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Taken 3

I read one review which said something along the lines of "the only thing getting taken here is your money and 2 hours of your life you wont get back". Its very true.

The director did a horrible, horrible job and you can kind of tell Liam Neeson is just doing it for the money. The film is predictable from start to finish with the most generic cliche Russian bad guys Ive ever seen in a film. Action was un-engaging and bloodless with so many jump cuts that it gave me a headache.

Not the worst but among the worst films I've seen. Don't listen to people who say its mindless popcorn entertainment because its not even entertaining. I hope they don't make T4KEN. 1/10
 
Big Hero 6.

I've heard good reviews about it but this was a great film good humour action paced I enjoyed it, better than Wreck it Ralph by a long shot. My favourite animated film.
 
tomahawk said:
The Interview

Before all the bull ****, I was excited to see this as I typically enjoy Rogen/Franco movies, despite the excessive weed jokes. We got it through Xbox video and the wife and I sat down to watch it. I enjoyed it for what it was, a really stupid comedy. Did they go a little far, of course. They rehashed a few things from Pineapple Express, and you definitely lose some of the humor not being in a crowded theater.

I watched it last night and it was "okay I guess". The real saving grace was the fact that they did take it so far. It was all really obvious and I can't stand telegraphed humour though. At least they did actually follow through and go too far so it was kind of okay because of it.

gavin said:
Gone Girl

I missed this at the cinema, but got around to watching it a couple of days ago. I was close to not bothering since I really liked the book and it's rare that a film adaptation ever lives up to that, but this was a really decent version, probably because the original author wrote the screenplay. You don't get into the characters anywhere near as much - it's much more focused on the basic events of the story - but it stuck with the overall atmosphere and intensity of the book really well.

I've not read the original book and knew nothing about it, so it was all fresh to me. I found it very very similar to Zodiac and The Social Network in that it was a bit pedestrian. There wasn't anything wrong with it, everything was perfectly well done, but it never excelled. It just told the tale and finished without ever really making much of an effort. I guess it's bad to be negative about a film because it's "perfectly fine", but it just meant it was underwhelming and forgettable.

tomahawk said:
The Imitation Game

Much better than I anticipated, and Cumberbatch was fantastic. This is going to come off sounding bad, as I've tried phrasing it several different ways which all sound worse, but I am glad they didn't focus the entirety of the movie on him being gay, rather just placed the necessary amount on it. It was, I think, respectful in the way they did it as they didn't belittle him by claiming the movie was made simply because he was gay, but rather focused on his accomplishments, and his historical significance to the war. Very good film and worth a watch. Cumberbatch will definitely clean up come awards time.

I actually really enjoyed it, which was a relief. I did history of computing at uni and was worried that it might be a little too light on historical accuracy. It wasn't perfect, but it captured the work they did pretty well and the made up bits gave Cummerbund the chance excel in being autistic :)

So the fantasy was forgiveable, but not so sure about how special they portrayed Turing.

peep said:
Into the woods

At first it was a little slow and too much use of the same musical theme but as the film progressed I really got into it and there were some fantastic scenes. I liked the set designs and how it was like a stage set but with a feature like budget.

And finally (for the moment :lol: ) I'm not sure about Into the woods. I liked it to start with because it's the first time I've seen James Corden in something and haven't wanted to punch him. So it endeared me to it.

I thought Meryl was a little too obviously over the top in an attempt to get the over-the-top-so-it-must-be-good award. Worse though, her character was a bit unclear. I think that's because the mixing of the tales wasn't clear and it ended up a bit of a mess, not really knowing what path it should take - so it just made **** up because hell, it's a fairy tale!

By the end of the "quest" I thought it had run out of steam though and needed to wrap up - the entire post quest stuff was too much and went on too long and anti-climatically.

I agree with you Peep about the stage set at times. You'll watch and think "this is really a cleverly advanced stage show" and it works. Then other times (like the props from the bean stalk) it felt cardboard and crap. Like the story, the concept of making a filmed stage show never settled down and ended up either quite clever or a bit ****. Musical score was too samey, but it kind of worked - again, it never worked out whether using the same stuff was clever or not, so it would suddenly break into something different and then realise that it was breaking the flow it had set up and go back again.

So yeah, it was all a bit of a mess, but not completely unwatchable.

