Films I watched this week
Discussion
Wild Card: Statham film, new to Netflix. 3.5/10 at a push, and I find his films generally very watchable. The story (what there was of it) was contained a few 5 minute segments throughout the film, and the rest was filler. Damn shame.
Lost River: I haven't got further than 40 minutes into this in 2 sittings and have given up on it.
Pound of Flesh: Van-Damme film (2015 although it seems strangely familiar); Enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes but unfortunately it was 105 minutes long ;-). 5/10.
The Chosen: A "horror" film on Netflix - a family need to sacrifice 6 relatives to save a child. Not disastrous (or particularly scary), and worth a watch. I'd say 4.5/10.
Good Kill: Actually a re-watch but I didn't realise it - my memory is like a sieve. Ethan Hawke stars as a drone pilot for the US army. A reasonable film - scratches the surface of the moral issues - a good 6/10.
Hot Tub Time Machine 2: Not as enjoyable as the first but still made me smile so worth a watch if you did like the first. 5/10.
Brokedown Palace (2002): Story about 2 American girls caught taking drugs out of Thailand. Ok, you can imagine what happens, it's a well trodden path. Still, it's an enjoyable film, and regardless, I won't spoil the ending. 5/10.
Planet Terror (2007): Grindhouse style film with Zombies - Bruce Willis, Rose McGowan and Josh Brolin. Not bad - a good bit of fun. 5/10.
Left Behind: Nicholas Cage in a disastrous disaster film. 3/10.
Slightly OT, but the new version of Old Boy has appeared on Netflix so I may check that out tonight; the original is a fantastic film so I will be interested to see how the American version stands up.
Lost River: I haven't got further than 40 minutes into this in 2 sittings and have given up on it.
Pound of Flesh: Van-Damme film (2015 although it seems strangely familiar); Enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes but unfortunately it was 105 minutes long ;-). 5/10.
The Chosen: A "horror" film on Netflix - a family need to sacrifice 6 relatives to save a child. Not disastrous (or particularly scary), and worth a watch. I'd say 4.5/10.
Good Kill: Actually a re-watch but I didn't realise it - my memory is like a sieve. Ethan Hawke stars as a drone pilot for the US army. A reasonable film - scratches the surface of the moral issues - a good 6/10.
Hot Tub Time Machine 2: Not as enjoyable as the first but still made me smile so worth a watch if you did like the first. 5/10.
Brokedown Palace (2002): Story about 2 American girls caught taking drugs out of Thailand. Ok, you can imagine what happens, it's a well trodden path. Still, it's an enjoyable film, and regardless, I won't spoil the ending. 5/10.
Planet Terror (2007): Grindhouse style film with Zombies - Bruce Willis, Rose McGowan and Josh Brolin. Not bad - a good bit of fun. 5/10.
Left Behind: Nicholas Cage in a disastrous disaster film. 3/10.
Slightly OT, but the new version of Old Boy has appeared on Netflix so I may check that out tonight; the original is a fantastic film so I will be interested to see how the American version stands up.
number2 said:
Wild Card: Statham film, new to Netflix. 3.5/10 at a push, and I find his films generally very watchable. The story (what there was of it) was contained a few 5 minute segments throughout the film, and the rest was filler. Damn shame.
Some very nicely choreographed fight scenes though.jammy_basturd said:
Do you ever watch anything good? 
I thought that as I was typing! In all seriousness... no, not recently, although my 5/10 films I think are worth a watch. I'm limited to Netflix and TV, so there's not a great selection of new-to-me, good films.
I keep an eye out on these threads though, and off the back of that watched: The Cube, The Circle, Primer and Coherence all of which I thoroughly enjoyed.
I'm a fan of Dean Koontz, and having read the Odd Thomas books, watched the film of the same name - another worth watching.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned on here, but there's a documentary on the guy who invented the Segway (Dean Kamen)called Slingshot, which I found quite interesting; it focused on his water-purifying tech rather than the Segway.
I'll stop now or this post will end up as an encyclopedia of everything I've watched....
popeyewhite said:
Some very nicely choreographed fight scenes though.
True. I think it was more that the pace should have been faster and there should have been more going on in order to carry the viewer with what plot there was.
Comment with spoilers:
There were 3 bits of story: woman got 'beaten up', Statham found the guy and beat him up (this took minutes), Statham gambles money and loses, then geeky kid turns out to be rich and bungs him some money. Usual format would be: Woman gets beaten up, Jason runs around killing people for an hour, then finds the culprit and kills him. Attempting to tie in the the gambling plot instead of the usual high octane fight-fest leading up to the catching the bad-guy detracted from the film - well, my expectations of the film.
I watched it last night and have forgotten most of it - the only thing that remains are my thoughts at the time... damn I'll probably need to watch it again and think "nah, that's alright really" 
Negative Creep said:
Prince of Darkness - unfairly overlooked John Carpenter classic. Goes for straight up horror with that ever present feeling of dread
Prince of darkness is one of his best films IMO. Quite a lot of tension with them being trapped in the building. Also the story of messages sent back through time has been copied loads of times since ( don't know if he did it first though) some genuinely creepy parts to itnumber2 said:
True.
