Films The Official bit-tech Movie Thread - What have you seen lately?

Rubber
1/10

It's a movie about a homicidal telekinetic tyre directed by Mr. Oizo of Flat Eric fame. I thought the premise sounded interesting enough to be worth a watch.

Turns out it wasn't -- forth wall breaking self reference and quasi intellectual arthouse w@nkery can't save a poorly executed film based upon a high concept.

 

I want to see the hunger games this week.. or if your asian- it's the hungry games

 

ftfy

 

Two words.......FART SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Recently finished my own HP marathon, admittedly having a good rip at them with friends, and there were a couple plot problems. For instance, Mundungus was never introduced. This causes a bit of a problem in the seventh movie when he's introduced and prompty betrays Harry and company (Mad Eye in particular). With 5 in particular I also had some complaints about how Orwellian some scenes were, but otherwise enjoyed it. It's a two minds thing: the one that wants to find problems, and the one that can shut up and enjoy a good movie.

In general the movies rely pretty heavily on either taking things in stride with no explanation, or having read the books before. One of the viewers with me hadn't read past the first couple books and there were parts where those who had read them were filling in. For example, I believe it's 5 where Fred and George first show apparition. It's understood that it's a way of teleporting places but never explicitly explained why Fred and George could (age limits) or why they don't do it all the time (restrictions on use in Hogwarts) or how you can apparate with people by touching them. This same problem hits again later to a lesser effect when Hermoine suddently starts apparating the cast around despite the class teaching it not being shown. I could go on like this for hours though so I'll stop now. The movies do their best to condense some pretty dense books into two hour movies, some things have to get left out. Of course, some of the flaws are in the books as well so they aren't perfect either.

Phew, I'm glad there are others out there who have heard of Battle Royale. People look at me like some kind of crazy conspiracy theorist whenever I mention the similarities.

 

Cargo
6/10

There isn't much sci-fi about these days (that I haven't already seen) so I thought I'd give this english dubbed swiss made german movie a go (quite a mix, huh?).

Spoiler

Basic premise is a doctor gets one last job on a deep space sleeper cargo ship so she can afford to retire to a paradise planet (The earth is desolate and uninhabitable, you see)

Visually, the film is top notch -- apparently done on a pretty low budget, though you wouldn't know.

Dialogue and lip-syncing didn't translate too well to English and the voice acting is a bit hammy at times, though I can't really fault the film too much for that -- I feel I should have watched in the original German with subs.

Storyline was pretty meh -- a mish-mash of familiar tropes that have all been done before, and done better.

 

The Three Musketeers: 8/10

Really enjoyed it, was a suitably silly and actiony film to a lazy Tuesday night! The score at times did remind me of Sherlock Holmes, which is a shame but doesn't make it any worse.

 

Contraband - 7/10

Just out this week, I think, but already audiences are small for this film. I swear, there were only five other people in the cinema when I saw this, this evening. It was gone 6:30, too. Anyway...

Marky Mark Wahlberg doing what he's best at - carrying a dodgy plot, doing his scowl for most of the film. It's the usual "big time bad person turned good" doing one last job for the sake of a loved one. Seeing as the loved one is Kate Beckinsale, for whom I'd do anything, I'd be right there with MMW, sorting **** out.

There's a couple of good plot twists and it's not a bad film, it's just nothing special and it's raking up very old ground.

Oh and the bad guy, Giovani Ribsi, the younger brother in the Nic Cage version of Gone in 60 Seconds and the hero in Boiler Room, does a fairly good "bad guy" act. It's a shame that he's got a face for radio and a whiny voice that's just perfect for The Artist.

 

One of the best reviews I've ever read

 

Rewatched all of the American Pie films couple of days ago:
AP1 - 7/10
AP2 - 7/10
AP3: The Wedding - 7/10
AP4: Bandcamp - 6/10
AP5: Naked Mile - 6/10
AP6: Beta House - 6/10
AP7: Book of Love - 5/10

Take all of those scores with a pinch of salt aswell, I'm more comparing them to each other than anything, and others of the same genre.
I enjoy the first 3, think the characters really work etc.
The later ones were weaker both in terms of story and characters in my opinion.

 

The Troll Hunter 7/10

Don't know how low budget this one really was, the animations are fantastic, the stuffed bear isn't

A bit like "Blairwitch" but not as boringly stupid, and no hours of "Whining into nightshot". Instead creatures that you actually see.
Nice.

Mesrine - Killer Instinkt and Mesrine - Public Enemy #1 Both 7/10

Based on the life story of Mesrine....who's probably unknown outside of Canada and France.
So the plot is set.
Vincent Cassel is great though, and the movies are good yet slightly uncomfortable.

Black Swan 9/10
wow, just wow, been discussed and praised to death here allready.

 

Tower Heist 5/10

Few funny bits, but a pretty average film.

 

Double post

 

What everyones view of whalberg? I tend to enjoy his films yet everytime he's interviewed i keep coming away thinking "what an ass".

Space Jam 7/10 im bias towards this since its linked to a great day in my life as a kid. It always leaves me feeling happy even tho it is a shamless plug.

Speaking of childhood films, what did you grow up watching?
Mine would be police academy, mary poppins, lethal weapon and titfield thunderbolt. Ahh happy times

 

I find him less irritating as an actor than I found him as a singer....but that might have been a "No pop" phase in my life.
remember grunge...oh man, we looked daft!!!

I really liked him in three kings though.

 

Boondock saints II: All saints day
6/10

I'm a big fan of the first film but this is yet another example of a franchise that has succumbed to sequilitis. Largely a copy pasta version of the first film, most likely with a larger budget and a small, largely irrelevant backstory for one of the characters tacked on.

Not terrible, merely meh.

 

Total, total ****. Every time I hear he's in a movie I avoid it.

 

TT3D: Closer To The Edge - 8/10

This, and Senna are all the motorsport docu-films any petrol head needs I reckon Well worth the watch, even if you're not that interested in Motorbikes. Makes me wanna take a road trip to the Isle of Man now!

 

Van Wilder - 7/10

Fairly generic 'frat' style film. Quite enjoy Ryan Renolds, not sure if it's him or the roles, but gets a laugh or two out of me. Also brought a smile to my face seeing some actors I've only seen in American Pie films, very similar film really.

Finally watched Snatch - 9/10
Really enjoyed it, in much the same way I enjoyed Lock Stock, Dead Mans Shoes, and other films of the same genre.
I'm a big fan of Statham, and I thought he fitted the role perfectly, overall had a nice cast, and quite a nice story IMO (the way it all came together). Well worth a watch

 

50/50 - 8.5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1306980/

(spoiler-ish comment)
Due to personal experience with the disease, I could connect quite well with the movie. I enjoyed Joseph Gordon-Levitt's acting (also liked him in Inception, and even in 3rd Rock from the Sun which is something completely different). I tend to be captured by movies that don't end well, so this was a pleasant change. I'm not going to lie, I am a guy and I cried, but I'm not ashamed about it really. The acting is great, the story is great. Definately makes you think, that's for sure.

The Town - 8.5/10 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840361/

A great movie by Ben Affleck. I really enjoy movies that carry more than 1 theme in them. Drama, action, romance are just 3 of the themes involved in this movie. I wouldn't say the acting is great of all the actors, but due to the storyline and the suspense which is pretty much there throughout the entire movie, my attention wasn't lost for a second. Also the fact it is based on real situations in Boston, and some of the actors are actually from the region, which makes it even better.