Recent Movies Due A Reappraisal

[Dead kate moss]

I don't know if you've all seen and already made your mind up about 'Get Me To The Greek' I found it watchable with quite a few good lines, and one that really made me laugh out loud.

Spoiler alert

Rock Star Aldous Snow (Russel Brand) has just visited his estranged girlfriend to try and win her back. Instead he finds out his son is not really his son. As he leaves, Lars Ulrich out of Metallica, , playing Lars Ulrich, her new lover, enters the room. Snow/Brand storms out saying 'Why don't you go and sue Napster, you little Danish twat.'

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[SavageHedgehog]

It had some nice touches that suggested the people behind it know a little about the music industry (some of the stuff with Snow's African Child project in particular rings true), but there are so many gags and scenes which drag on well beyond the point they could have ever been amusing. I think the whole Apatow improvisation-driven style has grown stale, Greek certainly left me yearning for the return of little things called "structure" and "discipline". I'm also tired of films which are ashamed of their relentless onslaught of purility, and so try to justify themselves with such amazing insights as

Spoiler alert

"rockstars use decadance to fill a void in their lives!"

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[quadraspazzed]

Earlier in this thread there were quite a few mentions of In Bruges. Watched it for the first time tonight and 4/5s of it were fucking brilliant. Alas, as one poster said,

Spoiler alert

horribly let down by the ending

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. But overall a very funny and at times actually emotionally engaging film. Gleeson is generally always a joy to watch, but never experienced actually liking Farrell on screen[nb]But to be fair to him, I've not seen that many of his films and I may have just seen all the shit ones - and he's always generally come across as a likeable guy in interviews I've seen[/nb], so this was a first.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I've not seen In Bruges. Should I rectify that?

[ThickAndCreamy]

Yes, it's an excellent film both as a comedy and as a drama. I haven't really seen a negative review of it online yet (I haven't been looking mind).

[quadraspazzed]

I would say definitely yes. The laugh out loud content alone of the first 80% is well worth it, despite

Spoiler alert

the crap ending

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.

So, I say "definitely yes".

[AsparagusTrevor]

Great, I'll watch it ASAP. I've held onto it for ages not really liking Farrell as an actor in what I've seen him in, apart from Daredevil where you could tell he was just loving hamming it up.

[Famous Mortimer]

And

Spoiler alert

the ending's

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not even all that bad, in comparison to some

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bad endings;

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it's just not quite as good as the rest of the film, which is fan-fuckin-tastic.

[Famous Mortimer]

I'll give my appraisal-downwards to...Ong-Bak.

A serious of extraordinary stunts with fuck all to stitch them together, the worst character conversion-to-good-guy arc I can remember in a long time, awful acting, and the idea that the Buddha would be upset with a village enough to stop the rains and starve them, because some criminal stole his statue's head.

So, if you just fast-forward through all the plot stuff, it becomes an extremely exciting short film. I'm surprised it's thought of as highly as it is (I got more excitement with the enclosed trailer for "Dragons Forever", one of the best martial arts films of all time).

[El Unicornio, mang]

Rise of the Footsoldier

At first glance this seems to be another Nick Love type cockney geezers saying cunt a lot and being well 'ard. It is that, but it's also as close to a British Goodfellas as you can get. It's based closely on real life events, and makes an effort to pick out details like the main character (Carlton Leach) eating baby food to satisfy his body's craving for nutrients, also getting the minutia of the Rettendon murders spot on (even down to the injuries). The main lead does a very good job, but Craig Fairbrass steals the show as psychotic cokehead Pat Tate, a man even Joe Pesci would cross the street to avoid, who thinks nothing of cutting a man's face up with a pizza slicer because he wouldn't deliver him his food (again this is based on a real event). It's not a great film, the emotional scenes are very clunky, and there's some distasteful scenes like some bloke getting knifed in his arsehole for getting up to gay stuff in the club toilets, but a lot of effort was put into it and as an honest portrayal of London gangland life it's definitely one of the best.

[Maybe Im Doing It Wrong]

I've seen two films in the past two days which I thought were quite good, but no more than that - 'A Prophet' and 'A Serious Man'.

To be fair, I bought 'A Prophet' on the recommendation of a friend who thinks it's one of the greatest movies ever made, and admittedly, of the two films, it was certainly the better, but ultimately, it didn't have me jumping up from my seat proclaiming that I'd just seen a cinematic masterpiece. It's not even the best French film about criminals that I've seen this year (hats off to 'Mesrine'.)

