What was the last film you watched?

[Andrew]

Anything with Bill Murray in it is automatically better than just about anything else.

He has created rather an interesting situation for himself with his acting in that, arguably like Sean Connery (and others!), he's pretty much always the same character... and that character is damned enjoyable! Somehow, he manages to add layers/nuance to his silence, to his dead expressions, just to make each character he plays just a little bit different. I think it's something he does naturally, I don't think he needs to work at it. I don't think, as much as I love him, that he's a 'great' actor. Just extremely good at what he does. I'd imagine for those that don't like his usual persona that he's extremely irritating/one-dimensional/annoying!

For me, he's probably at his best in 'Broken Flowers' but 'Lost in Translation' is up there too for me.

[tiermat]

Expendibles 2.

Enjoyable stupid trash.

[Chris S]

For me, he's probably at his best in 'Broken Flowers' but 'Lost in Translation' is up there too for me.

Lost in Translation has for a long time, been my favourite film in the category "Where nothing happens".

Last night, we watched Pacific Rim. At least, fboab watched it (and really seemed to enjoy it - "OMG - I'm a teenage boy after all!") and I kept falling asleep. Beer and wine may or may not have been involved.

[LEE]

Anything with Bill Murray in it is automatically better than just about anything else.

He has created rather an interesting situation for himself with his acting in that, arguably like Sean Connery (and others!), he's pretty much always the same character... and that character is damned enjoyable! Somehow, he manages to add layers/nuance to his silence, to his dead expressions, just to make each character he plays just a little bit different. I think it's something he does naturally, I don't think he needs to work at it. I don't think, as much as I love him, that he's a 'great' actor. Just extremely good at what he does. I'd imagine for those that don't like his usual persona that he's extremely irritating/one-dimensional/annoying!

For me, he's probably at his best in 'Broken Flowers' but 'Lost in Translation' is up there too for me.

Interesting topic really.

I think a lot of my favourite actors are just naturally engaging people, just reading a script.

I love Clint Eastwood in the Spaghetti Westerns but have you ever heard Clint speaking?  Turns out he was just reading the script.

Some actors who really "Act" can be terrible.  I find Dustin Hoffman unwatchable, I can literally see him acting, same for Al Pacino post-Godfather.

Kevin Spacey is an example of someone really acting and doing it in a way that I truly forget they are acting and engage with the character.
He's an incredible "everyman" actor.

Bill Murray is blessed with "Funny Bones", he just doesn't even have to try in order to inject subtle (or not-that-subtle) humour into a film.

[spindrift]

Edge of Tomorrow. Starts well, the first forty minutes is good, then mad scientist bloke starts to explain the inexplicable, Cruise walks into a General's office and says "The future of mankind important enough for you?" , the lovely Emily Blunt is wasted and the film falls apart. 

[Andrew]

To combine the last 2 posts, Tom Cruise is someone who, I think, acts too technically. I find him far too self aware to ever be convincing. It's like he's perpetually saying to himself 'I bet I'm good in this role'. He may well be good but he just tries too damned hard. It comes across (to me at least) as dishonesty. But as he comes across with the same way in interviews, maybe that is him! Maybe he's forgotten who he is and is always acting!

[ian]

Edge of Tomorrow. Starts well, the first forty minutes is good, then mad scientist bloke starts to explain the inexplicable, Cruise walks into a General's office and says "The future of mankind important enough for you?" , the lovely Emily Blunt is wasted and the film falls apart.

I think they needed the exposition and they got it over with. That's it. Deal with it.

I do like TC. He's admirably mad. He's also not aging. At all. The Imax screen isn't too kind on your average Hollywood star, what with every pore and blemish scaled up to the size of a double-decker bus. Little TC, though, it's like he's made out of babies.

Oh god.

[redshift]

…And now you know how Dan O'Bannon got the idea for his first draft of 'Alien'…   

[Ruth]

The new X-Men movie in 3D 

Bloody brilliant.

[Woofage]

I feel I have to get this off my chest.

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Background: Miss W, 14, has pretty good taste. After all, she's got mine and Mrs W's DNA. One of her close friends, whom I also thought had good taste, came round for a fillum night. She brought

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High School Musical .

Miss W really enjoyed it so friend left it here. Last Saturday, she managed to persuade Mrs W, who in turn persuaded Master W to watch it again with her. Not wanting to be Billy No Mates I joined them.

I stuck it for about 3/4 of an hour and went to bed. The following day Mrs W said that it was the worst film she had ever seen. We both feel dirty and traumatised. Miss W needs to listen to more guitar-based rock to cleanse her soul. I think she'll be OK eventually.

So, parents, please keep your offspring away from this film. There is nothing good about it. I had never considered that a film could be so cheesy as to be unwatchable but this film has it in spades.

tl;dr

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It's a shit film. Sorry, I can't bring myself to name it again.

[tiermat]

I feel your pain, Woofage.

TLD liked it, but she is 10. She also redeemed her film-cred by liking Pacific Rim.

Still can't get her to like Star Wars, though.

[Mrs Pingu]

The Grand Hotel Budapest.

I enjoyed it a lot. Tis a silly film. I must have watched another film after that one but I can't remember what it was.

