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I was not impressed with Inception, I lost interest in the film about half-way through and for all its remarkable visuals there wasn't much at its centre; and The Martian was not 'a few bucks' as it cost extra to see a film in 3D and so it cost me £11 or about $17.Quote:
Originally Posted by RallyCola
Macbeth (Justin Kurzel, 2015)
There cannot be a more beautifully photographed version of this play, from the blasted heath filmed in winter on the bleak north of the Isle of Skye, to the golden sands of Bamburgh Castle in Nothumberland, and the production exudes a rugged, primitive Scotland of candlelight and mist. It is hard to pin down quite what the director's focus is on this play. It twice hints at a childless couple seeking compensation for their lack of issue by taking the issues of others, with the as expected over-confident reliance on the predictions of the witches; but the struggle for the crown of Scotland also takes its place in the play while the more intriguing idea that Macbeth is about sexuality and the masculinity (challenged) of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth is not explored. In spite of its sumptuous photography, the main problem is that the tone and pace of the film are the same from start to finish, and the actors do not speak so much as drone, to match the droning score composed by the director. This also makes many lines hard to understand, an aggravation in Shakespeare where the unfamiliar to common speech makes this an experience really for those who already know the play, though those who don't may be inspired to find out more. Michael Fassbender drones well, Marion Cotillard, though stunning to look at, never really gets inside this complex woman and is not given much chance to develop as a character. The film is a treasure to look at and should do wonders for the Isle of Skye's tourist industry (although I doubt that it needs it as one of the more famous islands with some outstanding Malt whisky to boot), but if you want a version of Macbeth that encapsulates the play and pivots with intense drama around Macbeth and wife, I recommend Akira Kurosawa's Japanese version usually translated into English as Throne of Blood (1957) although the literal translation is The Castle of the Spider's Web.
The fight scenes are outstanding compared to the fight scenes in other films.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgH_OnrYlCk
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
I have to say that I'm surprised that you seem to have hopped onto the 3-D bandwagon. I would have guessed that you would consider it to be unnecessary gimmickry.
Having seen those terrible 3D flicks in the past with the plastic glasses yes, I was a sceptic, but modern technology has taken film to new and exciting levels, so I am more or less a convert, as some films only seem to really use 3D for 30% of the film. I love films and have done all my life, and I can be a terrible snob about it as a genre, but I do like to be entertained so I now welcome 3D as long as it does really enhance the experience of watching a film. The Martian is not a great film, but it is great entertainment. If I want depth, I always have Ozu, Bergman and Tarkovski to watch.Quote:
Originally Posted by maxpower
The Walk opens in the UK this weekend. I saw the trailers in the cinema and I can see that it looks well filmed, though I am not sure about the French accent of the lead actor, and there was a documentary Man on Wire about Petit's 1974 stunt. My problem is that I can't not see the Twin Towers without thinking about 9/11 and their fate and a film about a man who if he failed would have fallen evokes images we have seen but would rather forget, if that were possible. Maybe I am making too much of it but I feel morally uneasy about this now and won't be going to see it.
Rock of Ages
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Ok, this isn’t a new, nor by any stretch of the imagination a good film. However, no film that opens to the tune of “Paradise City” can be all bad… Having just watched it on DVD, I have a confession to make. I saw it at the cinema when it was released (and whisper it, I did sing along).
Tom Cruise makes a decent fist of playing Stacee Jaxx (an Axl Rose clone).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LktlUrTTiNw
Russell Brand is his usual annoying self but the scene where he and Alec Baldwin realise they are both gay is hilarious.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5MDenG5QY
The two lead actors, Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta are unknowns and likely to remain that way. To be honest, unless you were brought up on 80’s music like me there’s little to recommend this musical. However, if you want to relive your youth with a soundtrack from the likes of Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Guns n’ Roses, Bon Jovi, Warrant, Foreigner, etc…then rock on…:rock2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBjEi1Ymj2w
…and then there was this scene which was inexplicably cut from the cinema version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wTYEtHYbgs
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was part of a test audience for this film @ universal studios. quite possibly the dumbest mockumentary i've ever watched (too self reflective and aware of itself and relies heavily on how much you follow and like pop culture). there are a couple of good jokes (and music) but the story moved too fast and at one point kinda loses the whole "mockumentary" thing. comes out june 2016. btw: have you heard of the lonely island? i hadn't until i watched this. i guess they're popular (or semi popular).
