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kimahri said:
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BEEEEEEEEEES!!!

LOLz.

Also, like I said, watch Bad Lieutenant is epic.


Anyways, I saw a film after work today. Black Dynamite.

Basically a spoof of 70s blaxploitation films. It is very funny and it replicates the style of bad 70s films really well. It's just very silly and very fun so if you can find a cinema showing the film I recommend you go and see it.

Rating: 4/5
 
Went to see The Expendables yesterday because the weather wasn't so great.

Now I wasn't expecting much of a plot to this film, however I was surprised. It was no Borne, but it did have more of a plot that I thought it would. However the action scenes are what make this film. I mean, with a cast like it has, what else would you expect?

The violence is quite bloody and intense, however it works really well. There are also plenty of 'funny' moments of dialogue in the middle of fight scenes, again, exactly as you would expect. Surprisingly, Stallone's speech seems to have improved massively from one of the Rocky films I saw, and he's actually understandable. Which was nice.

Overall, it's a mindless film. It was entertaining, which is all I think it was going for, and it would be worth watching if you don't want to concentrate very hard. 6.5/10
 
Had a raid of the DVD rack yesterday and decided to have a "Burton" evening. I'm not one to review films really so I'll keep them short.

First film was Batman Returns.

I thought it was shockingly bad. It was dull, I didn't think much of the plot and even for a Tim Burton film it was ridiculously over the top. Probably the worst film I've seen since The Simpsons Movie. Catwoman's costume redeems it ever so slightly.

3/10.

Next up was Sleepy Hollow.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but I actually really enjoyed it. It was quirky, entertaining, had a fantastic cast and I have a particular liking to the whole mystery and "who done it" genre anyway. Definitely had the "Burton" feel to it without going too over the top.

8/10.

Finally I watched Edward Scissorhands.

I've been meaning to watch this film for a long time, I even have the complete soundtrack to it. Anyway, I loved it! It wasn't exactly what I was expecting but it was still a really moving plot and I did feel sympathy and hate towards the characters, something which I'm not always accustomed to. :p Really an excellent film which I'd recommend to anyone.

10/10.

Stepping away from Burton, this morning I watched Saving Private Ryan.

I'd seen the first 20 minutes countless times before which is still a really awe-inspiring piece of cinematography. I enjoyed the rest of the film although the consistent action scenes did start to get repetitive, they were still captivating and I felt that the film didn't drag on as much as say, Return of the King. Good film for the eyes, not so much for the arse though. :p

7.5/10.

I'm watching Inglorious Basterds tonight which I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing.
 
Ended up seeing The Expendables today. I was going to see Bender 3D but I would've had to wait ages and I just couldn't be bothered.

I thought the Expendables was going to be a terrible film and in my opinion, it was cr*p but it was still better than what I was expecting lol. For once I could understand what Stallone was saying (most of the time) and the action scenes were good at times. Overall it felt like a mess and I didn't really enjoy it, Arnie also looked really awkward and it spoilt the scene he was in, felt unnecessary.

I suppose this is for people who are fans of Stallone, i.e. not me.

Rating: 2/5
 
So, Inglourious Basterds.

WOW! What a film, I loved every single second of it! Not a single dull moment at all and I can see why Christoph Waltz got all those awards. The actor playing Hitler also did a brilliant job. (I must admit, I laughed every time he appeared for no apparent reason!) Everything from the plot, to the twists, the action scenes and even the violence, (it not being too over the top) was all done spectacularly.

Well done to Mr Tarantino for creating a non-factual ending, really pleasant surprise there as I expected the cinema plot to be a complete failure!

Utterly brilliant, my new favourite film!

11/10.
 
Despicable Me

Yeah, John invited to the Movie-Con screening at the BMI in Southbank, so hey...

It's all good fun, and has the BEST adult joke in a kid's film that we'll see this year...

Good solid cast with strange voices and great side-characters with the Minions...

John will no doubt turn up soon and do a fuller review...

7/10
 
^Hehe, Mr Benin has beaten me to it lol.

