What was the last film you watched?

[mattc]

I also couldn't understand why they needed the prototype spacecraft on the Earth, mirroring the spacecraft on Mars.  You would want the EGSE (Electronic Ground Support Equipment), and you may plug into a prototype spacecraft to test it was working, but having both the real spacecraft and a engineering model both talking to the EGSE would be a recipe for confusion and probable failure!

For storytelling purposes to the non-technical earth based cinema audience I 'spect.

Gosh, we wouldnt want THAT. Don't they know they've ruined it for the millions of space industry workers watching?!?

[DDCyclist]

Watched Bicentennial Man the other day. This, IMHO, is one of Robin Williams' best films.

SO wants to see a movie this weekend, but I don't think there's anything on that might appeal to both of us. My guess is that she'll watch Suffragette and I'll watch The Martian. 

[Jakob]

Saw the Martian  last night.. I thought it was very good and one should ignore the comments above. I would hate to hear what you guys are going to say about Episode 7...

[citoyen]

I would hate to hear what you guys are going to say about Episode 7...

That's the one where Bunk and McNulty investigate a crime scene and communicate using only variants of the word fuck. It's brilliant!

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Took the 8 year old to see Pan, which is a billed as a prequel to the Peter Pan story that we all know and love.

What a complete mess of a film it is.  Many of the scenes seem to have been written simply to provide opportunities to play with 3D (I saw it in normal vision). If they had spent a bit more on the writing and less on the special effects, they might have produced something that made a bit more sense.

To give him his due, Hugh Jackman does his best as Blackbeard, whom he plays as a cross between Edmund Blackadder and Cruella de Ville, and the young boy playing Peter makes a fair stab at it, despite his accent slipping from mock Cockney to Australian at random.  However, the rest of the case are dismal. Hook is portrayed as a kind of poundstore Indiana Jones while Princess Tigerlily can't make up her mind whether she's a knife-throwing, kick-boxing renegade from a Cyndi Lauper video or someone who failed the audition for a Bananarama tribute act. 

Of course, the 8yo loved it 

You shouldn't have grown up..

[essexian]

The Program

Before I go onto review the film, may I have a moan about the behaviour of the British film going public…. PLEASE STFU in the cinema especially when the film starts! I have no interest in your conversation or your comments on how hard it is to cycle up Mont Ventoux. If you want to shout your mouth off, or show off, please be doing it elsewhere!... oh and having looked at you on the way out, I really doubt you could have cycled up Mont Ventoux!

Rant over…moving onto the film…. While I enjoyed it, especially the clips of racing from the late 90’s/ early 2000’s, I felt the film missed a huge opportunity by telling the story from Armstrong’s point of view: a story which is well known, rather than from the angle of the journo who was seeking to expose him for the cheat he was. To me, that would have made a much, much better film.

One final grumble…if you are going to use popular music in a film, PLEASE use it to represent the years it was released rather than is some random way. I mean… BRMC “Spread your love” did not come out in the year it was used to represent; while the same goes with the Lemonheads: Mrs Robinson (although it was good to hear it again…I love this version of the song).

[LEE]

The Program

Before I go onto review the film, may I have a moan about the behaviour of the British film going public…. PLEASE STFU in the cinema especially when the film starts!

My last cinema trip (The Martian) made me decide to just wait for the BluRay and watch it at home on the big telly in future.
I don't see it as a pleasant experience any more, just an expensive and inconvenient one.

If you get a few ignorants sat close by then you can expect constant noise from eating and drinking, the light from mobile phones and general PLEASE STFU stuff.
 
Unless you go to an IMAX theatre then "home cinema" isn't too far behind actual cinema now (and the toilet is closer).

A film is like a book, to be enjoyed in silence and discussed afterwards.

[Redlight]

The Program
I felt the film missed a huge opportunity by telling the story from Armstrong’s point of view: a story which is well known, rather than from the angle of the journo who was seeking to expose him for the cheat he was. To me, that would have made a much, much better film.

I saw it last night and thought it was good but not great. Ben Foster is excellent, balancing the almost psychopathic aggression with the seemingly genuine concern for other cancer victims. I suspect the script was lawyered to death but there was a neat ambiguity about Armstrong's motives for setting up his cancer charity and they walked very close to the line in hinting that the authorities may well have been complicit. His contemptuous treatment of Contador is indicated but they miss the chance to show just how petulantly he behaved in Paris after Contador's win, only showing him sulking on the podium.

What's missing, as Essexian says, is the systematic way in which Armstrong tried to trash the lives of everyone who spoke out, which is well documented in the Walsh book. I think, also, you would have needed to read Every Second Counts to understand what's going on when he goes out on his mountain bike right at the end of the film.

I'd like to have had more of the reactions of the other riders on US Postal, who are portrayed simply as EPO-fodder. The film focuses on Landis and his eventual decision to confess, but I've always wondered what was going on in the minds of the likes of Hinchcapie. 

The cycling scenes work well on the big crew and might be lost on TV, so worth the trip for that.

[Redlight]

If you get a few ignorants sat close by then you can expect constant noise from eating and drinking, the light from mobile phones and general PLEASE STFU stuff.

Agree - I've even had people actually taking calls during a film.  And if the munching and crunching wasn't enough, most of the "food" stinks.

That's one reason why I'm having a 55" TV installed next week 

[DDCyclist]

It's the sickly-sweet smell of popcorn that keeps me away from most cinemas. It makes me want to .

Don't get me wrong - I love popcorn. Unsweetened and unsalted. I've yet to find a cinema that sells it.