after the film i met this absolutely gorgeous brunette who also works in the industry. about 5"4, petite with strawberry red lips and a classic figure (think anna karina or leslie caron or michelle hicks in the late 90s). i got her number and seeing her tonight for dinner; no movie. i'm very nervous. souhaitez-moi bonne chance
THE MARTIAN. Stavros, I have only seen the trailers for this and it seems to me like a film that is way too heavy on 'tag lines' "Im gonna have to science the shit out this...in your face Neil Armstrong.....Im the best botanist on this planet....Im still alive...obviously..and the crew coming up with all kinds of cool ways to say...we screw up - we die" Seems to me like a movie Will Smith said NO to. I'll see it next week in non -3D but is my initial impression correct?
If you know enough about science to know that a certain gadget hasn't been invented, or that the physics of space travel in the film are impossible, you may be disappointed, even dismissive. This is not one of Scott's 'complex' or 'profound' films, it is just a feel-good entertainment based on a novel in which I believe there is more successful humour than is found in the book. It is well made, but don't complain to me if you hate/hated it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy W
Thanks for the reply and the review.
Bridge of Spies
It was directed by Steven Spielberg, but the Coen brothers (who wrote the screenplay along with Matt Charman) are all over this. Splendidly written, superbly acted (Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance of Wolf Hall fame). On the surface its about the famous cold war prisoner exchange (U-2 pilot Gary Powers for Russian spy Rudolph Abel) but it's also about honor, freedom, people and principle. I'd be curious to know how faithful the film is to the historical events.
There is a review of the film as fact in this issue of Time (spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the film). It hasn't opened in this country yet so I haven't seen it. Spielberg's father was in Russia shortly after Powers was shot down.Quote:
Originally Posted by trish
http://time.com/4070307/bridge-of-spies-history/
Thanks, Stavros, for the article.
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screened this film for a bunch of friends near the moca in little tokyo a few days ago. it's not a bad little film: a mom returns from hospital after having reconstructive surgery and her twin sons begin to suspect the woman under the bandages might not be their mother.
it relies a lot on atmosphere and minimalist dialogue and it's obviously very taught, but it's really two types of film masquerading as one. you've got an opening half that's very psychological, then the last half which is horror(?)
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waited until everyone watched this before i checked it out (last wkend). absolute crap. all the acting was so wooden and contrived it was hard to get into the film. here is an example: young ice-cube is on the bus from high school. the kid sitting is front of him is taunting some gangsta's cursing beside the school bus. the gangstas "roll up" in front of the bus, take out their "pieces" and proceed to get onto the bus and demand the kid apologize for taunting them. then they take one look at weee ice cube- starring them straight in the face, then leave. why did they leave? these guys are much older than all the kids on the bus and they have guns. did they know ice cube? it's never made clear.
there are countless other scenes like these and then it finally dawned on me: i don't care. out i went
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if you were @ universal studios yesterday then you caught the back to the future day: hover-board outside the hill valley court house, enchantment under the sea dance, delorean and props and catching all 3 films (again).
Not a movie per se but currently watching the 10-episode Ken Burns documentary on Jazz produced in 2001. I'm only up to episode 5 but so far it's been fascinating to me. As someone who appreciates the complexity and creativity of jazz - though i much prefer listening to blues - it's been incredibly illuminating to see and hear how the form developed and find where its influences extended through the years into the most surprising and often even mundane aspects of today's music.
Very enjoyable and highly recommended for music lovers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0221300/
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went to an early morning screening for this yesterday @ culver city where sony is still desperately trying to do damage control from the gop hack fallout.
return to roger moore form (thankfully) from the woefully embracing and terribly misguided quantum of solace (what the fuck were they thinking?) but this is still somewhat shaky territory babs broccoli and co. who are desperately trying to find footing for the franchise that seems to have stumbled at the le chiffre narrative for ernst blofeld (last seen in never say never again from 83?).
