What you seen Good or Bad recently?

[Custard]

The Magician (2005)

This was recommended in a found-footage film thread a few months back, and it sounded right up my street, so I got it second hand on yer Amazons

Its an Australian film about this violent low-level criminal who goes about his day to day violent business and is followed by his mate who films it all, for some paper-thin reason which I don't think made much logical sense really.

Buuuuutttt, it is really a fun film, and is actually quite light on the violence, for what I expected, and its all about character.

Yer main bloke, Scott Ryan (writer/director too), is excellent as the charismatic yet sociopathic lead, and for such a bleak premise its actually very funny in places, with lots of decent and believable dialogue.

At 83 minutes it absolutely flew by, and I was actually quite sad when the end credits began to roll. An extra 15 minutes or so would've been very welcome

Anyway, really enjoyed it, and its a shame Scott Ryan doesn't appear to have done much since. Though apparently was in Only God Forgives, somewhere

Big thanks also to the CaB'er who recommended it originally. If only I could remember your name, we could kiss

http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt0461989/

[Stone Cold Jane Austen]

Can't be bothered to do big long write ups but I had last week off work and it rained a lot so I just sat on my arse watching movies. I saw five that I would consider essential:

Threads
Wake In Fright
The Return
Joint Security Area
Sorcerer

I also watched Guardians of the Galaxy the other night and thought it was absolute garbage.

[Custard]

Don't wanna be ONE OF THEM PEOPLE, but if you're not gonna bother to write even a sentence about a film, then what's the point? It just becomes the kind of pointless list thread that Neil doesn't want, and I bet no one will bother looking up the films in question, based on the poster not even bothering to describe it or offer any opinion him/herself

Not trying to be rude, but that seems a bit pointless and adds nothing to the thread, honestly xxx

[Stone Cold Jane Austen]

Alright mate don't cry

[Custard]

Well, least I got a sentence from you

Winky!

[Unoriginal]

The newest film from the Dardenne Brothers, Two Days, One Night, is possibly their best so far. Marion Cotillard is tremendous as a woman attempting to convince her workmates to change their minds over a vote taken which pitted her job against bonuses for the rest of them. It's an agonising watch as you're forced to follow her every step into further despair knowing that even the best-case scenario for her is still a pretty bleak future.

If it's showing anywhere near you, watch it. Hopefully, if you do see it in a cinema, the subtitles won't disappear during the last twenty minutes like it did at the Swansea Uni theatre.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Transcendence - Fucking awful. Johnny Depp's a dying super computer wizard bloke, and so ends up uploading himself to a computer that makes him an all powerful god like fella. Soon he's creating amazing Science(tm), including nanobots that can pretty much bring people back from the dead. There's a bunch of luddite types (and the FBI) who are terrified by what he's capable of, and a wife that begins doubting that it's really him and not just a dodgy computer simulation.

It's painfully slow, Depp's overly-manored and it's strange, unlikeable performance from the get go. Everyone else is fine (though Morgan Freeman is a bit dull), and it looks nice I guess, but it's predictable (especially as the ending is all but given away at the beginning), weakly plotted, and whilst it could have played around with some nice ideas it squanders it's premise and spends way too much time on Depp and his wife's relationship. Not even worth a dull Sunday afternoon's viewing, unfortunately.

[Head Gardener]

Interstellar - it was great but  too much in one sitting so going again today

[Custard]

Seeing that myself tonight, looking forward to it. Hope Mohoganey does something with beer cans

[SavageHedgehog]

Transcendence - Fucking awful. Johnny Depp's a dying super computer wizard bloke, and so ends up uploading himself to a computer that makes him an all powerful god like fella. Soon he's creating amazing Science(tm), including nanobots that can pretty much bring people back from the dead. There's a bunch of luddite types (and the FBI) who are terrified by what he's capable of, and a wife that begins doubting that it's really him and not just a dodgy computer simulation.

It's painfully slow, Depp's overly-manored and it's strange, unlikeable performance from the get go. Everyone else is fine (though Morgan Freeman is a bit dull), and it looks nice I guess, but it's predictable (especially as the ending is all but given away at the beginning), weakly plotted, and whilst it could have played around with some nice ideas it squanders it's premise and spends way too much time on Depp and his wife's relationship. Not even worth a dull Sunday afternoon's viewing, unfortunately.

