What was the last film you watched?

[Gattopardo]

Start Trek into Darkness.

Well, I enjoyed it. Maybe because I don't think I've seen any other Star Trek films. Apart from the one with the Ewoks.

That is the other space one from the 70's....

Young adult - Scarlett what ever her face is in it, she gets naked in it twice and shags an ugly alegedly deformed bloke for his personality.  That is a better explanation than the real blurb.

despicable me - funny interesting and totally amusing apart from russel brand.

[Mrs Pingu]

We are watching Micmacs. I love Jeunet films

[hillbilly]

Oblivion

Sci-fi that wants to be taken seriously, but ultimately fails to get the grades it needs as it flits between story and memory.  All of the standard elements are present and correct:

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post-apocalypse Earth
clones, unaware of their identity...
...but there are flashbacks that hint at some greater truth
alien invasion
human survivors struggling against aliens
rogue tech
payload delivered by delivering bomb into heart of alien mothership (when will they ever learn)
Elvis bobbly head

but don't quite click as a film.  It's neither profound enough, nor action packed enough, to really grab the attention.

Tom Cruise is good, if a little prone to looking angst ridden.  Morgan Freeman is barely noticeable.  Andrea Riseborough is, as always, great (and I've got a bit of a thing for her, so won't hear a word said against her). 

The drones were also rather funky, reminding me of the bastard lovechild of a mute GLaDOS crossed with a Turret (cf Portal, a videogame - keep up at the back).  Speaking of videogames, there was a dogfight sequence between the Cruisenator and drones that felt as intense as a videogame.  If the film had tkept he momentum of that sequence throughout, it would have elevated it to something more memorable (maybe).

Worth catching if it's on telly, but not going out of your way to see.

[rogerzilla]

24 Hour Party People.  The soundtrack's cover describes three of the main protagonists thus:

Ian Curtis: Genius
Sean Ryder: Poet
Tony Wilson: Twat

It's quite poignant given that TW died shortly afterwards, and also appears in a cameo.  Probably also Peter Kay's sleaziest role ever.

[fuzzy]

End Of Watch.

Very American in its feel (for obvious reasons) but conveyed to 'Brotherhood' feeling of being a cop, that is felt over here also very well.

[tiermat]

This weekend I watched "Despicable Me 2", with TLD.

It was great fun.

We then watched the 3 shorts that come with the DVD/BR release, which were a little hit and miss, Training Wheels being the best one.

[Wascally Weasel]

End Of Watch.

Very American in its feel (for obvious reasons) but conveyed to 'Brotherhood' feeling of being a cop, that is felt over here also very well.

Was curious what you were going to make of that one!

[TimO]

World War Z.

Surprisingly good, and I'm not generally a big enthusiast of zombie movies.

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Interesting to see zombies that can move at a fast pace, albeit with an implausibly fast incubation time.  Given that the basic facts of the disease are assumed to be plausible, the storyline is generally consistent, unusual, and not that predictable.

... oh and it has Dr Who in it, even if he hasn't actually been seen in that series yet.

[spindrift]

The Five Year Engagement, very funny, a bit overlong, Emily Blunt's lovely in it, the humour's like Knocked Up or This Is 40 then I realised Judd Apatow produced it.

[Kim]

Tommy.

My hands hurt to type, it was on iplayer and I'd never seen it.  Now I have.

I suppose it looked different in the 70s.

[Wascally Weasel]

I saw ‘Ender’s Game’ on Friday.  There’s a boycott on over the author’s dramatic and increasingly virulently homophobic views over the years*, so technically I saw ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2’, at least that’s what I bought a ticket for.

The later opinions of the author aside, ‘Ender’s Game’ was an enjoyable novel, with some interesting points and I was curious to see what they had done with it on film.  If there was going to be a big budget SF war film, I would much rather they had made Joe Haldeman’s ‘The Forever War’ but we’ll have to wait for that one.

Some of the key, or at least good bits in the original novel take place in zero gravity and I was very interested in seeing those on film.  For the most part, the zero-g scenes are good, apart from the scene in a shuttle where people are tethered in their seats and just waving their arms around unrealistically.  Story wise they seemed to get most of the main elements in but in a way that made the film seem both lengthy and truncated, although I suspect this may not be the case if you haven’t read the book.

I was entertained but as with any adaptation of a book I know well, it’s difficult to be objective on first viewing.  People I know who saw it and haven’t read the book enjoyed it.  Hardly a ringing endorsement I know but there you go.


*The rise of which curiously coincides with how increasingly messianic the lead characters in his novels have become over the years.  He seems to be adding Tea Party appeasing crazy racism too with a recent SF ‘essay’ on the totalitarian state that Obama is about to usher in.  With search disabled I can’t find my previous comments on this – I think there was a boycott discussion thread.

[Jaded]

Side effects.

Watchable. Incorrect lesbians in it, and a mild twist.

