first movie or it'd be a long time since they had seen it. Regardless it was a tiny gripe anyway made more apparent that i'd watched the previous films on the build up to this one.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

My only real gripe is the films tendency to treat the audience as dumb. There were a lot of Batman Begins flashbacks as if to say "Do you remember? They're referencing this part of that film here" in a way that was a little unnecessary.

I felt like this a little bit too but a few of the people I was with when I saw it actually found the flashbacks useful because they hadn't either seen the first movie or it'd be a long time since they had seen it. Regardless it was a tiny gripe anyway made more apparent that i'd watched the previous films on the build up to this one.

Yes, I guess some people aren't blessed with the obsessive memory fans like us have

^ This*. I was just in the middle of writing up my thoughts on the film but there's really no point now. I almost cried at that Bruce / Alfred scene. And again at the end. A Batman film almost made me cry, twice. If that isn't a testament to how the actors, writers and director of this brilliant trilogy brought these characters to life like never before then I don't know what is. And a Hollywood film with a twist I didn't see coming a mile off! Bravo.



*except for the bit about Anne Hathaway - I knew she'd be good. And the bit about cutting, I love long films.

I think the film was too long in some ways. TDK wasn't much shorter, but it was PACIER so it felt less long. TDKR really FELT like nearly 3 hours, and there was definitely some fat that could've been trimmed I think.

As for the Alfred scenes, I seem to be the only person not emotionally affected by them, but I was moved by the scene where Batman tells Gordon, sometimes being a hero is a simple as putting a coat round a young boys shoulders and letting him know the world hasn't ended simply because it was such a great way of letting him know.

The Dark Knight Rises

9/10

There's problems with dialogue, particularly the opening 20mins or so, too many pointless characters (hello Juno Temple) and ones who are never really fleshed out. But, it does what it has to do very well, I was pretty much captivated and enjoying it for it's full abusrd running time (seriously, Nolan, learn to cut things. I like long films when they're good, like this, but it doesn't work all the time).

Micheal Caine is easily top performer in this film, this whole series of films. I love the man, always brings a touch of class to things and is a terrific actor, his Florence speech was probably my favourite part.

Anne Hathaway was surprisingly better as Catwoman than I thought she would be, credit must go to her for that. The writing of the character at times not so much though.

Hardy as Bane is great and I'm just a bit disappointed there wasn't more of him. The guy looked and moved, fought like a huge silverback, the low shot in the plane of him hanging from the seat a great example of simple imagery.

Oldman is much like Caine, always brings the goods, classy actor.

JGL is good as John Blake, though I wasn't overly keen on him having figured out Batman's identity so easily, that scene a prime example of some poor scripting/dialogue.

As for the ending pretty much perfect, although I would have liked more a tease of the florence scene as the very last image, rather than a full on reveal of it.

Oh, I hated ghost (hallucination, whatever) Ra'as Al Ghul, terrible scene no need for it.

That dream sequence was all right I thought... and I think the ending was DELIBERATELY unambiguous since it is the end and STILL people are saying that it might all be in Alfred's head, even though the scene was clearly deliberately designed to remove that kind of ambiguity so I don't think it should've been ambiguous, personally.

As for Blake, he's an amalgamation of Robins, and Tim Drake (3rd Robin) figured out Batman's identity himself, so, while I don't know how he did it, it was most likely a shout out to that.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

That dream sequence was all right I thought... and I think the ending was DELIBERATELY unambiguous since it is the end and STILL people are saying that it might all be in Alfred's head, even though the scene was clearly deliberately designed to remove that kind of ambiguity so I don't think it should've been ambiguous, personally.

As for Blake, he's an amalgamation of Robins, and Tim Drake (3rd Robin) figured out Batman's identity himself, so, while I don't know how he did it, it was most likely a shout out to that.

I honestly couldn't believe when my friend asked me the other day,

Spoiler

'So is he really dead or was it all a dream?'

. I just gave him a look of disgust and was ashamed to know him.

Yeah, that part of Blake was most definitely a nod towards that, I still didn't like it though.

As for the Alfred scenes, I seem to be the only person not emotionally affected by them, but I was moved by the scene where Batman tells Gordon, sometimes being a hero is a simple as putting a coat round a young boys shoulders and letting him know the world hasn't ended simply because it was such a great way of letting him know.

Then you are a cold emotionless robot :lol: Agree entirely on the Gordon scene. For Bruce to finally tell someone he was Batman and in that way was just so perfect.

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

That dream sequence was all right I thought... and I think the ending was DELIBERATELY unambiguous since it is the end and STILL people are saying that it might all be in Alfred's head, even though the scene was clearly deliberately designed to remove that kind of ambiguity so I don't think it should've been ambiguous, personally.

As for Blake, he's an amalgamation of Robins, and Tim Drake (3rd Robin) figured out Batman's identity himself, so, while I don't know how he did it, it was most likely a shout out to that.

