What was the last film you watched?

[rogerzilla]

Star Wars - The Force Awakens.  Disney didn't screw it up.  It's extremely good.   The plot isn't very different to A New Hope (which I saw on release in 1977!) but it shows just how shite the prequels were.  Everyone can act, the visuals are stunning and there isn't a sign of Jar Jar Binks.

[rogerzilla]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Visually meritorious but really.  Three hours?  Radagast and His Wah-Wah Rabbits?  Benedict Cucumberpatch playing a silhouette?  Apparently Peter Jackson's forthcoming adaptation of "One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich" is to be released in eight four-hour instalments¹.

1: Lie

The Hobbit fails the test of a film being longer than it takes to read the book.

I mean, since the best pictures are in your head, what's the point of a 6 hour film of a 300 page book ?

To get three times the income from tickets and DVDs.  The films are shite as well as being too long.  Too much messing with the original plot, which (in usual Tolkien style) is already paper-thin and makes heavy use of the deus ex machina (how many times do the sodding Eagles save the protaginists' arses in Middle Earth?).

[Kim]

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Meh.


Everest

People making bad decisions is only entertaining when played for laughs.  Not something that I found easy to watch.  Probably would have been better in IMAX.


127 Hours

This was basically a drawn-out response to the Audax Packing List thread, and was a lot better than I expected.


Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Snowpiercer excepted, the allegory doesn't get any less subtle.  Much pantser and and more irritatingly CWish than the first one.  Kept me from going back to bed for a couple of hours when ill.


2012

Our original choice of Sharknado 2 as a new year's eve cheesy disaster film was vetoed.  This one delivers on special effects without any danger of likeable characters or a coherent plot, and functions as a sort of buy-one-get-one free offer on implausible ways to die.  Net result is a hollow shell of The Day After Tomorrow.  Did they *really* have to end on "No more pull-ups."?   

[Jaded]

Interstellar.

It made more sense after I put the subtitles on to overcome the mumbling.

Did I really say it made sense? I thought Bourne had put some beef on, but it explains why he hasn't been driving cars off the top of parking garages.

[mattc]

Interstellar.

It made more sense after I put the subtitles on to overcome the mumbling.

Did I really say it made sense? I thought Bourne had put some beef on, but it explains why he hasn't been driving cars off the top of parking garages.

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I hear he went to Mars and was too heavy to ever leave.

[Riggers]

The latest Star Wars (can't remember its subtitle)

Enjoyed it actually and so won't go through disassembling/cutting it to ribbons, but I did say, as an aside to my wife, "He does a lot of panting doesn't he," with reference to Finn.

… and before going to see it, I just could not get the Raiders of the Lost Ark theme tune out of my head!! "Dah-dah-da, dah-da-darrr! (add more da-darrs)

[Steph]

The Danish Girl
I cried buckets at the last set-piece, which was both allegorical and beautiful, as well as following a leitmotif for the whole film. Redmayne is good, though he simpers a bit as Lili, but Anna Vikander is wonderful as Gerda.

My take on the 'trans actor' issue: I have seen too many films where the hard choice is thrown away by using a woman in drag to play the 'man'. Just like 'Different for Girls', a favourite of mine, we are seeing a man playing a (physically) man transitioning to a woman. He will look, in most cases, like a man in a dress. We usually do. It is NOT the same as blackface. Yes it would be nice to see more trans actors getting work, but I would love to see them getting work playing what they are, which is men and women. I know I am out of step with many people on this issue, but that's life.

[Kim]

The solution is obviously more trans actors with opposite-gender twins.  Worked well in Orange Is The New Black.  Or perhaps *gasp* trans actors in stories that have nothing to do with transness.  Hats off to the Doctor Who team for that - possibly a television first?

What did you make of the historical accuracy issue?  (I don't know the history, but have seen plenty of ranting from people who do, which suggests it makes The Imitation Game look factual.)

[L CC]

Wild

A woman undertakes a personal and actual journey to overcome the sense of loss felt when in response to a personal tragedy. 

Good central performance by Reese Wetherspoon, but I felt it lacked emotional punch because she played it without much warmth.  My limited empathy came more from from her situation rather than how she portrays the person.  Which is probably understandable given the background story to the character she was playing.

Part of me was anticipating a film along the lines of Into the Wild (not just because of the title!) because of the general theme of searching for meaning in the wilderness.  In that (superior) film it was the scenery that felt menacing and alive.  Instead, in Wild, the personal journey didn't feel as epic or as challenging.  The threat in Wild came from the people she met along the trail from time to time which I guess was a metaphor of sorts for life in general.

I felt underwhelmed by the end of the film, around 2 hours after it started.  It never really grabbed me as saying anything particularly profound, or at least not as profound as it gave the impression of wanting to be, and I was left thinking more could have been done with the source material (albeit it is based on a true story).

Interesting. We watched this over the holidays (a girl can't ride her bike every hour of the day) and I assumed the reason I didn't feel terribly engaged was the whole Breaking Bad phenomenon (I wasn't really watching it) and the reason I was narked I hadn't seen it on the Big Screen.