Agree with this, easily the worst film I've seen in the cinema this year, which is a shame as conceptually it's exactly the kind of thing I'm always hoping for; an original [nb]Original as in not a remake, reboot or established property, the plot has some very obvious antecedents (Lawnmower Man, Altered Sates etc.)[/nb] mainstream film which is at least trying to be provocative. Unfortunately The Zero Theorem is another film which fits this description which just didn't work, and is maybe the second weakest I've seen this year, and I'm really sorry to say that.

[newbridge]

In the midst of another director marathon, this time with Preston Sturges:

The Great McGinty (1940) - GOOD

Christmas in July (1940) - GOOD

The Lady Eve (1941) - GOOD

Sullivan's Travels (1941) - GOOD

I would say they are all classics, which is a pretty impressive output over a two-yeard period. Sullivan's Travels gets the most praise, and it obviously has the most overt message of the four, but as a film I actually preferred The Lady Eve. It doesn't get much better than the pairing of Barbara Stanwyck and young Henry Fonda.

Unfortunately, having recently binged on all 26 films directed by Billy Wilder (to me the greatest writer-director of all time by quite a sizable margin) everything seems to suffer in comparison a bit.

[mikeyg27]

It probably helps if you like their music a little, but I saw Metallica: Through The Never[nb]They don't even play Through The Never[/nb] and found it to be probably the most enjoyable film I've seen in the last year. Half concert film, half dystopian horror-thriller, it tells the story of a roadie who has to undertake a courier mission during a Metallica concert (a gig that seems to have some of the most overblown production values ever seen), ends up in a car crash and wakes up in a cross between The Warriors and the future scenes from The Terminator. The concert itself looks spectacular, and though the narrative portion seems to only just about make sense, it all works together pretty well.

Between this and Some Kind of Monster, Metallica have a surprisingly strong filmography.

[Van Dammage]

Joint Security Area

This film is amazing. That is all.

[Don_Preston]

Down Terrace is on iPlayer at the moment, and bloody good it is too.

[wooders1978]

Watched a film called Coherence recently - the beginning may have you reaching for the off button due to some hammy acting but stick with it - it turns out to be a bit bloody good and totally original (in my experience)   

[lazarou]

As we live near a ridiculously nice Korean cinema (And I'm a bit of a K-culture wanker anyway), we tend to see a lot of Korean stuff. The Latest bunch:

Tazza - The Hidden Card - Enjoyable twisty-turny crime caper about a goofy loser's adventures in underground card games. Enjoyable stuff, moves along at a nice old clip but outstays its welcome a little towards the end. Surprisingly violent in spots. Shin Se Kyung is ridiculously gorgeous in it. It's all based around those little hwatu cards (similar to Japanese Hanafuda), but it really doesn't require any knowledge of the rules to follow the dramatic beats. It's a sequel to a film from a few years ago, but no prior knowledge is required.

The Pirates - Rollicking, hugely overblown action fare that may not translate to the small screen terribly well, but was a whole lot of fun on the big one. Almost unheard of in a mainstream asian film in that it has a completely badass, self actualised, barely sexualised action heroine who doesn't fall apart halfway in and has at least 1 extra dimension (on the usual 1). Starts as a bit of a muddle, but it really gets its hooks in with an insane water-wheel setpiece (obviously drawn from the other Pirates series and taken to the Nth degree), and by the end I was fully along for the ride. Undoubtedly silly, but certainly knocks spots off the POTC sequels.

The Admiral - Roaring Currents - Essentially the Korean Braveheart, a defiantly patriotic take on one of the most famous naval battles in asian history. Oldboy's Choi Min-sik absolutely owns the film as the stalwart-to-the-point-of-madness Yi Sun-shin, with some colourful Japanese cartoon villains to liven things up a bit and give the audience plenty to hiss at. If you can get on board with it, it certainly gets the blood pumping, but a lot will depend on your tolerance for shameless flag-waving, fighting to the last man fuck you patriotism.

[Junglist]

Watched a film called Coherence recently - the beginning may have you reaching for the off button due to some hammy acting but stick with it - it turns out to be a bit bloody good and totally original (in my experience)

I second this, its one of my favourites this year. Incredibly low budget, hence the acting at times but its really interesting. There are films that have similar themes, but don't want to list them because spoilers.

[olliebean]

I second this, its one of my favourites this year. Incredibly low budget, hence the acting at times but its really interesting. There are films that have similar themes, but don't want to list them because spoilers.

