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

I watch two films over the last few days

Seventh Son: Absolute tosh, it felt like a bad D&D film from SyFy

The Wedding Ringer: It was a fun movie, predictable but fun, "Who the hell are these guys, it's like the Goonies grew up and became r@pists"

Just downloaded Stanford Prison Experiment. Will probably try and watch it this week.

DAVE667 wrote:Just downloaded Stanford Prison Experiment. Will probably try and watch it this week.

Let us know what you think, Dave. I'm in two minds over this one.

DAVE667 wrote:Mr Holmes - Ian McKellen plays an aging Sherlock Holmes who has retired to the coast 30odd years after his final case. Absolutely brilliant film. Top notch performances all round and well worth watching.
9/10

Watched it this evening and have to agree 100%, you still have a sense of Holmes' superiority complex but it's mellowed in old age. It goes to show that a brilliant film can be made without a hint of sex, violence, drugs or foul language in sight and does indeed thrive off of an on form cast, must confess of his films that i've seen it's probably his best performance.

Did Spectre the other evening, action sequences were amazing, plot wise though was paper thin at best.

Spectre. It's a good, solid, Bond film. Action scenes are good but not overdone, so it doesn't verge too much into "Bourne territory". Waltz gives a very good performance as the bad guy. On the downside, some of it has an "it's been done before" feel to it. I reckon it falls into the good but not great category, a step below Casino Royale say. 7.5/10

Also saw the latest Fantastic Four reboot, in the unfortunately now obligatory Nolan darker style. Strong rumours that the final version is hardly anything like the original director's cut, with a huge amount of changes enforced by the studio: among other things, the action sequences at the end were all re-shot apparently. It's a shame, because you can just about make out an interesting idea for the film, and I have a feeling the director's original vision would have made for a quite interesting film, being a fan of Chronicle, his previous success. As it is, unfortunately, this is just a complete confused mess of a film. 2/10

On a side-note, anyone seen the Comic-con trailer for Suicide Squad? Looks like it could be well worth a watch...

Pain N Gain, heard good and bad things about this but I thought it was excellent and the fact it's so absurd but a true story is absolutely mental. Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson absolutely steals the film and is fantastic throughout but Mark Whalberg is good as the PT trainer gone banana's .

Would suggest a watch for anyone just to see what mental schemes can sometimes get pulled off.

The Lobster, about a society (and more specifically a hotel) where, if you can't find a mate, you get turned into an animal of your choice.  Had potential to be a disaster of attempted quirkiness but was actually quite good, a few laboured jokes but mainly sickly funny.  For once, Colin Farrell's eyebrows didn't detract from a film by leaping all over his forehead and upsetting me and Weisz was very doable in an I'd-like-to-protect-her-under-a-tree-for-a-few-hours sort of a way.

Possibly didn't enjoy it as much as I could have as two tickets (saw it at the Greenwich Picturhouse), a medium Coke, a fruit juice, a medium popcorn and a bag of Maltesers cost almost £35, hope Jeff doesn't read this.  That and the fact I was desperate for a p1ss for the last third of the film.

7/10 (GSoE)
6.89447 (TSoCA)
2/10 (Michaels scale of gash & weaponry)
0/10 (Rowley scale of northern thriftiness)

Spectre.  Why does the series give you all the best bits at the beginning?  Spectre's beginning should have been its end.  There is a magnificent bite about the dance of stylish imagery, choreography, action and music in that first prologue section that you think you might be about to be spoiled for two hours.....

...but as usual, the foot comes of the peddle in imagery, style, choreography and music and by the end, well, the end looks meek, forced (to tie up the multiple narratives quickly) and unconvincing.

I don't get Christoph Waltz's allure.  For me he has nothing of the unhinged spookiness of Blofeld - indeed, "little sh*t"  'C' had more Blofeld thoughts going through his head in characterisation than forever smirking Waltz ever managed. Perhaps the roles should have been reversed.

But, despite the weaknesses (and much too little of snowy mountained Austria!), I liked Spectre quite a lot.  Much better than that dud Skyfall.  Craig truly has been the best Bond.  He exudes it all as he steps out on the high balcony in that striking opening sequence.

