Good films I watched this weekend

[blindswelledrat]

callyman said:

, Blu-Ray, 7.1 DTS-HD,

I love how people have to slip in a boast about thier electrical goods. It always makes me laugh that people have to make a point of saying "I watch X on bluray because I am so rich I can afford one." but that quote takes the biscuit particularly as there is no mention of the film.

Personally, I watched The Reader the other night. Whilst watching it wore a pair of £200 jeans and sat on my £3000 sofa. I watched it in my large detached house and I had to walk across my indian black limestone flooring to get to where the TV was. Did I mention I fetched the DVD in a car that gets to 60 in 4 seconds? Well I did. I am actually too rich to notice whether the film was any good

[blindswelledrat]

Legend83 said:

Winter's Bone

Been meaning to watch this for a while after all the plaudits it received and I like a good gritty drama.

I wanted to like this, I really did. The cinematography was fantastic, portraying a bleak, poverty-torn US rural area with eye-piercing accuracy. The acting was excellent (particularly from John Hawkes - who I always remember as being that guy who walked in front of a truck in Miami Vice).

But, it was so dull. Mind-numbingly dull.

Very little happens as Jennifer Lawrence's character walks through wood after wood speaking to a variety of sinister, unhelpful inbreds about the possible whereabouts of her father.

And then it ended.

4/10

I completely disagree
Yes it isn't Die Hard 5 but the plot keeps moving and the tension mounts and every scene is well thought-out and interesting.
I loved this film and would give it 9/10

[Ali2202]

K12beano said:

Couldn't be much better than a trip to the cinema on a wet autumn Sunday afternoon.

Went to see something with a very simple plot. Nothing much really happens start to finish. Three old geriatrics, obviously from some Old People's Home, plus the son of one of their mates, stand around on a platform for a couple of hours. Only one of them opens his mouth, really. One just gurns a lot while wielding an axe. The guy at the back incessantly hits stuff and the other guy smiles once in a while. So, it's a bit like a version of "Waiting For Godot". Nothing happens - a plot even I can follow.....












F3*king Awesome: 15 out of ten!



Ladies and Germs. I give you: Celebration Day

I was there! Was quite good if I remember

[Legend83]

blindswelledrat said:

I completely disagree
Yes it isn't Die Hard 5 but the plot keeps moving and the tension mounts and every scene is well thought-out and interesting.
I loved this film and would give it 9/10

Was waiting for your response as I knew this was a favorite of yours.

I am not someone who needs big bangs and explosions to enjoy a film, but I found this just didn't move. Too many long-shots of Lawrence walking through the woods or shots of dogs, or children bouncing on a trampoline.

I didn't find myself empathising with her situation as it didn't feel like there was any peril for the family - there wasn't much distress going on.

And then suddenly she did get help from the people who didn't want to help her...but for no discernible reason?

Then her Dad was dead and they all lived at their house happily ever after?

I was just left feeling empty.

Tell me what made it a 9/10 film as I didn't see it!

[Asterix]

Legend83 said:

blindswelledrat said:

I completely disagree
Yes it isn't Die Hard 5 but the plot keeps moving and the tension mounts and every scene is well thought-out and interesting.
I loved this film and would give it 9/10

Was waiting for your response as I knew this was a favorite of yours.

I am not someone who needs big bangs and explosions to enjoy a film, but I found this just didn't move. Too many long-shots of Lawrence walking through the woods or shots of dogs, or children bouncing on a trampoline.

I didn't find myself empathising with her situation as it didn't feel like there was any peril for the family - there wasn't much distress going on.

And then suddenly she did get help from the people who didn't want to help her...but for no discernible reason?

Then her Dad was dead and they all lived at their house happily ever after?

I was just left feeling empty.

Tell me what made it a 9/10 film as I didn't see it!

By chance, did you like 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'?

[Legend83]

Asterix said:

By chance, did you like 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'?

Actually have not seen it - on my list though. Is it similar in style?

[Asterix]

Legend83 said:

Asterix said:

By chance, did you like 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'?

Actually have not seen it - on my list though. Is it similar in style?

Not exactly. But for me it was simply a stunning film to look at. I've watched it many, many times (and I will say that BluRay makes all the difference) and while it's a pretty good film in it's own right, the cinematography is the star.

[callyman]

im said:

Would some of you cowards people who are saying you liked the film Prometheus please say so here...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Many thanks.

I did.

[blindswelledrat]

Asterix said:

By chance, did you like 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'?

Really strangely I was going to use this as an analogy too, even though the films are completely dissimilar.
I thought that film was brilliant,certainly in my top 10 of favourite films. Totally and utterly mesmerising and every scene was like a work of art that absorbed me completely.
And yet I would understand why anyone might label it 'boring'.

[5potTurbo]

Continuing with my daughters education of all things James Bond, we watched Goldeneye yesterday afternoon.

Since my girls are 10 & 11, I think it may be some time before they watch the very much gritter hand-to-hand combat seen in the Daniel Craig fillums.

[callyman]

blindswelledrat said:

callyman said:

, Blu-Ray, 7.1 DTS-HD,

I love how people have to slip in a boast about thier electrical goods. It always makes me laugh that people have to make a point of saying "I watch X on bluray because I am so rich I can afford one." but that quote takes the biscuit particularly as there is no mention of the film.

