Rate the last movie you watched out of 10

[20thCenturyBoy]

Jack The Giant Slayer

3/10

This film could have honestly finished about half way through; the villain was dead, the heroes had all safely escaped, the princess had fallen for the farmer and the beanstalk was cut. Oh if only it would've finished there I would've been spared having to suffer more of it.

Even visually this is a very poor film. Jack looks far too clean and such to be a common farmer boy, and why the hell does he have a hoodie t-shirt? Was there really a need to make him look modern, young and hip? And his hair was far too stylish too. The costume designs for everyone actually looked awful, Ian McShane looked like he probably wouldn't have been able to walk in his gaudy gold armour. The character designs of the giants were terribly uninspiring and boring, I might be racist but they all looked the same to me. And none of them even had names (except Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum but don't ask me which was which and they weren't even the main giants).

Quite frankly I'm scared for what Bryan Singer is going to do with X-Men: Days of Future Past. It's been a long time since he made a good film, the X-Men films in fact. And even then he hasn't made the best X-Men film (that would be First Class). We'll wait and see for the eventual trailer, but if things don't look good for it then maybe I'll just curl up in bed and watch the DOFP episodes form the 90s animated series (best incarnation of the story, sorry Claremont).

 

[Professor Irony]

Finally got to see Wreck It Ralph today (sadly sans Paperman), so I had a quick look back to see what people's thoughts were. Personally, I think I'm somewhere between Sy and 20thCenturyBoy on the matter. I really enjoyed watching the world the characters inhabited, but I found Vanellope's story overly simplistic and quite predictable - presumably it was the main part aimed at the kids. Given the unashamed nostalgia on show, I feel the film would have played better if it were geared more explicitly towards adults. Which is probably a fancy way of saying I would rather have had 90 minutes of The Adventures of Calhoun and Fix it Felix Across the Candy Dimension.

I also missed this:

I don't think I'll be able to take this new Les Mis film seriously because I just find Anne Hathaway with short hair really sexy, which I don't think is the intended effect of her character at all.

While I have absolutely no interest in Les Mis, I nearly went to see it for exactly that reason.

 

[ilmaestro]

I hadn't seen Paperman until we were looking up all the shorts to decide what to bet on for the Oscars - Paperman was an overwhelming favorite, but within about five seconds of watching it you knew it would win.

Les Mis was also very good imo, and not just for Ms. Hathaway.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Trance

10/10

Rosario Dawson...Full frontal

But minus that one aspect it'd be 7/10

It's a good suspenseful thriller and looks sleek and gorgeous, as expected of Danny Boyle. As well as the aformenioned nudity it's got some fantastic gorey bits too that shot of Vincent Cassel speaking sans the top of his head was marvellous. McAvoy is great throughout and his mad turn as the film progresses is brilliant. I would've rated it a bit higher but for the ending. As things were heading to a close I thought the film had ramped it up and was at its zenith, but then it just fell away a bit for me in the last 2 minutes. I would've liked it more had it ended with Cassel and McAvoy dying and Dawson throwing the painting into the fire to go with them, or even if it had ended after she kills McAvoy, saves Cassel and then vanishes. At around about that point it actually seemed like it was almost going to go for the "this was all a dream" ending with Cassel possibly being under hypnosis in his pool, but thankfully it didn't. But I still didn't like it.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Finding Nemo 3D

8/10

Another glorious Disney 3D re-release, what else can be said? It's a genuine film that brings out real emotions whether they be laughter, joy, terror or sadness.

The "Partysaurus Rex" short was lots of fun too (as the shorts always are).

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

5/10

There's some pretty kick ass action in this, the mountain fight scene in particular is very good...But would've been even better if they hadn't already shown most of it in "sneak peeks" placed before a number of films in the last few months. Dwayne Johnson puts boots to asses too as he always does.

But apart from that there's very little else and not enough of the action to make up for it. The dialogue is woeful for the most part, there's no semblance of these things called "characters" and you really just don't care what's happening.

I never seen the first one but even from comparing trailers this looked like a marked improvement, perhaps with the 3rd they'll manage to get a bit more right.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Spring Breakers

3/10

Most of this is "artistic" posturing, the bits in between are just loud and obnoxious.

"Act like you're in a movie". A line delivered by one of the characters before they commit their first crime...If only someone had said that same thing to these girls before the camera started rolling.

At an hour and a half this film is too long by far, perhaps it may have worked as a short. About half the lines and scenes are repeated time and again to help fill the thing out.

This film had a simple concept, the single thing it had clearly managed to sell itself on: girls with guns. It's not a hard thing to do, this should've been a relatively easy plan to execute, but somehow they manage to completely mess it up.

The one good thing this film did have, that actually caused me to raise my eyebrows in surprise and smile at the sight of?

This man:

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Oblivion

5/10

A mish-mash of vague ideas that never really gel. It never managed to draw me in and get me fully immersed, I seemed to be on the periphery of the whole thing. Nothing about it was particularly clear why the remaining humans pretended to be aliens for example. They claimed it was so the drones would get confused and not attack them but we clearly saw the drones killing them earlier when they were pretending to be aliens, and it seemed the drone was ready to kill a dog at one point furthering the idea that it can't differentiate between human and non-human.

