Last Film You've Seen

[Octo]

I've seen a few things lately

The Fountain - I liked it. Like yeah it was a bit crazy, and I think if I'd watched it 4 years ago I wouldn't have appreciated it, but I guess it kind of fits in with my philosophy on life now. I enjoyed the visuals too, and I have a bit of a girl crush on Rachel Weisz.

Submarine - Very british, but I think non-britsh would appreciate it - universal things - coming of age and all that, but yeah, it made me laugh and I could really relate to the main character.

 

[Abortedj]

Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight

A made for HBO movie about the Supreme Court grand objector status to Muhammad Ali and the politics there of. Pretty good.

 

[Cabaret]

Madagascar 2 - Which has filled me with fuzzies and laughs and I can't stop shakin ma ass to the crazy beat!

Fab film!

Yeppers, I only watch the serious stuff of adulthood y'know.

 

[Keveh Kins]

Watched Rapture-Palooza last night, had some funny moments

Also watched White Men Can't Jump and holy crap Wesley Snipes was ripped in that movie.

 

[Interslicery]

I watched The Mighty Ducks cause fuck you, that's why.

 

[trash panda]

Yesterday was a serious movie day for me. I went to redbox and rented:

Frozen
47 Ronin
Dallas Buyers Club


Frozen held my interest the entire time...nothing original, but still cute and worth being seen I suppose.

I had to force myself to stay awake for 47 Ronin, and I watched it at like...1 oclock in the afternoon. It was literally putting me to sleep.

Dallas Buyers club held my attention from beginning to end, but it's not the kind of subject matter that I'm drawn towards, so I spent most of the movie playing with my dogs. :|

 

[Abortedj]

Watched Wreck it Ralph. This was the second time I watched it, the first was when it was in theaters.

Good movie, fun, enjoyable to watch. One thing bothers me. The Sarah Silverman character, her eyes keep changing color. They start as brown, then they are green, think they are breifly blue. It is just odd.

 

[Cthulhu]

47 Ronin. It was pretty terribru, . The good bits were in the trailer, pretty much.

 

[Lord Noctis]

Odd Thomas.

This movie is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Dean Koontz, one of my favorite authors.

The film followed the events of the book pretty faithfully, even going so far as to recreate many of the conversations from the novel word for word. On the whole I found this to be very impressive. True, some characters and elements were minimized to make room for the important stuff. While that does suck, I feel like the things they did cut were probably less important to the story than what they kept, so I can't really complain.

That being said, the music in the first half of the movie, some of the directing choices, and a bit of the editing serve to harm the overall atmosphere of the movie, making it seem less powerful overall.

The performance of the actors is a fairly mixed bag. Willam Dafoe is the only actor who really seems to be bringing his best to the table, and really brings the character of Chief Wyatt Porter to life. None of the other actors are terrible, but none of them are really doing anything special. They do an adequate job, and that's about it.

I will saw however that the emotional climax of the movie is handled very well, and captures the same feelings as it did in the book, so at least they nailed that pretty well.

Overall its a decent film and adaptation of a really good novel.

 

[Ami]

X-Men: Days of Future Past. Thoughts can be found in the appropriate thread.

 

[Unlucky]

47 Ronin. It was pretty terribru, . The good bits were in the trailer, pretty much.

IIRC, it is now the biggest box office failure to date

OT:

The Counselor

I don't agree that it's as terrible as most critics say. Biggest mistake of the movie is the dialogue-- it's trying too hard to be profound and is generally tl;dr. Now, incorporate that with the slow, indulgent style of story-telling and you get a bored (if not annoyed) audience. It's like a Tarantino flick sans black comedy and excitement factor. The story itself though is very good. It's gut-wrenching and haunting most especially in the later parts of the film... if you had the patience to make it through.

Pompeii

So you think this film is about the tragedy that befell an ancient city? WRONG. The erupting volcano is only there to provide our Gladiator/ Titanic rip-off characters a kick-ass background while they try to kill each other. On top of that, there's insane levels of stupid, you wonder if the writers were even trying at all.

I'm going to be very ranty here because seriously. How does Paul WS Anderson (of Resident Evil crapfest notoriety) even get work? The plot of this whole flick is not only so historically inaccurate but is as shallow as a soydish. It's like Mr Anderson and his team of equally vapid screenwriters sat around a table, wrote the plot and every cliche they could think of for three minutes and somehow got millions of dollars for a budget.