Big Hero 6 is next on my list, hopefully this weekend :)

Oh, I also made MMF sit through Watership Down because I'm a ****. He loved the cute rabbits and their exciting and rabbitty lives.... Until 20 minutes in one of the cute rabbits (with a cute little rabbitty name) gets maliciously eaten by a hawk. We never even made it to "Bright Eyes" which would have finished him off :lol: Watership down, screwing up kids for 35 years :)
 
The Woman in Black 2

I was really excited to see that they were making a sequel to the Woman in Black, as it's one of the better horror films in my opinion. I loved how atmospheric the first movie was, and although it's obviously far fetched, I found it really entertaining. I felt for the characters more than I usually do in your average horror film. Woman in Black 2, on the other hand, made me want to stab myself. Zero character development, crappy storyline, NOTHING was creepy or atmospheric about it, and all they used were cheap jump scares. Thankfully I got popcorn, which somewhat redeemed my trip to the cinema, and thankfully it was essentially a free night out. Do not watch, absolute TURD.

3 only because there are a few airplanes in it.
 
Oh no, Cameron must have had to find another set of films to steal after American Pie 87 came out..

Dumb and Dumber To

Thank you discount theater! Finally saw it yesterday, and I enjoyed it for how stupid it was. Mindless entertainment.
 
Big Hero 6

I've been really looking forward to this film and it really didn't disappoint, the animation is absolutely beautiful and the story is great. The cameo after the credits <3 I think the only fault I found was the soundtrack which was a bit awful at times, some moments were quite distracting. Can't wait to go see it again once it's fully released in a few weeks, very highly recommend!

After the film we had a Q&A session with one of the directors and one of the producers. It was quite interesting until they opened it up to the kids in the audience who failed to ask any interesting questions (and managed to ask the same questions three times!).
 
peep said:
After the film we had a Q&A session with one of the directors and one of the producers. It was quite interesting until they opened it up to the kids in the audience who failed to ask any interesting questions (and managed to ask the same questions three times!).

Awesome! Why was one of the directors present? Special screening?
 
The Wedding Ringer

I love Josh Gad, and am neutral to negative on Kevin Hart, but I absolutely loved this movie. Hilarious.

American Sniper

Absolutely fantastic film. Cooper deserves all the awards he will be nominated for. A close family friend is nominated for Best Editor at the Oscars and has already won many awards for the film from his peers. The theater was completely silent upon leaving, and it was full 5 minutes after they opened the doors.
 
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Glennderp said:
peep said:
After the film we had a Q&A session with one of the directors and one of the producers. It was quite interesting until they opened it up to the kids in the audience who failed to ask any interesting questions (and managed to ask the same questions three times!).

Awesome! Why was one of the directors present? Special screening?
Yeah, it was a screening at the BFI (peeps behind the London Film festival and funding to British films). They have a good relationship with Disney so always get to do an advanced screening with some of the filmmakers doing a Q&A. I went to a Princess and the frog one and they had one of the artists there who actually did a live sketch of one of the characters, signed it and then gave it away to a lucky audience member.
 
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tomahawk said:
American Sniper

Absolutely fantastic film. Cooper deserves all the awards he will be nominated for. A close family friend is nominated for Best Editor at the Oscars and has already won many awards for the film from his peers. The theater was completely silent upon leaving, and it was full 5 minutes after they opened the doors.

I always feel that films like American Sniper are only going to get that kind of reaction from a U.S. audience though, which is unfortunate. I'm seeing it next week so will be interesting to see how the reactions compare.
 
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nadroJ said:
tomahawk said:
American Sniper

Absolutely fantastic film. Cooper deserves all the awards he will be nominated for. A close family friend is nominated for Best Editor at the Oscars and has already won many awards for the film from his peers. The theater was completely silent upon leaving, and it was full 5 minutes after they opened the doors.

I always feel that films like American Sniper are only going to get that kind of reaction from a U.S. audience though, which is unfortunate. I'm seeing it next week so will be interesting to see how the reactions compare.

I couldn't quite decide on the film to be honest. It kept stepping into "Murica BOOYA!" territory but with a degree of sensitivity. I don't think it tackled the emotional issues particularly well actually, rather portraying that a stiff upper lip and being a man is the best way forward. That's not to slight the bravery of the main character and the hardships they went through and the good work he did. It just seemed a bit odd to me. It's hard to explain. I guess when it was trying to be sensitive and emotional, it was still being "I AM MAN!"

