Good films I watched this weekend (Vol 2)
Discussion
toasty said:
We had a Richard Linklater weekend.
Boyhood - 2 and a bit hours of skimming through a boy's childhood from 6ish to 18ish. It's fascinating to see all the actors age in super fast time yet make a decent story that fits in the given timescale. I liked the way that topics were merely hinted at without going into detail and slowing down the story. 8/10
Before Sunrise - The first of a series of Before films with the sequels 10 and 20 years later. Boy meets girl on train and they spend one night together in Vienna before he has to fly home to America in the morning. Not very PH but good for a night at home with the OH. 7/10
And we finished the trilogy last night. Boyhood - 2 and a bit hours of skimming through a boy's childhood from 6ish to 18ish. It's fascinating to see all the actors age in super fast time yet make a decent story that fits in the given timescale. I liked the way that topics were merely hinted at without going into detail and slowing down the story. 8/10
Before Sunrise - The first of a series of Before films with the sequels 10 and 20 years later. Boy meets girl on train and they spend one night together in Vienna before he has to fly home to America in the morning. Not very PH but good for a night at home with the OH. 7/10
Before Sunset - Nine years later, the couple meet again but now he's a married with a son. This is almost a full 90 minutes of conversation between them. It could be terminally dull but they just about carry it off.
Before Midnight - Nine years later again, the couple are married with twin girls. There are glimpses of the original romance but there's plenty of bickering as the guy wants to return to Chicago to be with his son. Another 90 minutes of conversation of a different kind.
Overall only worth watching as a trilogy but as a whole 7/10 with maybe +1 to shoot it over 18 years.
toasty said:
toasty said:
We had a Richard Linklater weekend.
Boyhood - 2 and a bit hours of skimming through a boy's childhood from 6ish to 18ish. It's fascinating to see all the actors age in super fast time yet make a decent story that fits in the given timescale. I liked the way that topics were merely hinted at without going into detail and slowing down the story. 8/10
Before Sunrise - The first of a series of Before films with the sequels 10 and 20 years later. Boy meets girl on train and they spend one night together in Vienna before he has to fly home to America in the morning. Not very PH but good for a night at home with the OH. 7/10
And we finished the trilogy last night. Boyhood - 2 and a bit hours of skimming through a boy's childhood from 6ish to 18ish. It's fascinating to see all the actors age in super fast time yet make a decent story that fits in the given timescale. I liked the way that topics were merely hinted at without going into detail and slowing down the story. 8/10
Before Sunrise - The first of a series of Before films with the sequels 10 and 20 years later. Boy meets girl on train and they spend one night together in Vienna before he has to fly home to America in the morning. Not very PH but good for a night at home with the OH. 7/10
Before Sunset - Nine years later, the couple meet again but now he's a married with a son. This is almost a full 90 minutes of conversation between them. It could be terminally dull but they just about carry it off.
Before Midnight - Nine years later again, the couple are married with twin girls. There are glimpses of the original romance but there's plenty of bickering as the guy wants to return to Chicago to be with his son. Another 90 minutes of conversation of a different kind.
Overall only worth watching as a trilogy but as a whole 7/10 with maybe +1 to shoot it over 18 years.
Linklater's 'Tonight Trilogy' is also fantastic, with Sunset being my favourite.
Obi Wan said:
Maggie - starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Some people have said its slow but it isn't. I think people expect it to be another action movie where it's more of a character piece makes it stand out from other zombie films.
I liked it too - beautifully filmed and it was the first Arnie film ive seen where he seems to be actually acting, I thought he played the tender father very well. I thought the last scene with his daughter was excellent.Obi Wan said:
Terminator salvation - I think I'm the only one to like this. While not as good as the first 2, it brings something different to the table showcasing the war between humans and machines, it has a darker atmosphere than T3 which was a bad of crap.
No, I like it too - im alone among my mates in this respect. Ive watched it several times, but only watched T3 once, which says it all. Shame really, as the actual SKYNET takeover is a really interesting subject and could have made a great film.retrorider said:
Cold In July starring Don Johnson.A hard edged cool as they come thriller,and Don is excellent.
Thanks Retrorider for the heads up on this one - a brilliant movie and I give it a solid 8.5/10.At first after the first few minutes I thought I'd seen it but realised it was probably a trailer at the local art house and it had since passed me by. At the start I thought it was a standard formula ' dad seeks revenge etc ' but oh how wrong I was. It changed in a direction I never saw coming and a great night of raw entertainment. No Armani suits this time for Don but as good as he gets.
BryanC said:
retrorider said:
Cold In July starring Don Johnson.A hard edged cool as they come thriller,and Don is excellent.
Thanks Retrorider for the heads up on this one - a brilliant movie and I give it a solid 8.5/10.At first after the first few minutes I thought I'd seen it but realised it was probably a trailer at the local art house and it had since passed me by. At the start I thought it was a standard formula ' dad seeks revenge etc ' but oh how wrong I was. It changed in a direction I never saw coming and a great night of raw entertainment. No Armani suits this time for Don but as good as he gets.
I was expecting it to be predictable and it wasn't
RoadRunner220 said:
Escape Plan
Starring Sly and Arnie you know what you're going to get from the start, and doesn't disappoint. Far from the best film I've ever seen, but enjoyable none the less.