The Danish Girl
Grown up entertainment. No1Daughter reckoned she had missed the memo on the age guide- she was the only person under 40 at our showing. We liked, in a thought provoking kind of way.

Joy
I think I'm in love with Jennifer Lawrence.

I don't need a handsome prince that's my superpower

Also, I don't think I've ever seen a compression moulding machine in a film before. Her suppliers were shite. I laughed. I do this stuff every day.

[menthel]

Neu Star Wars- was good.

Kingsman- was very good. Much fun but not for those of a sensitive disposition, the violence is quite comically graphic (if that even makes sense).

[BrianI]

Under The Skin.

How very Kubrick it is.  Spacey weird visual pieces with scratchy sound effect music.  Robotty plotline.  General unsettling weirdness.  I liked that it was set in Scotland though,  it reminded me of my holidays.  One particular piece with snow falling on a lake was just beautiful.

Thanks for that recommendation Ruthie, I've just watched that too.  What was it about though? Lovely scenery. 

[mrcharly-YHT]

Start Wars

I enjoyed it.

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That was a bit tame, wasn't it? I recall the original star wars having burning bodies, arms chopped off and landing in front of the camera. This looked like a sanitised version to make it even more kiddie-friendly.

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These Jedis make terrible parents, don't they? Forever abandoning their children on desert planets.

[T42]

Start Wars

I enjoyed it.

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That was a bit tame, wasn't it? I recall the original star wars having burning bodies, arms chopped off and landing in front of the camera. This looked like a sanitised version to make it even more kiddie-friendly.

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These Jedis make terrible parents, don't they? Forever abandoning their children on desert planets.

The Disney experience.

[geraldc]

The original star wars was rated U. The Force Awakens is PG12

[ian]

Possible it contains strong thematic elements. I'd not let my kids watch such things. If I had them. And if I let them out of the basement. Homeschooling doesn't require daylight.

[Mr Larrington]

Start Wars

Is that the film adaptation of Tony Blair's memoirs?

[mrcharly-YHT]

Start Wars

Is that the film adaptation of Tony Blair's memoirs?

Are you thinking of Starts Wars; the Rise of a Middle-East Messiah?

[trekker12]

Everest

People making bad decisions is only entertaining when played for laughs.  Not something that I found easy to watch.  Probably would have been better in IMAX.

I've not seen it but I think it was developed entirely on the basis of footage from the original IMAX crew that happened to be on the mountain at the time. I've read several books on the incident but never got round to watching any of the footage. It was never supposed to be a feature film, just a demonstration of new technology showing scary drops and ice falls in 3D when they first developed IMAX.

I guess now IMAX has made it to mainstream cinema it seemed a waste to not re-use the footage.

[Dibdib]

Start Wars

Is that the film adaptation of Tony Blair's memoirs?

Are you thinking of Starts Wars; the Rise of a Middle-East Messiah?

He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.

[geraldc]

Kingsman- was very good. Much fun but not for those of a sensitive disposition, the violence is quite comically graphic (if that even makes sense).

There was a throw away joke about anal sex in the Kingsman that left a very bad taste in the mouth. Bond or the Bond girls would never do such a thing

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/13/kingsman-director-matthew-vaughn-reveals-secrets-behind-church-scene-sex-joke-and

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Kingsman- was very good. Much fun but not for those of a sensitive disposition, the violence is quite comically graphic (if that even makes sense).

There was a throw away joke about anal sex in the Kingsman that left a very bad taste in the mouth. Bond or the Bond girls would never do such a thing

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/02/13/kingsman-director-matthew-vaughn-reveals-secrets-behind-church-scene-sex-joke-and

I'm not why that was especially bad?  Can you explain or am I beyond the pale for simply asking? 

IIRC the last Bond film I watched showed someone having their eyes gouged out, involuntarily.  Someone agreeing to anal sex is worse than that?

[L CC]

Everest

People making bad decisions is only entertaining when played for laughs.  Not something that I found easy to watch.  Probably would have been better in IMAX.

I've not seen it but I think it was developed entirely on the basis of footage from the original IMAX crew that happened to be on the mountain at the time. I've read several books on the incident but never got round to watching any of the footage. It was never supposed to be a feature film, just a demonstration of new technology showing scary drops and ice falls in 3D when they first developed IMAX.

I guess now IMAX has made it to mainstream cinema it seemed a waste to not re-use the footage.

It's not the old IMAX footage.
We saw the IMAX showing and yes, that makes the mountain views glorious, but it doesn't stop it from being a pretty harrowing watch.

[sg37409]

The Changling - harrowing and brilliant in equal measures. Almost had to pause it to calm down a bit.

[T42]

The Limits of Control.  At the beginning it tests the limits of self-control of the viewer to see if he'll manage to stay sat and not go and do something interesting such as worming the dog, but it does eventually build into something worth watching. I don't think I'd watch it twice, though.

[andyoxon]

Star Wars 7.  Not bad, quite enjoyed it - though for the first few minutes, I was trying to overcome the 'OK so here we had the done-to death-white suited/ memed-out baddies...'