Despicable Me in 3D

What a great, fun film. The animation is great, the voice acting is spot on and it's full of hilarious moments throughout. The 3D was just the way I like it, subtle and just adding depth to the film (they play around with 3D a fair bit during the credits too which I quite liked). Oh and if it being a great film wasn't good enough for you, coaster credit FTW! :p

Rating: 4/5
 
I liked him in Kick Ass as well. His character was quite amusing at times. I haven't seen many films with him in so don't really find him 'that' annoying.
 
Watched Final Destination 3 last night.

No, I didn't just watch it because it's got a coaster in it. I watched it because it was on telly, and I was channel hopping just as it started. I hadn't seen any of the other FD films, so didn't really know what to expect. I'm also not really a fan of horror films, but do like a good over the top teen-horror (eg Urban Legend etc), and a good comedy death, so thought I'd give it a chance.

OMG, it's one of THE funniest things I've ever seen. Had me in hysterics pretty much the whole way through. Apparently the others are just the same, so might have to give them a watch too.

In terms of the quality of the actual film: 0.5/5
In terms of keeping me entertained: 4.5/5
 
Watched Kick-Ass with the wife & kid last night. Cage wasn't bad in that one either. His best are Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans (as Kimi stated above), Wild at Heart, Raising Arizona & Birdy (his most overlooked performance).
As for Kick-Ass, we all enjoyed it, but I can understand why some prudish Americans didn't appreciate Hit-Girl's profanity, violence, etc.
 
Clerks

Definitely not as funny as people say.. rather lame tbh.

5/10


Clerks 2

Epic. I loved it from beginning to end and was rather funny.

9/10
 
^
Very succinct, Lain :p Do remind me that's there next time I whine to you about being bored.

OK, as part of my 'You're right, 16 is a frankly pathetic number and besides, it turns out some of these actually ARE as good as people have been telling me for months' project, tonight was devoted to watching The Dark Knight.

I'm not much good at post-morteming films, so I'm going to be lazy and C&P the notes I already made on Facebook, with minor alterations. One self-appointed critic above had described the film as 'good, but not great', and... whilst this perhaps didn't entirely do it justice, I could see where he was coming from...
Granted, it's no Inception (which may simply come down to the fact that I've never liked superheroes all that much, whereas oneirology is fascinating) but still, having maintained my attention and curiosity in a length of time over which countless others have left me cold was an acheivement in itself... thus it definitely belongs on the 'to watch again' pile, but as Neal implies, it doesn't quite make the 10/10 pile.
Perhaps controversially, I liked the first 90 minutes better than the last 40 (whereas the finale was the prequel's finest moments) - I'm not much of a one for fight scenes but I've decided these are directed so bloody well that I just about let him get away with it - but after the Joker's escape, I thought it got over the top and thus harder to follow - there were some great ideas and some brilliant acting, but an endless series of explosions seemed to overshadow both story and perfomrance somewhat. I'm all for explosions (hospital and helicopter were among my favourites...), but I just thought it went a little too far, continuing into the part of the film where I wanted answers, and loose ends should have been being tied up.
Aside from me losing my way a bit towards the death though, quite a bit more impressed than I expected to be, while Batman Begins was even more surprisingly good yesterday, and similarly warrants a rewatch eventually. But it didn't have Heath Ledger in. Yeah, alive or dead, I can definitely see the appeal, and he brought a whole lot to the character. With reference to Neal's ongoing debate with anyone who'll listen, and several who'd prefer not to, I added "I know what Neal's going to say here... but I'll cop out and say that they're different - Nicholson does insane SO well, as I'm going to find out once or twice more as I plunge further into that infernal IMDB list, but there's not a lot to pick between." Certainly, the recent pair were far better than any Batmannage he'd inflicted on me.

A good two nights all in all... I wouldn't say I'm converted, but I'm beginning to see the enthusiasts are coming from... However, when I move onto anything more complex, I may have to watch alone... siblings attention spans make MINE look good :?
 