it's understandable now why craig so desperately wants out of this, bond has been a joke since whatever movie came before goldeneye: i still think daniel craig is one of the best bonds, he just hasn't had a bond script that's been complimentary
one of the best parts of this screening was a free grab bag that included, amongst other toys, a spectre pen replica of the dupont st that attaches to a butane lighter engraved with the swirl decor from the gun barrel sequence. the original is currently priced at $7,600
You think Roger Moore was the best Bond?? (why isn't there a "raised eyebrow" emoticon when you need one?...)Quote:
Originally Posted by bluesoul
Billy Elliott (Stephen Daldry, 2000)
I had not seen this film before and took the advantage of a tv broadcast to watch it. It is a familiar story of the lad from a poor background who fights poverty and prejudice to make it to the Royal Ballet School and eventually the lead role in Swan Lake. The tried and tested formula means almost every scene can be ticked off with predictable tedium with only the irritating gay sub-theme suggesting the film is any different from other films of this kind. The acting-by-numbers doesn't add any depth to the film, and there may be music but I have forgotten it already. The climax of the film is also its lowest point, as it features a now mature Billy in Matthew Bourne's all-male Swan Lake, surely the biggest mistake in the history of ballet? I saw it once and had hoped never to set eyes on this meaningless rubbish again but there it was, to insult the audience. I can only hope that this pathetic film declines into the same obscurity as Bourne's Man Lake while the rest of us get on with the more satisfying experience of seeing proper dancers take on the old warhorse which, when done properly still captivates the heart and the mind. The least one can say is that Jamie Bell who plays young Billy was a trained dancer, and can tap.
Our Brand is Crisis: Fair to middlin'. At least it was a story and not a romance.
Spectre: Pretty bad. In fact we laughed all the way through it, so I guess it was laughably bad.
Terminator: Genisys
George Lazenby or Timothy Dalton were the closest to the book character IMHO.....:cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Laphroaig
I read this in disbelief -there is going to be a remake of Christopher Nolan's Memento. What a waste of money!!
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015...-after-origina
Completely senseless. I loved that movie...just the way it was. Christ.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stavros
It's one of those films that works because it had the right cast with the right script ...and at the time, was very original.
The movie's also good because of the surprises revealed at the right time....you don't redo films like that.
...Kind of like - for the same reasons, they should not have remade the Korean revenge flik "Oldboy"
I've never read the books so I can't comment on who most accurately fits the character, but I have to admit (and I'm probably alone in this...) that I like Pierce Brosnan.Quote:
Originally Posted by MrFanti
i grew up in the mid 80s- around the time when roger moore was still bond and they had reruns of the saint on tv so moore has always represented that debonair secret agent in my eyes. in fact, the first bond i watched was octopussy and the next one was (on my birthday) the man with the golden gun. both those films have scenes that are forever etched into my brain (and curiously, both those films have maude adams)
years later, i'm on the palace du casino in monte carlo a stones throw from the hotel du paris and i see a calvacade of bentley limousines pull up, and disgorge nattily dressed top caliber gentlemen (and make no fucking mistake, they were gentlemen) dressed in impeccably tailored in multi-thousand pound brushed woolen saville row suits soft like an agora rabbit to the touch, calf-skin gloves and gleaming shoes from clark. one of these gentlemen just happened to be roger moore and he had with him, his wife at the time, luisa mattioli. this was around 97 or 98. monaco was expensive, but it made sense this is where james bond lived, and this is how he spent his afternoons
Attachment 894894
watched this last night at a screening in burbank. turns out apollo had an illegitimate kid (who now lives in a youth detention center in los angeles) with mary anne creed and is prone to getting into fights. he's picked up by his mom and years later, he's now trying to get into boxing by booking fights in tijuana. he eventually moves to philly so he can be trained by rocky balboa but doesn't tell him he's apollo's son.
after that he's pretty much working his way up to his first title shot against a cocky english bully known as pretty ricky whilst courting downstairs r&b singer and neighbor.
if this sounds even slightly familiar it might be because it's basically "kinda" similar to the first rocky film, complete with music cues from previous rocky films because it's part of those films (?)