Nina Simone - What Happened. Anyone who has Netflix should really watch this. Hate to use the word genius as it is genuinely overused but Nina is the real deal. Anyone who likes Soul, jazz or blues or has an interest in the civil right movement should love this. Fantastic tribute to a truly brilliant artist.

Electrifying pianist and of course that highly distinctive voice.
It's actually quite appropriate that you should mention Nina in a Film Thread. Barry Norman's Film Show of course used Billy Taylor's "I wish I knew how it would feel to be free" as its theme, that Nina also covered. And many of us film lovers grew up with that piece of music becoming almost a signature theme for our love of cinema.

American Sniper.

Was ok i guess.

Thor the Dark World. Love my comic book films and got right into this but why do we have to keep having them talk in elvish etc. Missed parts of the story cause I needed the bog and couldn't see the subtitles (minor gripe I know)

im the opposite derby, one of my pet hates is where everybody talks in English. war films being the worse for it, war horse very guilty of it. everybody talking English with a poor german/french accent that i didn't even know what nationality they were

Who deleted my Standford Prison Experiment review?

I don't mind subtitles at all. But I think they have to be more carefully placed and coloured. There is a certain place on the screen (not too far down) when your mind can both read the words easily and still keep looking at the images. If you're too busy trying to read and miss the images, that annoys me.
And then the colour of the writing helps too (sometimes it's lazily and heedlessly handled)

DAVE667 wrote:Who deleted my Standford Prison Experiment review?

The warden?

westisbest wrote:American Sniper.

Was ok i guess.

*American Sniperish.

He wasn't a real sniper. Hammersmith said so.

He isn't allowed to use modern technology. A real sniper has to sit in a building in Stalingrad and shoot at Germans.

compelling and rich wrote:im the opposite derby, one of my pet hates is where everybody talks in English. war films being the worse for it, war horse very guilty of it. everybody talking English with a poor german/french accent that i didn't even know what nationality they were

Even the horse?
Anyone seen Enemy at the Gates where everyone speaks English but either in a "posh" or "working class" accent to denote their rank. F*cking terrible film on any number of levels. Can't recall too much in the way of plot but my over-riding memory was that I'd wasted my time watching it. Essentially that's how I divide the films I've watched.....Waste of Time vs Not a Waste of Time.

yeah its the one about snipers, proper snipers not those fake american ones

Anyone seen Sniper with Tom Berenger? It's about snipers obviously but I don't know if it was about a proper sniper although being American it's likely it was b*llocks

DAVE667 wrote:Anyone seen Sniper with Tom Berenger? It's about snipers obviously but I don't know if it was about a proper sniper although being American it's likely it was b*llocks

Close to being one of the most boring movies I'd ever seen, which implies it was realistic(ish).

Stella wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:Anyone seen Sniper with Tom Berenger? It's about snipers obviously but I don't know if it was about a proper sniper although being American it's likely it was b*llocks

Close to being one of the most boring movies I'd ever seen, which implies it was realistic(ish).

So you haven't watched the other seven then?

DAVE667 wrote:

Stella wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:Anyone seen Sniper with Tom Berenger? It's about snipers obviously but I don't know if it was about a proper sniper although being American it's likely it was b*llocks

Close to being one of the most boring movies I'd ever seen, which implies it was realistic(ish).

So you haven't watched the other seven then?

No, and will not be. Never been a big fan of Berenger. Not sure why I bothered with the first one?

How was the standford prison experiment?

Berenger in Platoon.  You want realism.  Everytime I see his dead eyed Sgt. Barnes I wonder why his career went so wrong.  Such a performance today would have given him a lifetime of major commercial movies.  Dafoe looked a lightweight amateur beside him.
His career path reminds me of another guy that showed so much promise in the beginning - Val Kilmer.

Berenger's problem was, according to TRUSS, that he looked like ol' T-Bone himself and as a consequence, people in Hollywood will have thought he was a git/lap dancer/sex offender and refused to hire him for anything other than extra work in the Peter North biopic

finally got around to watching spectre, and found it rather long and boring for most parts. i like the fact that craigs bond looks like he can look after himself and has that gritty edge, but the biggest fault on his version of bond is that he just comes across as a smug cu%t. he's really not that likable character and as a result i couldn't care less whether he gets the girl or the bad guy wins

Stella wrote:How was the standford prison experiment?