Scott Pilgrim vr The World Im going to do two reviews one with seeing the movie no comics and one with seeing the movie and reading comics. after seeing the movie though read the comics they were great and have a lot more comedy than the movie.

seeing movie no comics the movie was good it was overall really funny. All the characters were good there were no holes in the plot that i saw.Micheal cera was good. the pop art and the fight scenes were great. the subspace might confuse you. 8/10


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seeing movie with comics the movie was decent but the comics were so much better.they left so much out. like every thing about the glow and subspace highways. the books keep the same until the 3. they mix the 3 and 4 books. the ken and kyle fight scenes are all different they don't even talk.they leave the part about todd cheating on envy with the girl with the robot arm. there is just so much that is different.I personally think that they should have picked someone different than Michael cera. so...if you read the comics and see the movie its not as good. 6-7/10
 
As I said on Facebook Will, I agree entirely. The first 90 minutes in The Dark Knight were stunning, I loved it. Then the final 40 minutes or so just seemed too much. The film was ready to end, but just didn't. As good as those scenes in the last 40 minutes are, they were too much on top of what had already happened. It was just dragged out. It felt like watching Lord of the Rings :p

Few reviews from me then :)

First up, couple of Clive Barker films Lord of Illusions and Candyman

Candyman I've not seen since release when I saw it at the cinema (Warrington Odeon, 7:30 p.m. showing). I remember enjoying it, and it had a certain haunting quality greater than it should have. I also remember the cinema was full of a good mix of people, so lots of jumps and nervous giggling - the sign of a good horror.

So it was interesting to see again 20 years on. It's actually not aged as badly as you'd think (mostly because the awful late 80's/early 90's fashions are currently back :p ). I'd forgotten the plot, so the film was almost fresh, and it's actually still surprisingly good. It's a little bit threaded at the edges and you can see it coming apart a little and there are holes here and there. However, it's still not an awful film. If you're a fan of horror, then it's well worth a look.

Lord of Illusions is slightly different. Clive Barker was fed up with the treatment his work was getting from other directors, and directed this himself.

At the time of release, I was a huge Barker fan, and had just finished reading most of his (current) works. So I had rose tinted glasses on watching the film and rated it much higher than I should. The film is essentially a murder/mystery with Scott Bakula (Sam from Quantum Leap) playing a private detective who always ends up hitting occult cases. This time, it's a powerful and evil magician we see being fought in the opening scene. He's trying to work out the connection between a bunch of grisly deaths and the magician.

As a fan of Clive Barker, I can read a lot of what's going on in the background that's never revealed in the story. Knowing his work, I know there's so much back story never covered. With clearer vision and removing that, it's a pretty shallow, obvious tale with few redeeming features. Bakula's role is too much of a departure from his iconic Quantum Leap character, much of the acting is pretty dire and the film as a whole just promises considerably more than it ever actually delivers. If you're a fan of Clive Barker, you can overlook all of this, and grab a decent short story and make up the depth for yourself. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

Next up Minor_furie was bemoaning the fact he'd never seen Shaun of the Dead. I pointed out he's had the DivX on his PC for years, but he claim ignorance (I claim stupidity :p ).

So we watched it, and it was still great fun. I really enjoy the film, but find it gets a little lost towards the end. It certainly peaks in the middle, with the only highlight of the last twenty minutes really being the Queen section. Still a great film though to waste an hour and a half.

Lastly, I made both minor_Furie's watch Little Shop of Horrors I like the film to a degree. I think it's always close to being superb, but never quite makes it. However, it's good fun and Maxi-Minor_Furie spent most of the film with an evil grin on his face, he really liked it. Likewise, Minor_Furie understood the more adult humour and really enjoyed the film, particularly Steve Martin's dentist role and Bill Murry as the masochistic patient. Cheesy, fun musical for all the family :)

Time Travellers wife next... I wonder if it has any time travel in it? :p
 
The Expendables

SHOOT DEATH EPIC!! And Terry Crews yet again makes for the funniest moment of the whole movie.