Draft Day
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This is a movie for American football and Kevin Costner fans. It's the story of a general manager of a professional football team wheeling and dealing on Draft Day for the best possible college players. Interesting insight to what goes one behind the scenes for teams to get the best selection order to draft players. I found it interesting and entertaining. Many cameo roles of sports broadcasters and former players. If your not a fan of the NFL it may not strike a chord with you.
http://twitchfilm.com/assets/2015/04..._eight_300.jpg
long winded and especially slow to begin western about two bounty hunters (one who is transporting his prisoner) and a sheriff hooking up with four dodgy characters at a mountain pass before a murder mystery begins to unfold. this is (like all tarantino films) very character driven and talky (the first hour and a half seemed a little unnecessary imo) but everyone is very fleshed out so it relies heavily on the pedigree of the actors chosen (jennifer jason leigh was a standout and lucky for tarantino he didn't cast a previous actor who- according to him, was too young for the role and lacked a lot of the dynamic presence needed).
there is an overture and intermission in the film (but not all copies will have this and thus will be slightly shorter)- a few times i was checking the time.
movie will be released on christmas day in select cities and go wide jan 8th
Spotlight
I give it two thumbs up.
Tangarine http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3824458/ - missed it at the london film festival (was a bit dubious about the 'filmed on i-phone' thing) - but caught it yesterday. Really good - great perfs and a lot of humour - and the cinematography is astonishing - had expected a lot of jerky 'found footage style' filming - but really lush smooth stedicam style shots - you would never know it was filmed on iPhones apart from the credit at the end
Raising Cain.... Not bad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqMY-syKcwc
Chronicle of a Blood Merchant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9mBdN6F1SI
The Revenant...HIGHLY recommend it...great movie and great acting...awesome story.everything about it was good.another awesome flick starring Leo..
The Revenant (Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, 2015)
This pretty looking flop cannot decide if it is a survival or a revenge drama. One can dismiss the revenge story given that there are hundreds of such films and this one suffers because the survival story dominates and the revenge is only there to tie loose ends in the story. Once Glass returns to Fort Kiowa the film's pulse stops. Unfortunately, the survival story is riddled with fact and fiction; the bear attack is the highlight of the film, the scenes with the horse stretch credulity, for some to breaking point. The music whines on with no relation to the film, while a mix of Pawnee, Cree and Sioux men on horseback, often a-whoopin' and a-hollerin' like something from a long-forgotten John Wayne movie occupy the same part of the land where in reality they were far apart. And there are no dogs, even though the first nations and the trappers who (often, but not always) stole from them all had dogs, for hunting, retrieval and company, as depicted in one of the most glorious of American paintings, George Caleb Bingham's Fur Traders Descending the Missouri (1845), linked below. It is perhaps fitting that Leonardo DiCaprio, the 43-year old actor with the voice of a 14 year old should spend so much time in the woods, given the state of his acting, and if he gets an award it might be because he doesn't speak for most of the film. The opening scenes which are supposed to present character, scene and motive, are all but incomprehensible, Tom Hardy having perfected a grunting even more obscure than Brando.
The Revenant is the second film to use the story of Hugh Glass, abandoned on a hunt he built a raft and spent something like 6 weeks sailing down the Missouri after that bear attack. Richard Harris was the first 'Glass' in Richard Sarafian's film Man in the Wilderness (1971).
What a way to make a living!
http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/40667/fi...=1454363078875
french film " A Prophet" , highly recommended
http://cdn.collider.com/wp-content/u...het-poster.jpg
The Big Short
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV...82,268_AL_.jpg
The true story about the recent housing bubble. Its about betting that the stocks you buy will fail. Specifically the investment in securitized subprime home mortgages. This movie is nominated for 5 Oscars. Entertaining but the scaring thing is that this can happen again. Made a few folks very rich and millions poorer.
Dirty grandpa
Bridge of Spies, good Tom Hanks Cold War-era thriller
Seven. Entirely ace.
Very perceptive review about The Revenant. I read the book and decided not to see the movie on the basis of it. In the book, the revenge story is even less compelling, which is probably why Inarritu dressed it up a bit for the film. I could tell this from a trailer where Glass has a son and is buried alive with loose dirt. It took a story where the basis for revenge was head-scratching and turned it into a melodrama.
Assuming the movie is similar in other respects, the main character makes it back to safety after a harrowing attack, only to drive headlong into the wilderness as winter approaches with a hostile Native American tribe (the Arikara) in his path so that he can get his revenge. Couldn't he have waited to see if his tormentors survived winter? Apparently that wouldn't be reckless enough for a man who survived a bear attack that took off his scalp and left him with maggot-infested wounds on his back.
I'm not sure Leonardo DiCaprio is such a bad actor though...