It's not Eastwood's best work, but reading around it, it looks like he was brought on quite late, so it was probably just a bit of "I'd best get it done" and it's a very competently directed film, but it's no "Letters" or Gran Torino.

I don't know if I was supposed to be emotional at the end. I didn't find it overly profound, but maybe that's because (like in a lot of the film), things are very "perfunctory" which I believe was intentional as "that's a man's life in a man's war". I also seem to be emotionally devoid at the moment and found neither The Imitation Game or Theory of Everything tugged at my heart strings much either (though I did on occasion feel a little sorry for the Hawkins). So there's a chance that as I have the emotional range of a fish at the moment, I may have missed something. :)

Anyway, I did enjoy it - just thought I'd address what Jordan was saying and it'll be interesting to see how she thinks of it at the end.
 
Ex Machina

Phenomenal. It's a brilliant thriller with the occasional amusement and outstanding special effects (biased). The three lead actors are superb. I can't recommend this film enough, just go and see it!
 
Re: Re:

furie said:
nadroJ said:
tomahawk said:
American Sniper

Absolutely fantastic film. Cooper deserves all the awards he will be nominated for. A close family friend is nominated for Best Editor at the Oscars and has already won many awards for the film from his peers. The theater was completely silent upon leaving, and it was full 5 minutes after they opened the doors.

I always feel that films like American Sniper are only going to get that kind of reaction from a U.S. audience though, which is unfortunate. I'm seeing it next week so will be interesting to see how the reactions compare.

I couldn't quite decide on the film to be honest. It kept stepping into "Murica BOOYA!" territory but with a degree of sensitivity. I don't think it tackled the emotional issues particularly well actually, rather portraying that a stiff upper lip and being a man is the best way forward. That's not to slight the bravery of the main character and the hardships they went through and the good work he did. It just seemed a bit odd to me. It's hard to explain. I guess when it was trying to be sensitive and emotional, it was still being "I AM MAN!"

It's not Eastwood's best work, but reading around it, it looks like he was brought on quite late, so it was probably just a bit of "I'd best get it done" and it's a very competently directed film, but it's no "Letters" or Gran Torino.

I don't know if I was supposed to be emotional at the end. I didn't find it overly profound, but maybe that's because (like in a lot of the film), things are very "perfunctory" which I believe was intentional as "that's a man's life in a man's war". I also seem to be emotionally devoid at the moment and found neither The Imitation Game or Theory of Everything tugged at my heart strings much either (though I did on occasion feel a little sorry for the Hawkins). So there's a chance that as I have the emotional range of a fish at the moment, I may have missed something. :)

Anyway, I did enjoy it - just thought I'd address what Jordan was saying and it'll be interesting to see how she thinks of it at the end.

Imitation Game ending was there simply to make you feel like a piece of **** about how gay men " we're treated" (because there still is a negative connotation from some) and while it's sad, it wasn't gasp worthy like some people in the theater did while reading.

American Sniper is one of those big US movies that won't fare well overseas, but it's different, than say Jarhead war movie. While they focus on his war accolades, they also spend a good portion of time dealing with PTSD and the effects of war. The real wife was heavily involved and all the scenes when he is home is essentially word for word what happened. It was different than I thought it would be. The guy hand selected Cooper and Eastwood to do the movie.
 
Mortdecai

Fantastic cast with a terrible script. There's a silly amount of unnecessary vfx which just makes it look odd and apart from a couple of laugh out loud moments all 'jokes' totally fail. It all looks flashy and high budget but it just doesn't work on any level. Avoid.
 
Kingsman: the secret service

Really enjoyed this film. Excellent cast, brilliant writing and some fantastic action sequences. Sometimes there are some rushed vfx but that appears to be the directors style. However it's very enjoyable and I highly recommend.
 
Predestination

Pretty decent really and could've been a bit of a headf**k if I didn't see a lot of the twists coming.
 
The Riot Club

I had no idea what to expect, but it was sooooooooo good. It starts off very light and almost comedy-like, but gets gradually darker and very intense. Really great social commentary as well.
 
^Its so good! Found the last half hour really intense. Annoyed I missed out on seeing the stage show it's based off.
 
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