8/10
 
The wind that shakes the Barley
Ooooh! Not "The time traveller's wife"...

I forgot about this to be honest, it's pretty forgettable...

Well it isn't, but it's just not something that really appealed to me.

Set in the early 1920's and is based on the Irish rebellion against the English (and the formation of the IRA) and the start of the Irish civil war. Essentially, it's the point where all the Irish troubles pivoted and the foundation of the trouble we see today occurred.

If you're interested in that, then the film is for you. It's really well made, and the story is well written and heart wrenching. It follows to tale of two brothers. One who is pro independence and the other who is trying to escape the uprising. Needless to say, the one trying to escape ends up embroiled in the war.

I'm not massively interested in the history of this, and the film turns me off a little. Personally, I think that wars like this (whatever their initial noble intentions) are wasteful of human life. People kill and die based on differences of opinion. I don't think raising a gun should be the way to settle an argument - especially when it not only tears apart families and friends, but also then destroys the lives of innocent people and bystanders.

So while it's interesting to see a film which is an excellent portrayal of the period, and shows the harsh realities of the start of this problem; I just don't really like it. Essentially everything that happens in history from the end of the film to modern days is a thousand fold expansion of the killing and dying in the film in real life. Growing up with Irish terrorist threat being constant (and I come from just outside Warrington where one of the last "public" IRA attacks happened) - it just really saddens me. The film and the story are overwhelmed for me by the real life of what occurred afterwards. I don't know if that makes sense, but the film was all about the waste and desolation of lives caused by the initial conflicts - and it's just something that carried on worse over the years. It's like "there's a lesson to be learned here" moral to the film, but we know it was never learned and it only got worse. It's bleak.

So, it's a tough film to rate. It's lovely, it's hard hitting, but it tries a little too hard to even things out, and comes off a bit moralistic in the end. As I say, this clashes with reality.

Still, if you want to get an idea of the hardships the Irish lived under in the early 1920s and why the IRA was formed and how everything got rolling, it's a great way to do it.
 
jjjjustin12 said:
Scott Pilgrim vr The World Im going to do two reviews one with seeing the movie no comics and one with seeing the movie and reading comics.

seeing movie no comics the movie was good it was overall really funny. All the characters were good there were no holes in the plot that i saw.Micheal cera was good. the pop art and the fight scenes were great.but the subspace highway might confuse you.8/10
(I didn't read the rest of your post - want to avoid spoilers :) )

YAY! :D I CAN'T WAIT to see this! Mainly because of Edgar Wright. Partly because it looks awesome. Comic book/game films don't usually interest me.

Went to see Edgar get interviewed by Joe Cornish at the BFI last night and they showed a 9 min clip of the film (the fight with the movie star ex and the preceeding 'date' bit in the flat). Since seeing it, I'm even more excited about the film than I was before. One of my mates at work also saw it last night, and said it was fab.

One week to go :D
 
^You got to see footage from the film too, that makes peep sad and very jealous :(

However Benin and I did walk past him on Sunday when we were at the BFI, Benin told me he didn't know who he was, you know how much will power that took me not to hit him? lol :p


Anyways, why would I post in here without giving a film review eh?

Salt

I annoyingly missed about a min or two at the beginning but I don't think I missed anything that wasn't mentioned again and again so I don't think it'll effect my review :p I thought the cast were great, the story was simple but effective. The direction I thought let the film down in places, the action scenes were like they were torn from a Michael Mann film (I hate Michael Mann films) which was annoying because the content was good it was just shot in a way where I'd like to meet the director and punch him to show what it is like watching those scenes.

Anyways, sorry for that little rant. Overall it is pretty good and a great spy thriller.

Rating: 4/5
 
peep said:
However Benin and I did walk past him on Sunday when we were at the BFI, Benin told me he didn't know who he was, you know how much will power that took me not to hit him? lol :p

I honestly couldn't hear what you said his name was at the time John, so I just guessed that I didn't know who he was atm :lol:
 
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