 

[Justin Sane]

Blah, bla-blah...
The one good thing this film did have, that actually caused me to raise my eyebrows in surprise and smile at the sight of?

This man:

Oh, god. I've always hated JJ and never really understood how he was pushed in any promotion, then i remember it's because of his family.

OT: I think the last movie i watched without falling victim to narcolepsy (i recently started working 12 hours and refuse to adjust my sleeping pattern) is...
Conan The Barbarian (Original): Great music and atmosphere and an all round decent film - 7/10.
A damn sight better than the newest incarnation.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Oh, god. I've always hated JJ and never really understood how he was pushed in any promotion, then i remember it's because of his family.

OT: I think the last movie i watched without falling victim to narcolepsy (i recently started working 12 hours and refuse to adjust my sleeping pattern) is...
Conan The Barbarian (Original): Great music and atmosphere and an all round decent film - 7/10.
A damn sight better than the newest incarnation.

Boo on the Jarrett hate :lol:

I always liked him, loved him as the woman beating IC champ and was annoyed he never got pushed higher in the old WWF. Suffice to say, I was pleased with him in WCW and when I watched TNA he was good then too. The guy obviously has his family connections but can cut a promo, the ability to work with a variety of guys to a good standard and a natural charisma (particularly as a heel). Personally, I feel any push he got was deserved (arguably bar TNA since he did run the thing, but even then he had the right to be main event).

Original Conan is always a good choice, one of Arnie's classics (the less said about the sequel the better, and we'll just pretend that awful remake never happened).

The Place Beyond The Pines

7/10

A real, emotional tale of a struggling father turns into a gritty cop drama and it's just sensational. It's all so intense and powerful with a tremendous score by Mike Patton (he of Faith No More). Gosling is Gosling, he delivers and Bradley Cooper keeps up his ability of making me like him since Silver Linings.

But, the time skip plot is just wholly unnecessary (wow, sounds like I was watching anime!). Something about Dane DeHaan's face is just totally unlikeable to me.

I would rate this higher but for that last act, 2/3 a brilliant movie and 1/3 kinda "meh".

 

[teonzo]

Oblivion

5/10

A mish-mash of vague ideas that never really gel. It never managed to draw me in and get me fully immersed, I seemed to be on the periphery of the whole thing.

Totally agreed. I read various positive comments, so I decided to go watch it cause I'm a SF w**re. But it was quite a disappointment, last 10 years have been total suckage for SF movies.

why the remaining humans pretended to be aliens for example. They claimed it was so the drones would get confused and not attack them but we clearly saw the drones killing them earlier when they were pretending to be aliens, and it seemed the drone was ready to kill a dog at one point furthering the idea that it can't differentiate between human and non-human.

I could be mistaken because this movie did not grab 100% of my attention, but from what I remember the 2 clones never had a direct contact with the remaining humans. So it was not the case that those humans pretended to be aliens with the clones, they never communicated together. Clones just saw them while they were wearing the stealth armors (to try not being targeted by the drones). The 2 clones thought the Scavengers were aliens just because Sally told them so.
What really put a tombal stone on the movie for me was at the end when they enter the Tet without troubles. Since the drones had the technology to recognize Jack's DNA from distance, it was quite safe to assume they had the technology to discern that Jack was carrying a male body and not a female one. Plus they should be able to scan the presence of the nuke bomb. The usual case of "we need an Americanized heroic ending, who cares about internal coherence".



Teo

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

I could be mistaken because this movie did not grab 100% of my attention, but from what I remember [/spoiler]

I said drones not clones :lol:

What really put a tombal stone on the movie for me was at the end when

Yeah, I thought the same thing, total lack of consistency in terms of what the technology is and isn't capable of doing.

 

[Sy]

... last 10 years have been total suckage for SF movies.

Bold statement. Disagree 100%. All you have to do is look in the right places.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Evil Dead (2013)

8/10

Who said horror was dead? (Probably me). Bloody brilliant, a down and dirty, gruesome, gorey horror flick with a fantastic blend of both practical effects and CGI. There's a lot of the little sort of things that really help to accomplish this film and make it actually scary at times (like the flared nostrils and saliva sticking to the lips of Mia when she's scared or the air raid siren incorporated into the score). The characters give off a real sense of panic and terror that helps to really give the audience that same feeling. I ashamedly have to say that I've not seen the original (or its sequels) so can't compare (though, I do plan on viewing them soon). And even though I haven't seen them I was glad I stayed for the after credits stinger (which was probably the best use of the stinger ever).

 

[teonzo]

I said drones not clones :lol:

Lol sorry, that's what happens when I'm in braindead state.
As far as I understood the drones were programmed to kill all living beings no matter what, except the 2 clones (who had to identify themselves each time). No distinction on humans and not humans, aliens / not aliens, since they killed the astronauts in the capsules.

Bold statement. Disagree 100%. All you have to do is look in the right places.

Suggestions please! All the ones I watched were a disappointment.