OK but I was cynical about how quickly the participants adapted to their roles as oppressive guards/submissive prisoners. Also, it all ended rather abruptly and no-one appeared to have learned anything useful about anything with the whole thing appearing to be a massive waste of time and effort for all concerned....including me!

DAVE667 wrote:

Stella wrote:How was the standford prison experiment?

OK but I was cynical about how quickly the participants adapted to their roles as oppressive guards/submissive prisoners. Also, it all ended rather abruptly and no-one appeared to have learned anything useful about anything with the whole thing appearing to be a massive waste of time and effort for all concerned....including me!

Aren't you married?

superflyweight wrote:

DAVE667 wrote:

Stella wrote:How was the standford prison experiment?

OK but I was cynical about how quickly the participants adapted to their roles as oppressive guards/submissive prisoners. Also, it all ended rather abruptly and no-one appeared to have learned anything useful about anything with the whole thing appearing to be a massive waste of time and effort for all concerned....including me!

Aren't you married?  

Exactly, my wife has fiercely opposed servitude for five years now despite being shown repeatedly just how much better everyone's life would be if she just got rid of that f*cking chip on her shoulder. Maybe she's just made of sterner stuff than the wimps in the film. As the t-shirt says, "if my wife had balls they'd be bigger than yours/mine"

I saw The Scouts' Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse last week. I wasn't expecting much - it's kind of an American Pie meets Shaun of the Dead in California. I won't go so far as to call it hilarious, but it does have some amusing moments in it - it's a fun enough film where 3 scouts hook up with a streetwise stripper and deal with a Zombie Outbreak.

There are gross-out moments galore and some amusing one-liners, but it's really only the sort of film you'd watch if you're a bit drunk having been at the pub all evening. 5.5/10

Some amusing Zombie firsts (for me):

Harold and Kumar: Get the Munchies

So I decided to watch HAK for the very first time and since I had free time, I ended up watching all 3! I really enjoyed this actually and well NPH is brilliant!
7/10

Harold and Kumar: Escape Guantanamo Bay
Again I liked the sequel, NPH again stole it for me!
7/10

A Very Harold and Kumar Xmas:
It was what I expected but I think its personally the worse out of the 3 films.
6/10

Everest - based on the true story of an expedition in 1996. First of all I was bloody overjoyed that it had lots of normal people in as opposed to the plethora of sickening beautiful young folk they seem to chuck in films days.

However, whilst I'm sure that there's a lot to be said for watching stuff like this in IMAX, I couldn't care less about that and yes, I'm sure it's breathtakingly beautiful but it doesn't really translate all that well on screen.

Also, whilst I appreciate that filming on Everest would present some technical difficulties, even in today's modern cinematic age, it was all too obvious what was filmed on set and it just looked too false. Yes, I know they're hardly going to risk the lives of Hollywood actors by chucking them into sub-zero temperatures and life threateningly high altitude for the sake of realism but can I just point out that one of the people in this film was Sam Worthington and surely that would have been worth the risk.

Quite sad at times and showcased man's determination to conquer the Natural World whilst also highlighting the immense f*cking stupidity of some people. It's cold, high and dangerous...stay at home.

Cartel Land - Been wanting to see this for a while and caught it on BBC4 last night. Is about the drug battles between rival cartels in Mexico currently, and the impact on every day citizens. Fascinating stuff, features on a group of civilians who chose to arm up and fight back against the cartels and drive them out of towns. Starts off as quite an inspiring tale of ordinary people standing up for themselves. Unfortunately corruption and inter group rivalries and politics soon rip the group apart, which seems to mirror the futility and corruption that is daily life for those living under the rule of the cartels. Does not give easy answers to the problem, probably because there aren't any, but is none the less watchable for that.