[Jaded]

Now you see me.

I'll have to watch it again as it was like Oceans 11 with bits taken out.

[Kim]

Incorrect lesbians

Dare I ask?

[Jaded]

More the quality of acting/realism than any particular activity... it was incongruous but necessary for the plot, I'd say.

[Guy]

Watched WHITE HOUSE DOWN last night. Die Hard films aren't the same without Bruce. Even if the hero does remove his jacket, shirt and tie and go running around in his vest, he still ain't Bruce.

(bit of a spoiler)

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Using what appeared to be an ICBM to shoot down Air Force 2 was pretty neat

[Pickled Onion]

Butterfly's Tongue (La lengua de las mariposas)

Events in a village in Galicia leading up to the civil war. One of those beautiful, ponderous continental films that leave you thinking it over for a long time afterwards. (The pun in the title was lost in the given translation though.)

[tiermat]

Butterfly's Tongue (La lengua de las mariposas)

Events in a village in Galicia leading up to the civil war. One of those beautiful, ponderous continental films that leave you thinking it over for a long time afterwards. (The pun in the title was lost in the given translation though.)

I loved that film!

[citoyen]

Worlds End

Not as funny as Shaun Of The Dead or Hot Fuzz but still a good chuckle.

Not as funny as Shaun of the Dead but preferred it to Hot Fuzz.

Saw this last week myself. Very much enjoyed it. I never really liked Shaun Of The Dead that much but I loved Hot Fuzz, and I'd put World's End between the two in order of preference. I might have to revisit SOTD in case I missed something first time around, but really I think it's just that I'm not into zombie films so didn't quite get it. (By contrast, I love the type of films that are referenced in Hot Fuzz - in fact, Point Break is one of my all-time favourites, so...)

I definitely didn't expect that to happen in the gents' toilet though.

I was just starting to wonder how the film fitted into the "trilogy" when that happened...

Also saw Monsters University last week. Meh. Pretty lame. The story is totally formulaic and predictable and the humour mostly quite flat. Still, decent animation, as you'd expect.

Last night we went en famille to a screening of the 2011 National Theatre production of Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller (the two Sherlocks), directed by Danny Boyle. A spectacular production, as you'd expect from Boyle, but the adaptation by Nick Dear was pretty ropey, and as a piece of theatre, it was deeply flawed in many other ways.

I share many of the criticisms voiced in the comments under this Guardian review, should anyone be interested in reading further: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/feb/24/review-frankenstein-olivier-theatre-boyle

The review itself is well wide of the mark - Billington is an old duffer.

One criticism I emphatically do not share is over the casting of a black actor as father to a white character. It may well not be "naturalistic" but very little else in the production is naturalistic either, so it seems an irrelevant complaint. Besides, I've BTDTGTTS - I casted a black Cameroonian as father to a white middle class Surrey girl in a student production I directed. They were the best choices for the parts. End of.

[fuzzy]

The Fourth Kind, a 'documentary' film about unexplained disapearances in Nome Alaska.

Quite eerie in places and stars Mila Jovovic so whats not to like?

[hillbilly]

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Enjoyed it, even if the homages to Star Trek 2 were a little bit obvious and over laboured.

That said, it was a warp jump away from Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith.  I had on in the background this pm.  I'm surprised they got away with the anagram in the last word of the subtitle, but tip my hat to their honesty.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

The Lost Boys. Wheeeeeeeeeeee.

[ian]

The Lost Boys. Wheeeeeeeeeeee.

Me too. Kiefer Sutherland isn't a real vampire, not like Nicolas Cage, because he's definitely got older.

O the fashion!

[Wascally Weasel]

Saw the new Thor film on Saturday – was ok but wasn’t bowled over by it.  Felt a bit flat in the scenes without Loki and the endless punch-up to reach the conclusion wasn’t as exciting as the end of the first Thor (for reference, I really liked the first film. This felt a lot lighter on characterisation and more splodey).

Oh and if you do see it in the cinema, there are two credits/post credits additional scenes, including one right at the end.  It doesn’t really feel worth waiting for but it does round the film off.

The trailer for the next Captain America film looks pretty good, if somewhat spoilery.

Then on DVD over the weekend ‘The Right Stuff’ (well the last hour or so that I didn’t watch the other night), ‘The Fugitive’ and ‘Ocean’s Eleven’.

Other than the first of those three, seem to be on a ‘films that spawned disappointing sequels’ kick there.

Also saw all but the first twenty minutes of ‘Beckett’ on BBC2 starring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole (I imagine there were some drinks consumed on that shoot) – was really good.  Look forward to seeing it in full another time.

[citoyen]

Other than the first of those three, seem to be on a ‘films that spawned disappointing sequels’ kick there.

I never saw any of the first ten so can't really compare, but I thought the 11th instalment in the Oceans franchise was alright.