[ian]

That's the reason I only do Imax these days. The price keeps people focused on the screen and the audience are generally well behaved and they turn the sound up to 11 to drown out the munching and crunching. Otherwise, I'd rather watch a movie at home. Better selection of beer too. And you can pause it to go for a wee.

On the downside, there's usually a cat sprawled on top of me.

[DDCyclist]

We often go to Moviola shows.

No popcorn, well behaved audience with no rustling of crisp bags or crunching of boiled sweets. Generally a glass of wine before the movie starts or during the interval (yes - they often have an interval) and it's not going to cost an arm and a leg.

The choice can be a bit limited, but we're often happy to wait until a film comes out on DVD/download or Moviola put it on somewhere nearby.

I'm tempted to try this Plaza in Dorchester tomorrow if the show times are right enough. It's a lot cheaper than the big multiplex around the corner, and has retained its Art Deco features (which adds to the experience IMHO).

[redshift]

One of the unsung benefits of working shifts: You can go to the cinema for the morning showings midweek, which mean that you usually have the place to yourself.  Even for the Martian on the first weekend there were only 4 people in the showing I went to.  Choice of seats and nobody to bother you.

Just sayin'.

[citoyen]

The Retail Park Cineplex Shed Experience^TM totally turned me off going to the cinema for ages, but then they opened a Curzon down the road and as if by magic, going to the cinema has become a civilized experience again.

They don't sell popcorn, but they do sell beer. I don't mind that it's hugely overpriced because it's worth it not to have to mix with the riffraff.

[fuzzy]

Taken ² on TV yesterday.

Liam Neeson talking through a throat full of gravel with a now you hear it now you don't faux septic accent.

Can't wait for Taken³ NOT!

[spesh]

Taken ² on TV yesterday.

Liam Neeson talking through a throat full of gravel with a now you hear it now you don't faux septic accent.

Can't wait for Taken³ NOT!

"I don't know who you are, but I will find you and... awww frakkit, you ought to know the drill by now." 

EDIT: It can't just be me who thinks Liam Neeson is getting just a tad typecast these days?

[ian]

Taken ² on TV yesterday.

Liam Neeson talking through a throat full of gravel with a now you hear it now you don't faux septic accent.

Can't wait for Taken³ NOT!

"I don't know who you are, but I will find you and... awww frakkit, you ought to know the drill by now." 

EDIT: It can't just be me who thinks Liam Neeson is getting just a tad typecast these days?

He signed one of those x number of movies deals. To be fair, he seems to be enjoying it. I paraphrase, but I think he said of Taken 3 that losing his daughter for the third time would probably be the definition of terrible parenting. And he did apologise to the people of Texas for scaring them with France. I expect he won't be taking a holiday in Albania any time soon though.

[Andrew]

I used to work  4 day week in London. One of the joys of a midweek day off was an afternoon visit to the pictures. Curzon Mayfair was a favoured cinema, or the Renoir (as was)... but, in truth, anywhere was good if you could lose yourself for a couple of hours.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The Program............

 I have no interest in your conversation or your comments on how hard it is to cycle up Mont Ventoux. If you want to shout your mouth off, or show off, please be doing it elsewhere!... oh and having looked at you on the way out, I really doubt you could have cycled up Mont Ventoux!

/........

They were right though, it is quite hard especially at the top.

[hillbilly]

St Vincent

Amusing but mawkishly trite - if I didn't know otherwise, I'd suspect the involvement of Richard Curtis. I went along with it while I was watching it, but the more I think about it, the more problems I have with it.

Pretty much agreed with this on watching it today.  Bill Murray has played the same character since Lost in Translation.  No bad thing, because he does it well, but it means that slightly disappointing ones like this are more obviously flawed.

I also thought it had a Curtis feel.  Maybe because the plot was similar in some ways to All About the Boy (or whatever it was called) with Hugh Grant.

[Jakob]

We usually pick a mid-week, late screening. (10-11pm) and the theater will usually be mostly empty. Best one was with Gravity, where we were the only people there!.

[LEE]

Taken ² on TV yesterday.

Liam Neeson talking through a throat full of gravel with a now you hear it now you don't faux septic accent.

Can't wait for Taken³ NOT!

"I don't know who you are, but I will find you and... awww frakkit, you ought to know the drill by now." 

EDIT: It can't just be me who thinks Liam Neeson is getting just a tad typecast these days?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTh7zBIcrM

[Tigerrr]

Taken ² on TV yesterday.

Liam Neeson talking through a throat full of gravel with a now you hear it now you don't faux septic accent.

Can't wait for Taken³ NOT!

"I don't know who you are, but I will find you and... awww frakkit, you ought to know the drill by now." 

EDIT: It can't just be me who thinks Liam Neeson is getting just a tad typecast these days?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKTh7zBIcrM

I thought he was very funny in the film. He is quite old now and has difficulty with action bits. Plus his nose is still growing.

[Tigerrr]

Got ticket for the last day of 'The Program' tomorrow - missed the whole thing and really looking forward to it.
Saw the Martian yesterday - loved it actually - read the book by accident and hadn't even realised there was a film so it is all a big bonus.
Ridley Scott has become the master of spacesuits - these looked quite real. Mind you I don't really think you could create an airtight living spec from poly sheet and gaffer tape for reinforcement on mars, based on how fast my neighbours poly tunnel collapsed using that technology.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Perhaps it was duct tape?  I have loads of stuff whose existence outside a skip is dependent on duct tape.