Rowley Galted Scale of Cinematic snobbery - It's a documentary largely in a foreign language 8.5757573

Seanmichaels Scale of Cinematic Awesomeness - It's a documentary largely in a foreign language 0

HH Scale of Cinematic Titling Accuracy - I spent quite some time last night looking at my world atlas and there is no such place as Cartel Land. This is frustrating, films have previously been named after their location with some success. Elvis was a big fan of this method of naming movies, Fun in Acapulco and Viva Las Vegas are two examples of his employing this tactic with stunning effect. If the film makers were planning on utilising this device, which clearly seems to have been their intention I would humbly suggest Predominantly Mexico with some scenes in the US Border States would have been a far better title. - 2.223432

Captain America The Winter Soldier,

Enjoyed it but not as good as was made out, thought not enough time was given on WS's background and not really enough ummmph on his programming. Good film all the same though but i'd hunt down the comics if you have the chance

I went to see the final Hunger Games installment and left feeling a little bit "Meh". It was good to finally get closure on the quadrilogy, but it was all a bit too predictable. During the advance on the Capital, Katniss' companions might as well have had targets on them for the opposition to aim for - it was so obvious who was going to buy the farm.

The ending was utterly expected once it eventually came - and by this I mean they dragged it out for about 20 minutes. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad film, but I just thought it could have been a lot better. 6.5/10

Southpaw.

Thought it was decent enough.

Gylenhaal was excellent in it.
Think he is a class actor.

Mr Bounce wrote:I went to see the final Hunger Games installment and left feeling a little bit "Meh". It was good to finally get closure on the quadrilogy, but it was all a bit too predictable. During the advance on the Capital, Katniss' companions might as well have had targets on them for the opposition to aim for - it was so obvious who was going to buy the farm.

The ending was utterly expected once it eventually came - and by this I mean they dragged it out for about 20 minutes. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad film, but I just thought it could have been a lot better. 6.5/10

As soon as you get the fanbase or cult following, it always turns from good film-making, to a simple, money making exercise, whereby each release gets worse & worse. I was unsurprisingly disappointed & yes it was very predictable.

LiamB wrote:

Mr Bounce wrote:I went to see the final Hunger Games installment and left feeling a little bit "Meh". It was good to finally get closure on the quadrilogy, but it was all a bit too predictable. During the advance on the Capital, Katniss' companions might as well have had targets on them for the opposition to aim for - it was so obvious who was going to buy the farm.

The ending was utterly expected once it eventually came - and by this I mean they dragged it out for about 20 minutes. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad film, but I just thought it could have been a lot better. 6.5/10

As soon as you get the fanbase or cult following, it always turns from good film-making, to a simple, money making exercise, whereby each release gets worse & worse. I was unsurprisingly disappointed & yes it was very predictable.

to be fair i thought the books trailed off quite poorly with the first being good and gradually getting worse, so the films following suit is no surprise.

compelling and rich wrote:

LiamB wrote:

Mr Bounce wrote:I went to see the final Hunger Games installment and left feeling a little bit "Meh". It was good to finally get closure on the quadrilogy, but it was all a bit too predictable. During the advance on the Capital, Katniss' companions might as well have had targets on them for the opposition to aim for - it was so obvious who was going to buy the farm.

The ending was utterly expected once it eventually came - and by this I mean they dragged it out for about 20 minutes. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad film, but I just thought it could have been a lot better. 6.5/10

As soon as you get the fanbase or cult following, it always turns from good film-making, to a simple, money making exercise, whereby each release gets worse & worse. I was unsurprisingly disappointed & yes it was very predictable.

to be fair i thought the books trailed off quite poorly with the first being good and gradually getting worse, so the films following suit is no surprise.

I also went to see this last week. I had not seen the other ones as they are not my kind of film normally but my new girlfriend insisted I watched the first 3 (in the space of a weekend) so we could see part 4 on our first "cinema date"

I didn't think it was a bad movie just as people said it got a bit predictable and the new Mrs Steffan said the film tried to be more Hollywood than the book with some parts of the ending (which quite often happens)

Nothing for me was as good as the first one and I thought 2 was a bit "meh" in places. If you enjoyed the first 3 thought I think you will still enjoy it and it gives a decent enough ending to the saga

The Counsellor with Magneto (can't remember his name) absolute pants and just as it started getting half decent it finished.