Teo

 

[Sy]

Suggestions please! All the ones I watched were a disappointment.

Ok, just a few sci-fi gems from the last 10 year period that I consider to be memorable...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Romantic drama starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet where people can erase their memory of a past relationship.

Primer
Experimental, low budget time travel movie that is undeniably clever and grounded. Probably takes a couple of viewings to fully appreciate.

Splice
A couple attempt to introduce human DNA into animal genes to create a new form of life. Shocking and at times downright brutal but more in a psychological way than blood and gore.

A Scanner Darkly
Fantastic adaption of a Philip K Dick story. The visuals may seem an odd choice/gimmick at first but rather than just being spectacle, they serve the story and atmosphere to depict drug addled technology.

Moon
Minimalist sci-fi, back to basics and done so well. Sam Bell lives alone on moon for 3 years working for a mining corporation, he only has GERTY the bases computer to talk to and the occasional forwarded message from his wife. Great use of model shots over CGI.

The Road
Bleak, depressing and pessimistic but character driven story of a man and his son traveling across the remains of America. No zombies, no mutations. Just people against people doing what they can to survive.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Suggestions please! All the ones I watched were a disappointment.

Ok, just a few sci-fi gems from the last 10 year period that I consider to be memorable...
Moon

The Road

I'll throw my weight behind these two in particular. Absolutely fantastic films. Would also add "The Prestige", "Looper", "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", "District 9", "Children of Men", "Start Trek". In terms of decent/reasonable ones I'd say "Pandorum" was all right, "Source Code" was better than I thought it would be and, I know I'll be very much in the minority, but "John Carter" was not the disaster (creatively, less said financially the better) it was made out to be. There's loads and loads more, but there is good sci-fi out there and you honestly don't have to look far to find it.

Olympus Has Fallen

4/10

Cringeworthily American/patriotic at times (the flag behind the title, the "do they teach English where your from?" line and the end speech). I found it hard to believe throughout most of it that the villain wasn't recognised by either the Americans or the S. Koreans (as if neither of them bothered finding out who anyone was) and that a disguise of glasses was all he needed to infiltrate them. It's then explained away that no one's ever seen his face, which is fine and stopped that thing annoying me...but then I thought, "Why the hell did he need a disguise of glasses if no one knew what he looked like?". It just made no sense.

It tries to have funny one liners but they just fall absolutely flat. People need to realise that all the cheesy one liners and puns of the 80s action flicks aren't things that were lazily thrown in. Oh, no. Those babies were well thought out and crafted to perfection. Writing such one liners is an absolute art form that should be appreciated on its own merits. When they launch the inevitable "Degree in Witty Action One Liners" the essential study guide will consist almost entirely of Mr. Schawrzenegger's 1985 classic "Commando".

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Promised Land

6/10

I was glad to see the roles of "evil industrialist" and "good environmentalist" switched up for a change, sadly it changed back after the twist towards the end.

I never understand why people in films who work for companies such as the one Matt Damon's character does manage to go years happily working away before coming to the sudden realisation of "oh, no! My company does bad things, so I must do the right thing". Then they always get themselves fired without thinking how they'll get another job after that (is your previous employer honestly going to give a good reference if you publicly tear them apart?).

 

[ayase]

I never understand why people in films who work for companies such as the one Matt Damon's character does manage to go years happily working away before coming to the sudden realisation of "oh, no! My company does bad things, so I must do the right thing". Then they always get themselves fired without thinking how they'll get another job after that (is your previous employer honestly going to give a good reference if you publicly tear them apart?).

I don't think such situations are unrealistic - There's the idealist/realist divide for a start, and the fact that people can change. There's also a difference between lack of awareness of the consequences of your actions and lack of concern. Or to quote Robbie 3:21: "If you don’t feel good, what are you doing it for?" I remain, as ever, a strong proponent of reckless abandon.

 

[20thCenturyBoy]

Iron Man 3

8/10

It's funny...and I mean freakin' hilarious. RDJ is on top form, as ever, and we even get some lovely interaction between Tony and Rhodey that was very funny.

I loved the heaviness of the first 2 acts, the anxiety attacks in particular were a highlight throughout, giving a real sense of Tony's fear and not being able to be in control.

I'll admit I was a little disappointed that the Mandarin

Spoiler

turned out to just be an actor. Yeah, it was funny, but I thought it took away from it a bit, especially considering how heavily his threat is played in the trailers. It has further repercussions though, as it means that Iron Man's greatest enemy (in the comics) is never going to have a proper serious representation in the films. I was really hoping for The Mandarin to be a strong villain and would've liked to see the rings come into play. Now, while the magic rings in the presence of Iron Man (not the other franchises or broader Avengers) movie universe might seem out of place they could've made the rings all sort of high-tech gadgets/rings that remained capable of each doing something different

That's just my thoughts though, don't know how others will have took it.

Wanted the stinger to be plot related but it was at least funny. In conclusion it's much better than 2 and probably as good as 1. I'm not sure who would replace RDJ for number 4 (if this is indeed to be his last solo outing as Iron Man, which I think it might well be) but I hope that it is just a straight swap in and not a reboot.