7 out of 10
I thought it would be crap. Turned out I enjoyed it despite being a bit( very) daft in parts. Starring Sly and Arnie you know what you're going to get from the start, and doesn't disappoint. Far from the best film I've ever seen, but enjoyable none the less.
7 out of 10
Quickmoose said:
Maggie - it is slow, doesn't make it bad though, yes it's a character piece the zombie aspect is a sideshow....certainly shows Arnie in a new and positive light I thought. Ending was abrupt but touching...
6.6/10
I was surprised by this one too. Kept my attention and again ended up enjoying it despite thinking it would be crap. I though arnie played the part very well. 6.6/10
Both 6.8/10 for me.
Edited by Pesty on Sunday 19th July 01:29
Ant-Man I think it's clear DC comics do the dark and seedy and Marvel do the wham-bam light stuff....and as such this one along with Guardians is a light as they come. Which is great if you expect that going in, which I did. It has to be my age of 43 but I find DC engages me more. There are bits duringthis film where I just felt; yeah ok yada-yada...come on....
Ant Man has a reforming do-good criminal only wanting his daughter in his life being persuaded to become someone and do stuff to make that happen. He has a crew too, for comedic support.
It all works ok, as Marvel seem skilled at, mixing up action, violence, comedy, emotion.
I didn't feel short changed.
That said it's now over 7 years since Marvel started their wonderful march....is it runing out of steam? if not how long can it continue..?
I'm giving Ant and Anthony a shaky 6.2
Ant Man has a reforming do-good criminal only wanting his daughter in his life being persuaded to become someone and do stuff to make that happen. He has a crew too, for comedic support.
It all works ok, as Marvel seem skilled at, mixing up action, violence, comedy, emotion.
I didn't feel short changed.
That said it's now over 7 years since Marvel started their wonderful march....is it runing out of steam? if not how long can it continue..?
I'm giving Ant and Anthony a shaky 6.2
Quickmoose said:
Ant-Man I think it's clear DC comics do the dark and seedy and Marvel do the wham-bam light stuff....and as such this one along with Guardians is a light as they come. Which is great if you expect that going in, which I did. It has to be my age of 43 but I find DC engages me more. There are bits duringthis film where I just felt; yeah ok yada-yada...come on....
Ant Man has a reforming do-good criminal only wanting his daughter in his life being persuaded to become someone and do stuff to make that happen. He has a crew too, for comedic support.
It all works ok, as Marvel seem skilled at, mixing up action, violence, comedy, emotion.
I didn't feel short changed.
That said it's now over 7 years since Marvel started their wonderful march....is it runing out of steam? if not how long can it continue..?
I'm giving Ant and Anthony a shaky 6.2
There was a great number of children at the showing I went to. It really does come off quite 'kiddy' but it was everything I expected it to be. Some dodgy 'humour' to begin with that gets a little better. 6/10 for meAnt Man has a reforming do-good criminal only wanting his daughter in his life being persuaded to become someone and do stuff to make that happen. He has a crew too, for comedic support.
It all works ok, as Marvel seem skilled at, mixing up action, violence, comedy, emotion.
I didn't feel short changed.
That said it's now over 7 years since Marvel started their wonderful march....is it runing out of steam? if not how long can it continue..?
I'm giving Ant and Anthony a shaky 6.2
Whiplash
I know it's had a mention before, but if this wasn't my favourite film of the year so far (and I watch a lot...) I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it.
The premise of the film is well known, and that's all you need to know to sit back and take this in. This just works on so many levels. If you love film, the acting is superb, it's beautifully shot, and the sound recording and design is awesome.
If you are into music, then that's great, but it doesn't matter. If you just want a Hollywood flick, this is a much more intelligent version of Top Gun so it's not far off what someone who just enjoys blockbusters expects. It's just a quieter, but more intense, more thought provoking experience.
And that's forgetting for one second that this is written and directed by a 30 year old who did a short and got a couple of million quid funding to make a feature, and shot it in 19 days. You simply would not have guessed it. This is proof that fantastic things can still be done with film once in a blue moon.
I've not seen Birdman yet, but my gut feeling is that the Academy ended up rewarding the 'washed up comedy actor, true to life' because that's the shtick they seem to love over rewarding achievement in film, as this should have won Best Picture on top of the Sound and Editing Oscars it won.
9/10
I know it's had a mention before, but if this wasn't my favourite film of the year so far (and I watch a lot...) I wouldn't have bothered mentioning it.
The premise of the film is well known, and that's all you need to know to sit back and take this in. This just works on so many levels. If you love film, the acting is superb, it's beautifully shot, and the sound recording and design is awesome.
If you are into music, then that's great, but it doesn't matter. If you just want a Hollywood flick, this is a much more intelligent version of Top Gun so it's not far off what someone who just enjoys blockbusters expects. It's just a quieter, but more intense, more thought provoking experience.
And that's forgetting for one second that this is written and directed by a 30 year old who did a short and got a couple of million quid funding to make a feature, and shot it in 19 days. You simply would not have guessed it. This is proof that fantastic things can still be done with film once in a blue moon.
I've not seen Birdman yet, but my gut feeling is that the Academy ended up rewarding the 'washed up comedy actor, true to life' because that's the shtick they seem to love over rewarding achievement in film, as this should have won Best Picture on top of the Sound and Editing Oscars it won.
9/10
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