Good films I watched this weekend (Vol 2)
Discussion
On Saturday watched "Frozen" - first (proper) Disney film ive seen in years, and it was predictably quite nice and harmless. Unlike the Pixar-type films there aren't many cheeky jokes for adults. Disney/10
Today I watched "All is Lost", Robert Redford alone on a boat, waking up to find the hull is punctured, which seems like that is the end of the world (to a land-lubber like me) but in fact is just the start of a run of bad luck to befall him. I found myself equally admiring his resilience at some times, and other times shouting "nooo! why would you do that!" when hes seemed to make strange or stupid decisions, but much of the time sharing his diminishing hope of rescue. No dialogue (except a brief narration at the start) and no other people in it, meaning its a pretty unique movie. Barely any music either, but what there was was quite lovely. I liked it, though I don't want to go on a boat any time soon - 7/10
Today I watched "All is Lost", Robert Redford alone on a boat, waking up to find the hull is punctured, which seems like that is the end of the world (to a land-lubber like me) but in fact is just the start of a run of bad luck to befall him. I found myself equally admiring his resilience at some times, and other times shouting "nooo! why would you do that!" when hes seemed to make strange or stupid decisions, but much of the time sharing his diminishing hope of rescue. No dialogue (except a brief narration at the start) and no other people in it, meaning its a pretty unique movie. Barely any music either, but what there was was quite lovely. I liked it, though I don't want to go on a boat any time soon - 7/10
Justin Cyder said:
Lavender Hill mob this afternoon. Stanley Holloway, Sid James, Alec Guinness. Fabulous movie.
You are talking high brilliance indeed! I take back all I may ever have thought about you, sir! 
.....but, to more immediate matters...
OK so I am having a great Easter Sunday.....
Number Uno, was "Transcendence". Hmm!? Yeah, should be good, Johnny Depp, Paul Bethany, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman: all doing good things.
Overall, not the original "more than the sum of the parts" that you might like to see. The whole plot promised something like "Inception" and delivered "the Wooden Tops".
OK, maybe it wasn't that bad, but it had all the ingredients, yet ended up less than what it might have lived up to. Plot had some obvious places to go...... and went there.... and needn't have been an evangelical call, but it tried it on, badly. Maybe a 6/10. Oh, and also saw it in Westfield as a 4K showing. Didn't really "wow" on that front either. Storyline average - actors no better than the is parts not even as good as the sum - photography and effects nice, but not overly engaging.
Did I mention, the other half fell asleep too?!?
But, went off to the "Scene" showing in the Westfield - coo, that's posh! - and watched "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and so, so, so, so, LOVED it.
OK, the world is divided into those who love Wes Anderson and the rest of the sad people out there. But, logically, if you're in the even-thinking-of-liking-Wes-Anderson-camp, you've gotta love this film. 9/10. ....then you have Ralph Fiennes in particular and plenty of others that just make this a delight. you want to know what happens? It doesn't matter what happens. Ed Norton pops up, Jeff Goldblum is brilliant, Willem Defoe is magical-evil-personified and you get loads of other Wes Anderson types. But most of all, you don't know sometimes whether you're watching a film or a cartoon. The humour (should that be "humor"?) you get in every beautifully crafted shot, the lovely repetitive vignettes and some astonishingly brilliant pieces which are so efficient that almost nothing happens, yet......
Maybe if you don't get it, there's some other saving to your humanity, but perhaps you should be in the artificial intelligence of Transcendence and figure yourself out a different way...... Grand Budapest is a must see of the 11th order!
Punctuated by a bit of Fargo, which I'll resist raving about here, my third film was a full watching of "Heat" - and what can you say?
OK, so you get Pacino and De Niro together. Hell! If you're going to throw in the likes of Trejo, Berkeley, Fichtner, Ferrero, Rollins, Azaria, Noonan, Haysbert, Voight and Kilmer.... You must be serious about making the best film in the world EVER.
There's a few films I saw as a kid which will be on me indelibly (The Sting), there's some films I remember seeing that caught a nerve for one reason or another (Kelly's Heroes, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, The Doors) and there's a couple of films in the last decade that threw me into a new place (Inception, Gravity, Casino Royale), but nothing of the era of Heat, maybe "Shaft" (1971)? maybe "Starsky and Hutch"? go close to being all round definers of our times - but they're all just Harry Potter to "Heat" - what a brilliant watch.......
E65Ross said:
Has anyone seen "the bag man" with De Niro and Cusack?
Any good?
absolute toss IMO...I think I wrote about it earlier on this thread, it's hard not to watch a film with DeNiro in it, but in this he's doing it by the numbers, hardly there...the last decent showings by him were American Hustle and Silver Linings I think... Any good?
Cusack doesn't help matters, he makes for a very uncovincing hitman.
Have to agree with beano about Transcendence, was expecting a good deal more than the wooden acting and cliche ridden script, still, quite enjoyed it though. As we left the cinema I overheard a conversation that went, "That's the worst film I've ever seen" the reply was "No it's not, you've seen Pacific Rim" lol!
Also concur about Grand Budapest, pretty brilliant stuff, what was the story about? who cares! Simply a grand treat for the eyes. Coincidentally I'm also a huge Tati fan, Vacances, Mon Oncle, Trafic and Playtime are right up there amongst my treasured dvds. Sheer cinematic genius imho.
Also concur about Grand Budapest, pretty brilliant stuff, what was the story about? who cares! Simply a grand treat for the eyes. Coincidentally I'm also a huge Tati fan, Vacances, Mon Oncle, Trafic and Playtime are right up there amongst my treasured dvds. Sheer cinematic genius imho.
Agoogy said:
E65Ross said:
Has anyone seen "the bag man" with De Niro and Cusack?
Any good?
absolute toss IMO...I think I wrote about it earlier on this thread, it's hard not to watch a film with DeNiro in it, but in this he's doing it by the numbers, hardly there...the last decent showings by him were American Hustle and Silver Linings I think... Any good?
Cusack doesn't help matters, he makes for a very uncovincing hitman.
Ah...American Hustle......think I'll watch that tonight....believe it's quite well received?
The Act of Killing - a documentary about the Indonesian slaughter of 1 million communists and others during the military coup in the sixties.
Pretty harrowing and shocking at times, occasionally plain bizarre. Incredible (and evil) characters openly discussing the acts to camera, some impressive journalism at work to get it all down on film.
So recommended if not an enjoyable watch 8/10
Pretty harrowing and shocking at times, occasionally plain bizarre. Incredible (and evil) characters openly discussing the acts to camera, some impressive journalism at work to get it all down on film.
So recommended if not an enjoyable watch 8/10
E65Ross said:
I quite liked "The Family" With him in it
Ah...American Hustle......think I'll watch that tonight....believe it's quite well received?
Haven't seen that yet...Luc Besson and DeNiro, what could possibly go wrong.Ah...American Hustle......think I'll watch that tonight....believe it's quite well received?
American Hustle is a good/high quality film if not quite the Oscar nominated triumph it was touted as...DeNiro doesn't appear much, but when he does you remember it more than anything else! (accept Amy Adams' side boobage)
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