Could you list them behind a spoiler tag? I enjoyed Coherence, and wouldn't mind seeing some similarly themed films.

[SteveDave]

The Magician (2005)

I bluddy loved the Magician. I saw it at a press screening when it came out over here & then went to a Q & A with Scott Ryan afterwards. He was so full of ideas of what he was going to do next & where he wanted to go it's a shame to see he's done nought since.

There's an amazing making of extra on the DVD that I recommend you watch if you haven't done so yet.

[SteveDave]

I would like to recommend The Guest

I saw this because it was recommended on the normally excellent JT Movie Podcast & was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. Him out of Downton Abbey is quite good as an Amuricaaan soldier maaan & it was the 1st film in ages where I had no idea what was going on or how it would end.

There's a nice mid-80s action film feel to it. Someone described it as "a funnier version of Drive". The music helps that description.

Made by the same bloke who made You're Next. Which I didn't really care for. 

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Ahem.

[SteveDave]

Isn't it good that we like the same things?

I'm sorry for not reading your post.

[Junglist]

Could you list them behind a Spoiler tag? I enjoyed Coherence, and wouldn't mind seeing some similarly themed films.

Sure, they are:

Spoiler alert

Timecrimes
Triangle
Primer

[close]

They aren't fully similar, just have some concepts in common.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I'm sorry for not reading your post.

Well I should think so too.

What did you think of the ending? I have a feeling it may be a bit offputting for some folk, what with

Spoiler alert

the film making a sharp turn into slasher movie territory, complete with David as an indestructible bogeyman

[close]

. I was a bit miffed that he

Spoiler alert

killed the mum and dad. Up until then he seemed genuinely interested in helping the family, albeit in the most violent of ways. After that he goes from being a sort of ambiguous figure to a straight up villain

[close]

.

That aside, it was great fun and, again, features a corker of a lead performance. I'm not sure the world is really crying out for yet another posh white English actor but - looking at some of the charisma vacuums that get catapulted to stardom, your Daniel Radcliffes or Sam Worthingtons - I'd say he deserves some level of success.

[olliebean]

Sure, they are:

Spoiler alert

Timecrimes
Triangle
Primer

[close]

They aren't fully similar, just have some concepts in common.

Thanks, as it happens I've seen all three of those and enjoyed two and a half of them.

[Custard]

I bluddy loved the Magician. I saw it at a press screening when it came out over here & then went to a Q & A with Scott Ryan afterwards. He was so full of ideas of what he was going to do next & where he wanted to go it's a shame to see he's done nought since.

There's an amazing making of extra on the DVD that I recommend you watch if you haven't done so yet.

Will deffo give that a watch! Thank you much

[Garam]

1984 - 1984

1984's a top five book for me but i only just got around to seeing this. It's a pretty good film but doesn't delve too deeply into anything. At all. O'Brien just sort of shows up. You never feel that Winston and Julia are really involved in each other. Despite all that, it looks great, John Hurt is born to play Winston Smith and it has some great 80s electronica on the soundtrack. The whole film's got a really dreamy atmosphere to it. The ending is the worst bit of adaptation going on here though, not much of an attempt to translate the book at all.

Then I finished, went online, and found that a new adaptation was announced minutes before, directed by Paul Greengrass. Is the 50s BBC serial any good? Are there any other good Orwell films?

[Thomas]

John Hurt is born to play Winston Smith

I will echo this. I can't return to or think about the novel without picturing John Hurt as the protagonist.

[thraxx]

1984 - 1984

1984's a top five book for me but i only just got around to seeing this. It's a pretty good film but doesn't delve too deeply into anything. At all. O'Brien just sort of shows up. You never feel that Winston and Julia are really involved in each other. Despite all that, it looks great, John Hurt is born to play Winston Smith and it has some great 80s electronica on the soundtrack. The whole film's got a really dreamy atmosphere to it. The ending is the worst bit of adaptation going on here though, not much of an attempt to translate the book at all.

Then I finished, went online, and found that a new adaptation was announced minutes before, directed by Paul Greengrass. Is the 50s BBC serial any good? Are there any other good Orwell films?

The 50s serial is on you tube as I recall and it pretty true to the book.  It's quite stiff and austere and wooden though.  I was that I had watched, but I couldn't say that I actually enjoyed watchin it and was glad when it was over.

[Garam]

I want to see films about a young Orwell in Burma, Paris, London and Barcelona. HBO make it happen.


That Chris Langham thing on Orwell any good?