What was the last film you watched?

[Riggers]

Searching for Sugar Man

Totally enthralling stuff. Highly recommended. Can't say much more without spoiler tags. 

Watched this on Saturday. Good film. Wasn't what we expected.

[Jakob]

Jupiter Ascending. Starts out great and then slowly falls apart. Still worth seeing, though, if nothing else for the design and visuals.

[Dibdib]

Step Brothers, on That Netflix. Very childish, very stupid, moderately funny.

[Kim]

Phantom Menace.  'nuff said.   

[tiermat]

Phantom Menace.  'nuff said.   

I think that is counted as "Taking one for the team" Kim watches Phantom Menace so we don't have to

[hillbilly]

Everything you need to know about Phantom Menace is in Spaced

[Kim]

Phantom Menace.  'nuff said.   

I think that is counted as "Taking one for the team" Kim watches Phantom Menace so we don't have to

Here, have the blow-by-blow IRC commentary:

21:55:22 <kim> okay, it's time...  *fires up phantom menace*
21:56:37 <Red> ...but the election is over
21:56:48 <kim> it seems ...appropriate
21:56:53 <Red> heh                                                                                                             
21:57:19 <kim> everything's too clean
22:00:39 <kim> and the robots are even more annoying                                                                           
22:01:49 <Red> dear god, you haven't even gotten to the annoying kid yet, let alone jar jar!                             
22:04:50 <kim> it's all gone a bit Avatar                                                                                     
22:05:15 <kim> ...fuck                                                                                                         
22:07:14 <kim> why couldn't it be ewoks?  they weren't too bad really
22:10:22  * Red gigglefits
22:10:36 <Red> yeah, come back ewoks, all is forgiven!
22:11:08 <kim> obi-wan just made a terrible decision
22:15:07 <kim> wait, he could have used the jedi nerve pinch to shut him up at any point?                                     
22:19:01 <Red> I think the entire trilogy is basically a string of terrible decisions                                         
22:21:14 <kim> they broguht jarjar with them?
22:49:04 <kim> every time darth maul appears, i get earwomed with gay bar
22:51:57 <barakta> haha                                                                                                       
22:52:32  * kim looquids before it desecrates ben hur
23:00:15 <kim> a dinsaur just farted
23:15:15 <kim> it's more like an anteater-camel hybrid
23:23:45  * kim sings o/~ you!  i'm wanna take you to a gay bar... o/~                                                         
23:32:04 <kim> yoda!                                                                                                           
23:36:35 <kim> and another bad decision                                                                                       
23:50:37  * kim sings o/~ gay bar, gay bar, gay bar... o/~                                                                     
23:59:52 <kim> double ended lightsabre:  cool for exactly 2.5 seconds
00:04:26 <kim> i can't help thinking that the entire star wars universe is long overdue a stern visit from the HSE
00:04:33 <kim> railings, people
00:12:09 <kim> so basically, they won this war by accident
00:12:59 <kim> apart from obi-wan, he's competent
00:16:17 <kim> now they're burning a body indoors without any kind of extraction or particulate filters
00:16:35 <kim> can't believe they did a risk assessment
00:18:07 <kim> oh, yoda looks like he did                                                                                     
00:18:45 <kim> is spikey hair a compulsory jedi haircut, then?                                                                 
00:18:52 <kim> ah, that's it                                                                                                   
00:18:55 <kim> thank fuck for that                                                                                             
00:31:46  * kim goes to bed, where there isn't any jar jar binks
00:32:28 <Red> nini                                                                                                           
00:32:39 <Red> I'll look forward to you watching Attack of the Clones

[tiermat]

There is, obviously, only one antidote to watching Phantom Menace, and that is to watch Clone Wars.

[Mr Larrington]

There is, obviously, only one antidote to watching Phantom Menace, and that is to watch Clone Wars.

Funny how just when you think life can't possibly get any worse it suddenly does.

[Kim]

Watched Attack of the Clones for the first time last night.  Phantom Menace was a bad film.  This one was just dull.  Its only real merit is minimal Jar Jar.  My advice is to skip the first two hours, watch the obligatory lightsabre fight (which is mostly wide shots, so CGI-Yoda doesn't look too awful), and then stop as soon as the Imperial March finishes playing, so you don't see the cringeworthy end scene.  Least romantic romance ever.

[pcolbeck]

Watched Attack of the Clones for the first time last night.  Phantom Menace was a bad film.  This one was just dull.  Its only real merit is minimal Jar Jar.  My advice is to skip the first two hours, watch the obligatory lightsabre fight (which is mostly wide shots, so CGI-Yoda doesn't look too awful), and then stop as soon as the Imperial March finishes playing, so you don't see the cringeworthy end scene.  Least romantic romance ever.