'A Serious Man' was even more "So what?", and I'm usually someone who likes films that aren't really about anything, but, great performances aside, there didn't really seem to be anything at all to this film. I wasn't expecting any kind of tidy resolution, I knew it wasn't going to be that kind of film, but again, I rose from my seat afterwards feeling like I'd been expecting a Mars Bar and got a Milky Way.[nb]'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' gave me the same feeling, though that was funnier.[/nb] I certainly can't see why anyone would claim it was the 'Best Coen Brothers Film Ever', as someone quoted on the box did. And can anyone tell me the point of the prologue?

I too was underwhelmed by A Prophet. It seemed to be the sort of rites-of-passage film about how much the main character changes but

Spoiler alert

er...he didn't seem to change all that much, so what was the point?

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Can't agree about A Serious Man though - best Coen Bros. film for ages. I loved the way it posited the question of whether we are punished for our wrongdoings or whether it's all random.

I think the prologue means

Spoiler alert

the couple are his great great great great grandparents and have doomed his line to bad luck.

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[Incandenza]

So much love for In Bruges here. If you like it, pick up some of his plays, they're even better. I highly recommend The Beauty Queen of Leenane and The Pillowman, but they're all pretty good.

[QDRPHNC]

Can't agree about A Serious Man though - best Coen Bros. film for ages. I loved the way it posited the question of whether we are punished for our wrongdoings or whether it's all random.

Loved A Serious Man. It very quickly joined Raising Arizona at the top of my Coen Bros. heap.

Personally, I thought it asked, "Do things happen to us for a reason or are they random?" and I think it answered it quite definitively (in the film's reality, I mean).

Watching it a second time, I was struck my how many other small pointers there were towards the theme of the movie

Spoiler alert

(for instance, as Larry is describing Schrodingers Cat to his class, he doesn't ask, "is the cat dead or alive," he asks, "is it dead or not dead?")

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.

[confettiinmyhair]

Watched In the Electric Mist with my old man this morning. Tommy Lee Jones puts on a typically grizzled, world weary performance, kinda similar to the role he played in No Country For Old Men. I'm surprised this film got lukewarm reviews. It's well shot, captures Post-Karina New Orleans and contains numerous good acting turns from a stacked supporting cast.

[Dark Sky]

One "recent" film I adore which I find is curiously underrated is Spielberg's AI.

I think it's so atmospheric and inventive, full of such desperation and loneliness and such incredible visual imagery.  I find it moving and beautiful, yet at times so nasty and cruel.  I know people hate the way it carries on going through two plus endings, but the final twenty minutes set in the distant future past the death of humanity and the rise of hyper-evolved robots is, I think, absolutely necessary to bring the whole story right back to where it began...about a little (robot) boy seeking love from his mother. 

Plus one of the most evocative and emotional scores John Williams has written...possibly ever!  Makes me feel weepy just thinking about the music!

[Famous Mortimer]

The most recent Resident Evil, the 3-D one.

Ratings of around 40 on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was a good fun bit of zombie-slaughtering mayhem. I didn't twig til the film was over that all that shit flying at the screen was for 3-D (when I got it, it just said Resident Evil: Afterlife).

Nice to see Chris Redfield pop up, and while I doubt it will live in my memory all that long, I just think one too many critics jumped on hating it.

[Gulftastic]

I just watched the Resident Evil film last night. It was good brainless fun, like the others in the series. I knew I wasn't going to watch The Godfather, so I got to see exactly what I wanted i.e. fit lasses slaughtering zombies in interesting ways.

I'm glad they didn't do a 3d shot of Mila's nipples though, it would have taken your eye out.

[SavageHedgehog]

At the risk of coming across as a philistine (yeah, coming across!) I think you can pretty much ignore critical consensus on films like the Resident Evil series

[thugler]

The most recent Resident Evil, the 3-D one.

Ratings of around 40 on Rotten Tomatoes, but it was a good fun bit of zombie-slaughtering mayhem. I didn't twig til the film was over that all that shit flying at the screen was for 3-D (when I got it, it just said Resident Evil: Afterlife).

Nice to see Chris Redfield pop up, and while I doubt it will live in my memory all that long, I just think one too many critics jumped on hating it.

That film was hilarious and deeply silly at times. Particularly when I haven't seen the last installment.