I think it was more that the pace should have been faster and there should have been more going on in order to carry the viewer with what plot there was.
Comment with spoilers:
There were 3 bits of story: woman got 'beaten up', Statham found the guy and beat him up (this took minutes), Statham gambles money and loses, then geeky kid turns out to be rich and bungs him some money. Usual format would be: Woman gets beaten up, Jason runs around killing people for an hour, then finds the culprit and kills him. Attempting to tie in the the gambling plot instead of the usual high octane fight-fest leading up to the catching the bad-guy detracted from the film - well, my expectations of the film. I watched it last night and have forgotten most of it - the only thing that remains are my thoughts at the time... damn I'll probably need to watch it again and think "nah, that's alright really"
That sounds quite similar to another of his recent (ish) films, Hummingbird. I think it was more that the pace should have been faster and there should have been more going on in order to carry the viewer with what plot there was.
Comment with spoilers:
There were 3 bits of story: woman got 'beaten up', Statham found the guy and beat him up (this took minutes), Statham gambles money and loses, then geeky kid turns out to be rich and bungs him some money. Usual format would be: Woman gets beaten up, Jason runs around killing people for an hour, then finds the culprit and kills him. Attempting to tie in the the gambling plot instead of the usual high octane fight-fest leading up to the catching the bad-guy detracted from the film - well, my expectations of the film.
I watched it last night and have forgotten most of it - the only thing that remains are my thoughts at the time... damn I'll probably need to watch it again and think "nah, that's alright really" It starts off like you'd expect, bad thing happens to a girl he is close to, but then instead of it all kicking off. It just slows right down & not much happens apart from he buys pizza for some tramps, sexes up a nun, beats up 2 blokes & then sorts out the guy that did the bad thing to the girl.
It seems like he's doing less action in his stuff these days
Godzilla (2014)
I will admit I quite enjoyed the 1998 Godzilla film but that's mainly because I was really interested in special effects and would often study them instead of watching the film but nevertheless, it was harmless, silly fun.
I thought Gareth Edwards' Monsters was a great little film and served as a nice antidote to the tediously predictable and cliched stuff that Hollywood churns out.
But when Godzilla came out it was all over the place in the reviews so I didn't really know what to expect. As it was, I really enjoyed it. It's a bit too long and some of the monster fighting stuff gets a bit hard to follow at times, but overall I thought it was a very solid film and well worth watching.
7.3 out of 10.0.
I will admit I quite enjoyed the 1998 Godzilla film but that's mainly because I was really interested in special effects and would often study them instead of watching the film but nevertheless, it was harmless, silly fun.
I thought Gareth Edwards' Monsters was a great little film and served as a nice antidote to the tediously predictable and cliched stuff that Hollywood churns out.
But when Godzilla came out it was all over the place in the reviews so I didn't really know what to expect. As it was, I really enjoyed it. It's a bit too long and some of the monster fighting stuff gets a bit hard to follow at times, but overall I thought it was a very solid film and well worth watching.
7.3 out of 10.0.
Old Boy - the American version
Overall, a good remake, and worth watching.
I found it easier to suspend disbelief when watching the original version, and as such thought the original was the better film - I think that was a combination of:
a) Expecting weird things to happen in Japanese films - perhaps because of previous knowledge of Japanese cinema, distance from the culture, and a misconception that all Japanese people use martial arts and do weird stuff
b) The group fight scenes in the original were better - in the new version it looked more like a dance than a fight.
Overall, a good remake, and worth watching.
I found it easier to suspend disbelief when watching the original version, and as such thought the original was the better film - I think that was a combination of:
a) Expecting weird things to happen in Japanese films - perhaps because of previous knowledge of Japanese cinema, distance from the culture, and a misconception that all Japanese people use martial arts and do weird stuff
b) The group fight scenes in the original were better - in the new version it looked more like a dance than a fight.
'71.
Soldier gets separated from his unit in 1971 Belfast.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2614684/?ref_=fn_al_tt...
Got sucked in right form the start, has that grimy early '70s feel to it and well worth a watch. Recorded from Film4 recently so may be repeated again soon.
Soldier gets separated from his unit in 1971 Belfast.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2614684/?ref_=fn_al_tt...
Got sucked in right form the start, has that grimy early '70s feel to it and well worth a watch. Recorded from Film4 recently so may be repeated again soon.
Caught MI Rogue Nation yesterday, a decent enough hokum but lacked fluidity as it felt like situation. resolve situation. comedy bit. situation. resolve situation. repeat. etc.
6.5/10
the delightful Rebecca Ferguson though...legs! and as someone said earlier, very reminiscent of Alice from Luther. no mad thing. posh totty right there.
6.5/10
the delightful Rebecca Ferguson though...legs! and as someone said earlier, very reminiscent of Alice from Luther. no mad thing. posh totty right there.
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