The origional Star Wars was ace and teh rest are all middling to terrible. Lucas should have left it at just one.
Strange director as he has essentially only made three origional movies:

American Graffiti
Star Wars
Raiders of the lost Ark

Apart from that everything else is sequels to Star Wars or Raiders. You would think a man of such obvious talent would get bored and want to do something new. Sequels are always worse than the original film (with the exception of Aliens which was as good as Alien but in a different way).

[mrcharly-YHT]

Ahem

You missed out 'Willow', which is  great corny swords and sandals kids film.

I'm still undecided about Labyrinth. I suspect there was no directing done in the making of the film, they just go a warehouseful of insane puppeteers and told them to take acid.

[pcolbeck]

Ahem

You missed out 'Willow', which is  great corny swords and sandals kids film.

He didn't direct Willow, Ron Howard did. The screenplay was from an idea by Lucas.
Labyrinth was Jim Henson, Lucas was producer.

[Kim]

Labyrinth was brilliant.  It was a joint effort between Henson and David Bowie's crotch, thobut.

[Mr Larrington]

"Raiders", as Lucas himself doubtless attests, is heavily based on the Saturday morning serials of his youth.
"Star Wars" is a Western, or a Kurosawa film, with frikkin' lasers.

[hillbilly]

Tragic.



Imprisoned in carbonite for crimes against adult children's dreams.

[Wascally Weasel]

"Raiders", as Lucas himself doubtless attests, is heavily based on the Saturday morning serials of his youth.
"Star Wars" is a Western, or a Kurosawa film, with frikkin' lasers.

And 633 Squadron!

[Andrew]

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

I could have walked out any point in the first hour.  I found the humour (the film being more a sequence of sketches than having a strong linear narrative) for the most part tedious and lame. It had it's moments for sure, some of them strong in their own right, but nothing to alleviate the lack of interest I felt in the film as a whole. Then that changed. In one scene. A truly shocking scene, of barbaric nonchalant cruelty. This was most definitely not funny and suddenly I was coldly gripped awake. Then another scene of similar tone. I still don't know why I had such a seismic change of opinion but change it did. When I left the cinema, I felt haunted by this film. Was it a 'good' film? Hell, I don't know but it put it's foot up my arse.

The director says it's a film about what it's like to be human. Watch it as a sequence of observations of human life then it kind of works. I still think the humour is lame though!

[hillbilly]

Boyhood

Great coming of age film, in that easy style with which Richard Linklater captures life in a moving frame. Nothing very much happens but for some reason it is quite captivating.  Quite long though (165 mins).

[Wascally Weasel]

Mad Max: Fury Road.  Great fun, really enjoyed it.

 "I'm going to die historic on the Fury Road!" If that's what feminist action movies look like then please make more!

[LEE]

"Last Will & Testament" - The autobiography of Tony Benn.

Made me happy, sad and angry in equal measure.

What a giant of a man he was,  and what what a contrast to what we have on offer today.

I can't recommend this film highly enough to anyone wanting to gain an understanding of the political problems we face today and those that lie ahead.

[Kim]

And finally.... Revenge of the Sith

Not as annoying as Phantom Menace and at least an order of magnitude less dull than Attack of the Clones.  Some gratuitous shoehorning of the plot and style in the final act to try to make it fit with A New Hope.  The greatly improved CGI Yoda crawled through a duct in the style of Bruce Willis at one point:  "Fucking believe this I cannot.  How happen to the same guy twice the same shit can?"  Also, there was a Wookiee fight.

I conclude that either this was merely a mediocre film, or my expectations had been lowered by the previous two to about the right level.

[L CC]

This weekend I have mostly not been revising as I should, so I have been rewarded with a veritable film festival.
Pitch Perfect 2 I suspect you either love it hate this. We all laughed quite a lot.
Far from the Madding Crowd meh. Sunday evening telly, not worth going to the big screen for.
The Age of Adeline more meh. Crap acting, totally unconvincing love story, a bit pointless.

[StuAff]

In The Loop, for the first time in a while. F***ing excellent.

[Kim]

Even more finally, Return of the Jedi.  Again, nothing new here apart from some lovely CGI space scenes, needless extra muppets in Jabba's lair and the extra scene tacked on at the end that sticks out like a sore thumb.  What struck me was how much better it was as a film compared to any of the prequels.  I don't even mind Ewoks any more.  Plucky little teddy-bears.

I heartily recommend the {4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6} viewing order to the panel.  Well, what I actually recommend is the {4} viewing order, but assuming you've got a broken leg or revision to procrastinate over or something, it seems like the best way to do it.