I honestly couldn't believe when my friend asked me the other day,

Spoiler

'So is he really dead or was it all a dream?'

. I just gave him a look of disgust and was ashamed to know him.

Yeah, that part of Blake was most definitely a nod towards that, I still didn't like it though.

As for the Alfred scenes, I seem to be the only person not emotionally affected by them, but I was moved by the scene where Batman tells Gordon, sometimes being a hero is a simple as putting a coat round a young boys shoulders and letting him know the world hasn't ended simply because it was such a great way of letting him know.

Then you are a cold emotionless robot :lol: Agree entirely on the Gordon scene. For Bruce to finally tell someone he was Batman and in that way was just so perfect.

I know! XD I mean I wasn't cold to it, I really liked it, just didn't tear up or anything; I guess it was like a coda for the 'thank you' scenes at the end of Begins and TDK, it was essentially saying 'you of all people don't need to thank me' because of what Gordon's done for him

Oh and LOL at the dream thing

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Brave

5/10

Back when this first got announced and given the vaguest of descriptions and images I thought 'Brilliant. Pixar are going to do a fantasy style story, maybe something akin to Princess Mononoke'. Obviously it didn't happen like that, but I was still liking what I was seeing for the first half of the film; the relationship between mother/daughter, fighting against the notion of a pre-determined fate and some cool fantasy bits with the will o'wisps. Then

Spoiler

the mother got turned into a bear :? Of course bear related hijinks and hilarity ensue, lessons are learned and everything ends happily ever after...but not for me :evil: . Oh, and Kelly MacDonald's voice work was shocking at times

I was honestly expecting more from Pixar, this is below their good standard they've set themselves over the years, obviously they can't all be winners but I felt this had real potential. Still, I'm more hopeful for their next two films Wreck It Ralph and one that takes place inside someone's mind.

The Bourne Legacy

4/10

I could've cut about an hour from this film. There's oh so many long, dull and pointless scenes filled with characters who have the deadly combination of being both bland and annoying ********s. The acting is quite subpar too, it feels like it's being phoned in by so many here. It's just terrible and begs the question even more so of was another Bourne film necessary? I really hope this is the end now.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

The Expendables 2

8/10

Superb self aware, non-stop action packed fun It's everything the first film really should've been. There's really next to nothing to fault about this, if you're a manly man who loved the action flicks of the 80s then you'll be right at home here. The first 15 minutes is just a constant stream of explosions, deaths and all round manliness.

I'm delighted they recognised howmuch of a force Dolph was in the first movie and give him so much extra comedy, his attempts at wooing the lovely Nan Yu were just brilliant. Everyone else gets numerous funny one liners too, in particular any scene containing Big Arnie is ripe with comedy gold. The appearance of Chuck Norris and use of "Chuck Norris jokes" was excellent too. Van Damme made for a great villian, kicking a knife into someone's heart?!...Just glorious. Another good death is when Chuck Norris kills a guy and sends him through a baggage scanner at the airport.

My only complaint in all honesty would be that quite a bit of the blood was CGI, but in light of the whole movie it's only a minor complain. I thought the direction was very good, a step up from Stallone's attempts on the first one, Simon West brings a feel to it more akin with exploitation B-movies and action flicks of old.

We also got a 10 minute preview of the new Total Recall before this, and I feel like I've seen the whole crappy remake now. There's just so much wrong with it, they even got rid of the iconic nose/tracker scene and do some daft thing coming out his wrist and it doesn't even look painful, he just pulls it out!

When I inevitably see this wretched thing all I'm going to want to do is stand up in the middle of the cinema point and shout at the screen: GET YOUR ASS TO MARS!

Also,'See you at the party, Richter.'

 

[Sy]

When I inevitably see this wretched thing all I'm going to want to do is stand up in the middle of the cinema point and shout at the screen: GET YOUR ASS TO MARS!

I had high hopes about this film in the beginning because for one, Colin Farrell is a competent dramatic actor and Schwarzenegger is not. As fun as the 90s version is, I felt the subject matter could warrant deeper exploration emotionally without flippant lines like "Consider that a divorce". Now however that enthusiasm is slipping with each trailer and I'm just getting that summer action fluff vibe. Still, I'll watch it in full before I make a final judgement.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

I had high hopes about this film in the beginning because for one, Colin Farrell is a competent dramatic actor and Schwarzenegger is not. As fun as the 90s version is, I felt the subject matter could warrant deeper exploration emotionally without flippant lines like "Consider that a divorce". Now however that enthusiasm is slipping with each trailer and I'm just getting that summer action fluff vibe. Still, I'll watch it in full before I make a final judgement.

Farrell is definetly a good actor, but for me personally it's lines like those and someone like Schawrzenegger who made the movie what it was. It was a product of its time. I'm worrying that the Robocop remake is going to befall the same fate as Total Recall, in that they're going to take all the fun, and violence, out it. And of course, Starship Troopers is getting similar treatment, poor Paul Verhoeven...I eagerly await the Showgirls remake .