[Harpo Speaks]

'A Serious Man' was even more "So what?", and I'm usually someone who likes films that aren't really about anything, but, great performances aside, there didn't really seem to be anything at all to this film. I wasn't expecting any kind of tidy resolution, I knew it wasn't going to be that kind of film, but again, I rose from my seat afterwards feeling like I'd been expecting a Mars Bar and got a Milky Way.[nb]'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' gave me the same feeling, though that was funnier.[/nb] I certainly can't see why anyone would claim it was the 'Best Coen Brothers Film Ever', as someone quoted on the box did. And can anyone tell me the point of the prologue?

Ah no don't agree with this at all, I consider ASM one of my favourite Coen Brothers films, and I really think there is a lot to it, and certainly plenty to pick apart - ideas about the random nature of events, religion, karma, chance, morality and so on.

Spoiler alert

As for the prologue, one thing I like is the idea of something existing in two states at the same time (is he a Dybbuk, or is he a man?), a concept which is referred to again later in the film when Larry talks about Shrodinger's Cat to his class.

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[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I'll give my appraisal-downwards to...Ong-Bak.

A serious of extraordinary stunts with fuck all to stitch them together, the worst character conversion-to-good-guy arc I can remember in a long time, awful acting, and the idea that the Buddha would be upset with a village enough to stop the rains and starve them, because some criminal stole his statue's head.

So, if you just fast-forward through all the plot stuff, it becomes an extremely exciting short film. I'm surprised it's thought of as highly as it is (I got more excitement with the enclosed trailer for "Dragons Forever", one of the best martial arts films of all time).

There is one bit which is hilariously bad.

Spoiler alert

The final fight scene where fire literally lights up in his eyes, cos, you know, you can't kill THE FIRE WITHIN OH GOD PLEASE SPARE US

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The acting is phenomenally sub-standard, when compared to absolutely anything.

[Famous Mortimer]

Zodiac

After reading about it elsewhere, I got hold of the blu-ray of this and watched it last night. It's so much better than I remember from the first time - but then, I was expecting resolution and personal growth and all those other arcs that most films have. This has a bunch of people whose lives are all affected for the worst by their involvement with this case, some brilliant directing and an admiration when it's over that you've sat through nearly three hours of a serial killer film where there are no murders for the last two-thirds of the film and where the killer is never even properly identified, never mind caught.

It's clever, brilliantly written, and absolutely worth re-watching.

EDIT: I just realised it got 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe it's just me that needs to re-appraise it.

[kidsick5000]

The most recent Resident Evil, the 3-D one.

The one with so much slow motion if it played at regular speed it would only be a half hour show?

[AsparagusTrevor]

The one with so much slow motion if it played at regular speed it would only be a half hour show?

A.K.A. '300' syndrome.

[Famous Mortimer]

Perhaps a tough film to defend, I just remember liking it more than I expected. I am kinda glad that 3D appears to be dying a death, though, and along with it the need to do slo-mo every time something awesome flies at the screen.

[CaledonianGonzo]

It's so much better than I remember from the first time.

It definitely improves on the second viewing.  First time I was in the 'kinda liked it' camp, but it was hearing James Ellroy raving about it as the best crime film of the decade that decided me to give it another crack of the whip and I'm glad I did, as second time out of the gates it felt like a minor classic. 

Jake Gyllenhall still maybe looks too young towards the end, though.

[EB Farnum]

After I watched The Departed, I couldn't believe the critical acclaim it had garnered compared to Infernal Affairs. A few years later, Infernal Affairs felt almost hammy and the Scorsese film is a master piece. Hey-ho!

Le Diner de Cons was quite simply a laughter riot back in the early noughties! Having watched it again a short while back, I wish I could go back in time and slap the ever loving christ out of early noughties Farnum.

I didn't feel compelled to gouge my eyes out on the second viewing of The Big Lebowski.

[SteveDave]

Zodiac

After reading about it elsewhere, I got hold of the blu-ray of this and watched it last night. It's so much better than I remember from the first time - but then, I was expecting resolution and personal growth and all those other arcs that most films have. This has a bunch of people whose lives are all affected for the worst by their involvement with this case, some brilliant directing and an admiration when it's over that you've sat through nearly three hours of a serial killer film where there are no murders for the last two-thirds of the film and where the killer is never even properly identified, never mind caught.

It's clever, brilliantly written, and absolutely worth re-watching.

EDIT: I just realised it got 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. Maybe it's just me that needs to re-appraise it.

Only saw this for the 1st time about 2 months ago thanks to the cheapness of CEX & I've only felt as tense watching a film once before (that was No Country For Old Men). The whole bit with the film posters & the basement had me screaming at the screen "Just leave idiot!"