Horrendous Gladiator meets Titanic disaster crap. Shame on you Anderson.

 

[Keveh Kins]

^Paul WS Anderson was set to direct a Castlevania film when it was still a thing, was never more glad to see a film enter development hell. I imagine he gets work on the basis that people confuse him with Paul Thomas Anderson, of There Will be Blood and Boogie Nights notoriety He's no Uwe Boll though, ol' WS Anderson

Went to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I quite enjoyed it, thought it was a very fun watch with a good mix of Spidey humour, action and thought

Spoiler

Gwen's death was done very well and Andrew Garfield did a great job of bringing emotion to it.

The soundtrack is also kickass

 

[Cabaret]

Dear God Godzilla has a lot of plot holes.

Spoiler

So Godzilla is some kind of benevolent being that kills big monsters to restore balance? Would it not have been better for him to do so for food? The Muto laid a ton of eggs, why did only 2 survive before, where were the others? They said that the Muto was a parasite that had killed... presumably another Godzilla before? So was that why Godzilla was after them? Animals don't tend to think like that. What does Godzilla eat?! Why did soldier guy say 'get down' on the bridge then proceed to shine his light into that Muto's eyes? Why were the military happy to go with a very flawed plan? The military is smarter than that. Why did the science guy study this thing for 15 years then throw all that out the window and go with a hunch or leap of faith that Godzillia as just going to clear the whole mess up? Ho is it possible that children keep finding their parents in very crowded scenes of devastation? Soldier guy never actually disarmed the nuke, soooo is that it? San Fran is toast and everyone's got radiation poisoning? Why the hell would a prehistoric creature such as Muto evolve to have an EMP as a weapon? Why is no one chasing Godzilla down and killing him? Or is everyone now converted? Why does the US military only seem to have one EOD in the whole army? How is it possible for him to keep hitching lifts and joining different platoons and when he is on the train cos he's soooo important, why does he then go out to check the bridge? They had no one else?! Oh and what teacher evacuates all kids from her classroom except one?!

At least it's got me thinking, great art does that huh?

 

[Ami]

Blended.

I actually quite liked it, despite the negative reviews from critics.

 

[Pixel]

Dear Zachary.

Go seek it out. It's a documentary that is guaranteed to make you cry. Go into it blind. It'll have more impact.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

Dear God Godzilla has a lot of plot holes.

So, first of all, 98% of what you listed aren't plot holes. Secondly, I'll get to everything in specifics in the main thread: http://thelifestream.net/forums/showthread.php?t=11947&page=25


Also, saw & loved Godzilla, X-Men: DoFP, & Maleficent recently.



X

 

[Tennyo]

Rise of the Guardians.

I always thought it looked like it would be a fun movie, but it was down right epic. I think I need to go out and purchase this on Blu-Ray post haste.

 

[Interslicery]

The Grand Seduction

Remake of a french-canadian movie for english audiences about a Newfoundland harbor under financial crisis that needs a doctor in the village in order for a factory to be built and create some jobs.

Chances are it won't be a theatre near you (it's a low budget canadian movie set in canada after all), but it was pretty good. Especially if you enjoy the feel of being in a small town. Growing up in a harbor town (tho not nearly that small, tho I have been to places that that), they really really got the feel right, and most of the cast aside from the main people are locals.
If anyone knows This Hour Has 22 Min, most of the original cast is in here, along with a few Red Green Show regulars.

I really enjoyed it. Funny, heart warming, well made, realistic characters and well acted. Check it out sometime.

 

[Abortedj]

Just watched Pain and Gain. Fun, but you can tell no one involved really gave a shit.

 

[Interslicery]

Chef

Really really good feel good movie. Well written, funny, makes you wanna be a chef lol Don't go on an empty stomach, you WILL regret it, omg everything looked so delicious.

 

[Claymore]

Been on a massive zombie binge.

Portrait of a Zombie - I appreciate what this Irish low-budget comedy/horror hybrid attempted to do, but it was ultimately really flat and boring. However, I will give it props for the zombie make-up effects.

Juan of the Dead - Now THIS is how you do a comedy/horror. Characters that felt real and that you grew to love, lots of dark humour, nice zombie / fighting effects, and a straight-forward story make this a winner. Shame about the ending / end credits segment, but a nice watch otherwise.