Personally, I watched The Reader the other night. Whilst watching it wore a pair of £200 jeans and sat on my £3000 sofa. I watched it in my large detached house and I had to walk across my indian black limestone flooring to get to where the TV was. Did I mention I fetched the DVD in a car that gets to 60 in 4 seconds? Well I did. I am actually too rich to notice whether the film was any good

My point was that on blu-ray it looked great, If someone cannot afford a blu-ray player then they need to look at their out goings as they now cost peanuts.
As for the 7.1 part, I was actually letting people know that it sounded great, I'd bet an awful lot of people own some type of surround system now.
It's not a boast about wealth at all, I drive a 16 year old vauxhall.
I also did say I really enjoyed the film and also rated it on the dedicated thread.

[blindswelledrat]

Legend83 said:

I didn't find myself empathising with her situation as it didn't feel like there was any peril for the family - there wasn't much distress going on.

And then suddenly she did get help from the people who didn't want to help her...but for no discernible reason?

Then her Dad was dead and they all lived at their house happily ever after?

I was just left feeling empty.

Tell me what made it a 9/10 film as I didn't see it!

I actually thought the opposite of these points which was why I liked it.
I thought the acting was superb and as a consequence empathised completely with her.
And it was her strength of charachter to doggedly pursue this to the end in teh face of endless hardship which made me like her charachter and make the other charachters warm to her and decide to help.
As to teh ending, I personally prefer a film like this without a 'happy' ending. It merely added to the gritty realism of the film to me. I can't stand the Hollywood need to force a convenient wrap-it-all-up ending so films like this are refreshing.
So whilst, like all bleak films, I didn't finish the film feeling all happy - I did feel something which is a cut above all teh churned-out crap that we see all the time.

[Legend83]

blindswelledrat said:

I actually thought the opposite of these points which was why I liked it.
I thought the acting was superb and as a consequence empathised completely with her.
And it was her strength of charachter to doggedly pursue this to the end in teh face of endless hardship which made me like her charachter and make the other charachters warm to her and decide to help.
As to teh ending, I personally prefer a film like this without a 'happy' ending. It merely added to the gritty realism of the film to me. I can't stand the Hollywood need to force a convenient wrap-it-all-up ending so films like this are refreshing.
So whilst, like all bleak films, I didn't finish the film feeling all happy - I did feel something which is a cut above all teh churned-out crap that we see all the time.

All fair points. I guess it felt like a bit of a documentary, but one that did not grab me.

I agree the tensions between the various clans / sheriff etc were compelling and very well directed.

Horses for courses as always!

[Asterix]

blindswelledrat said:

Asterix said:

By chance, did you like 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford'?

Really strangely I was going to use this as an analogy too, even though the films are completely dissimilar.
I thought that film was brilliant,certainly in my top 10 of favourite films. Totally and utterly mesmerising and every scene was like a work of art that absorbed me completely.
And yet I would understand why anyone might label it 'boring'.

Yup

[Halb]

Watched the Book of Eli. What a laughably bad film. Just another high concept, no plot waste of everyone's time. I recall both this and The Road coming out at the same time, two post-apocalyptic films, both with wanderers on a journey.
Watched the Road a few months ago, found it engaging, intelligent, dramatic and quite bleak. Found Book of Eli silly in an 80s sense, but wholly without any 80s sense of humour to save it. I did read something about the twist in these pages, so I knew it was there and was watching hawk-like to see if it made sense or worked, it didn't in parts, but then again, in parts he also seemed to be immortal, so ho-hum.
I also thought it quite amusing that in the post-apocalyptic world they would want a copy of that poisonous tome, icing on the cake was placing it next to the others on that select list.
Walking for 30 years and he had a bit of a belly too.

[TheHeretic]

Thought it was a bit crap myself, but then I'm not a fan of Washington, so maybe that spoiled it a bit. As you say, 'The Road' was much better, IMHO.

[SWoll]

Didn't mind it TBH. Not a classic by any means, and doubt it'll merit a re-watch at any time soon but I've seen a damn sight worse.

callyman said:

Prometheus, Blu-Ray, 7.1 DTS-HD, sounded great.

Really enjoyed it.

Don't think I'v ever seen a film where so many positive reviews point out how good it looked or sounded without mentioning much else.

Edited by SWoll on Monday 22 October 11:36

[Agoogy]

SWoll said:

Don't think I'v ever seen a film where so many positive reviews point out how good it looked or sounded without mentioning much else.

'Drive' is up there...but then it doesn't really pretend to be anything other.....

[SWoll]

Agoogy said:

SWoll said:

Don't think I'v ever seen a film where so many positive reviews point out how good it looked or sounded without mentioning much else.

'Drive' is up there...but then it doesn't really pretend to be anything other.....

Drive always plays the 'arty' or 'moody' card though in an attempt to be in some way superior.

A dull and vacuous experience IMHO. Great soundtrack though.

[FellowPazzini]

Moaning bunch of old farts Good films them. FANTASTIC story lines