Hot tub time machine - Very funny, predicatble in places but really enjoyed it.

Made a change from NCIS nights

Watched 13 Sins this weekend - its been recently added to Sky Movies.

Basic premise is that a down on his luck soon to be father, gets a mysterious phone call to say that he has qualified to be on a competition where he has to complete 13 tasks for money. AS the tasks get harder, he earns more money but has to complete all 13 overwise he gets nothing.

Actually a really good film - surprisingly enjoyable.

Steffan wrote:

compelling and rich wrote:

LiamB wrote:

Mr Bounce wrote:I went to see the final Hunger Games installment and left feeling a little bit "Meh". It was good to finally get closure on the quadrilogy, but it was all a bit too predictable. During the advance on the Capital, Katniss' companions might as well have had targets on them for the opposition to aim for - it was so obvious who was going to buy the farm.

The ending was utterly expected once it eventually came - and by this I mean they dragged it out for about 20 minutes. Don't get me wrong - it's not a bad film, but I just thought it could have been a lot better. 6.5/10

As soon as you get the fanbase or cult following, it always turns from good film-making, to a simple, money making exercise, whereby each release gets worse & worse. I was unsurprisingly disappointed & yes it was very predictable.

to be fair i thought the books trailed off quite poorly with the first being good and gradually getting worse, so the films following suit is no surprise.

I also went to see this last week. I had not seen the other ones as they are not my kind of film normally but my new girlfriend insisted I watched the first 3 (in the space of a weekend) so we could see part 4 on our first "cinema date"

I didn't think it was a bad movie just as people said it got a bit predictable and the new Mrs Steffan said the film tried to be more Hollywood than the book with some parts of the ending (which quite often happens)

Nothing for me was as good as the first one and I thought 2 was a bit "meh" in places. If you enjoyed the first 3 thought I think you will still enjoy it and it gives a decent enough ending to the saga

Must be some clever sheep roaming the valleys in Wales. And there even allowed in cinemas! How times have changed.

Java Heat - absolute pants, avoid at all costs

Soldier_Of_Fortune wrote:Must be some clever sheep roaming the valleys in Wales. And there even allowed in cinemas! How times have changed.

Yeah they even allowed a few Scousers in to watch some crime thriller movie. They all walked out after 30 minutes though as none of the victims were Liverpool fans

Adam D wrote:Watched 13 Sins this weekend - its been recently added to Sky Movies.

Basic premise is that a down on his luck soon to be father, gets a mysterious phone call to say that he has qualified to be on a competition where he has to complete 13 tasks for money. AS the tasks get harder, he earns more money but has to complete all 13 overwise he gets nothing.

Actually a really good film - surprisingly enjoyable.

Really good??? Looked dreadful. I saw him make a kid cry, light some nativity thing & then steal a policeman's coffee mug, then turned over. For anyone who hasn't seen this, does that sound like a good film? Anyway, could you tell me how it all ended in one of those spoiler boxes, in case anyone is incredibly bored & wanted to actually watch this garbage provided by Sky movies.

LiamB wrote:

Adam D wrote:Watched 13 Sins this weekend - its been recently added to Sky Movies.

Basic premise is that a down on his luck soon to be father, gets a mysterious phone call to say that he has qualified to be on a competition where he has to complete 13 tasks for money. AS the tasks get harder, he earns more money but has to complete all 13 overwise he gets nothing.

Actually a really good film - surprisingly enjoyable.

Really good??? Looked dreadful. I saw him make a kid cry, light some nativity thing & then steal a policeman's coffee mug, then turned over. For anyone who hasn't seen this, does that sound like a good film? Anyway, could you tell me how it all ended in one of those spoiler boxes, in case anyone is incredibly bored & wanted to actually watch this garbage provided by Sky movies.

The sins really ramp up after those ones.

Ending:

Yeah, sounds sh!t even after reading your spoiler alert.

Haven't watched any films lately but next on my list is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Howl - Played by numbers British horror movie.

Enjoyable brain candy, if not earth moving...

7/10