Exit Humanity - An american civil war zombie film? Eh, I guess it did what it meant to do and get me watching because it was something entirely different. Unfortunately, it was incredibly boring and the story convoluted. Did love the animation segments, but just don't bother giving this a try.

Cockneys Vs Zombies - A fun little british zombie film. You'll enjoy it more if you know the types of people first-hand as you'll resonate with these characters more. Not much story or effects though.

Zombie 108 - A japanese zombie horror where the police and gangsters end up working together during an outbreak. It's like an attempt at Resident Evil (the film). Nothing special about it and the story is really boring. Er, if you're really bored you could watch it for the few martial arts bits I guess, plus there are naked girl shots at the start if you're into that sort of thing. Otherwise, another one to avoid.


Next up, doing a binge on all those 'lost video tape' movie types...

 

[Claymore]

Grave Encounters
I thought that this was an excellent film! I absolutely loved the almost 'parody' aspect of all those ghost haunting shows that you find on the back of beyond TV channels. It made the characters feel more real and involved within the scenario, especially because they themselves knew what they were doing was simple sensationalist nonsense (no offence to anyone who believes in that sort of thing). By setting it up like this, it meant that actual supernatural occurrences had a much bigger impact on both these characters and the viewer. Loved the use of the cameras, loved the story, loved the scares. A must watch.

Grace Encounters 2
Hyped from the initial film I jumped straight into the sequel ... and was completely and utterly disappointed. To say that this film is a head scratcher is putting things mildly. So apparently, everything that happened in the original was all staged and made into an actual real life film by the director. Ok. But then the cast begin disappearing over time, all except the lead who has been missing since the first film. Ok. But then this annoying (scratch that - MEGA ANNOYING) group of teenagers set out to somehow prove that the film is real. O....K. So they head back to the film site and find themselves trapped in events, some weird story about some rituals being done by the doctors on the site and doorways to other realms and this mess of a film comes to a head with a predictable ending.

I just can't put into words how disappointing this sequel was, as both a follow-up to the great original and as a film in itself. Terrible. Completely terrible.

The Apparition
So ... this group find a way to manifest something from the other side, and years later it comes back to bite them in the ass as it tries to cross over into this world. Cue convoluted tension between the main characters and a set-up of a containment field that this guy has been working on for years and *yawn*. Few scares. Boring characters. Blah ending. Popcorn filler.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones
Let me first start by saying how BIG of a fan I am of the Paranormal Activity franchise. I absolutely love it. It's one of those rare film series that continues to keep me engaged and comes up with new ways (within the familiar framework of the film) to scare the viewer whilst attempting to provide a connected storyline. This film is no exception. The scares are great, you get to know and like the characters, and the twist at the end (which I won't spoil) is fantastic. Yeah, certain reactions are a little unbelievable, but most people in horror films don't react as normal people anyway, lol. Loved it. Long may this franchise continue!

Death of a Ghost Hunter
I am just going to say: avoid this film, because I don't remember a single thing about it. Honest. It was that forgettable.

REC 3: Genesis
Ugh. I wanted to love this film ... I REALLY wanted to ... but I can't. I loved what the original REC was, 2 was 'meh' but watchable, and this third film continues the downward trend. Annoying characters, few scares, a really weird development of the franchise's overall story, and a stupid ending serve to make this a horrible film all round. Avoid.



Hhm. Might look at Japanese horrors next...

 

[Interslicery]

Burtons Planet of the Apes

Not as bad as I remember, but it's just so pointless and dull that you won't remember you watched it a day later. Altho I enjoyed any scene where Giamatti was on screen, and the makeup effects are fantastic.

 

[Ami]

Walking on Sunshine.

Let me start by saying yes, this is very cheesy. BUT. It's the good cheesy kind.

Story's fairly simple enough: Taylor goes on holiday, falls in love with a guy named Raf and has to go back home for University. Fast forward three years later, she's invited back to Italy by her sister Maddie - only to find out Maddie's about to marry Raf! Not only that, but Maddie's ex Doug is out to get her back for the millionth time.

I loved the selection of 80's hits that were covered. There was a lot of tongue in cheek with them and the comedy was quite good. Katy Brand is definitely the best of the lot. I liked it better than I thought and it was the Brit humour that made it for me. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing this again.

 

[Octo]

Behind the Candelabra.

Quite good. Though I know fuck all about Liberace - from this film I can conclude that he - like most famous/rich people - was fucking batshit. But it seems he had a good heart.