ETA: The 2nd film was Philomena. It was ok but TGHB was much better.

[Ruth]

The Accidental Death of a Cyclist

Marco Pantani was the only athlete who ever caught my imagination.  A lonely, beautiful rider who shone with the effortless flight of his climbing.  I'd never seen anything like it. 

Pantani.  Ulrich.  Armstrong.

For me, there were those three names.

Some people may remember Coppi, Indurain and Bartali.   Indurain was an icon, an extraordinary rider who dominated the field.  But those three young men, in their diverse, driven, single minded intent to dominate in Indurain's wake, were the riders of my time.

Some of the footage that held me mesmerised, while the dinner burned and Crusty whined, is in this film.  Pantani, ascending like a butterfly.  Ulrich, striving in pain.  Armstrong, almost broken under the weigh of his own expectation.  It was a new golden era.  But we didn't know it, yet.

Then the riders were sitting in the road, refusing to go on, because they were being challenged by the police in the middle of the night after days of suffering and competing.  The Festina nightmare.  In the middle of it all - Pantani. 

Armstrong survived, for a while.  Ullrich vanished.  Pantani was ultimately destroyed.

This is a wonderful film.  Watching it broke my heart all over again, watching as a sensitive man was ripped away from the sport that was his life. 

Somebody profited from EPO.  I don't know who it was, but they deserve to burn in hell.

This is a very good film.

[thelazycyclist]

A million ways to die in the West.

This film doesn't seem to have had very good reviews.  One reviewer said that it has too many fart jokes in it.  It does have a lot of crude jokes and puerile humour in, along the lines of Dumb and Dumber, but if you don't mind dumb jokes then you might enjoy it.  There is one brief sight of a sheep's penis, and also someone poos into a hat, so if you think that might offend you, probably best to avoid it.  Fans of costume dramas such as Downton Abbey might not enjoy it. 

The film is set in 1882 but the characters speak in 21st century dialogue, using terms like gf for girlfriend, and I liked that about it.  Also, there are a few small cameo appearances by some big name actors, which I also enjoyed. 

If you've seen the trailer for it, there are a lot of funny bits in the trailer, and I thought it might be one of those cases where 90 minutes of padding has been added to the 90 seconds of funny bits to make a film.  But actually there were a lot of other very funny bits, which hadn't been in the trailer.  My favourite part is the bit with the dead Mayor. 

The cinema wasn't very full, but lots of people laughed out loud at various points of the film, although an Asian couple did walk out halfway through.  Not sure if this would have been through being offended or bored.

The film stars Seth Macfarlane who made the film Ted and who does the voices for Family Guy.  I've seen a few episodes of Family Guy but haven't found it especially funny, whereas I found this film much more so.

It also made me feel better about watching all those Sunday afternoon westerns during the 70s because it was so not a normal western.  I suppose the only other films that I can remember that have combined the western era with modern humour or technology were Back to the Future 3 or Cowboys and Aliens.

I've seen a lot of supposed comedies which are not funny at all, but I found this funny pretty much all the way through.  Often the punchline of a good joke can be an unexpected twist, where you think you know what's coming, but then something different and unexpected happens, and there was a lot of that in it.

On the other hand, it's possible that I enjoyed it more than a lot of the reviewers, because I am just that bit dumber.   

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

The Accidental Death of a Cyclist

Marco Pantani was the only athlete who ever caught my imagination.  A lonely, beautiful rider who shone with the effortless flight of his climbing.  I'd never seen anything like it. 

Pantani.  Ulrich.  Armstrong.

For me, there were those three names.

Some people may remember Coppi, Indurain and Bartali.   Indurain was an icon, an extraordinary rider who dominated the field.  But those three young men, in their diverse, driven, single minded intent to dominate in Indurain's wake, were the riders of my time.

Some of the footage that held me mesmerised, while the dinner burned and Crusty whined, is in this film.  Pantani, ascending like a butterfly.  Ulrich, striving in pain.  Armstrong, almost broken under the weigh of his own expectation.  It was a new golden era.  But we didn't know it, yet.

Then the riders were sitting in the road, refusing to go on, because they were being challenged by the police in the middle of the night after days of suffering and competing.  The Festina nightmare.  In the middle of it all - Pantani. 

Armstrong survived, for a while.  Ullrich vanished.  Pantani was ultimately destroyed.

This is a wonderful film.  Watching it broke my heart all over again, watching as a sensitive man was ripped away from the sport that was his life. 

Somebody profited from EPO.  I don't know who it was, but they deserve to burn in hell.

This is a very good film.

Think I might buy that.. 

Somebody profited from EPO.  I don't know who it was, but they deserve to burn in hell.

I thought 'Belleville Rendezvous' caricatured the business rather well.  As it did so much else.

I am watching 'Hell is a City'.  OK so far altho' as a reviewer on IMDb says it's slightly Americanised which lets it down just a tad (nothing against good US films per se, just don't think we need to imitate them). 

[Ruth]

The Accidental Death of a Cyclist

Marco Pantani was the only athlete who ever caught my imagination.  A lonely, beautiful rider who shone with the effortless flight of his climbing.  I'd never seen anything like it. 

Pantani.  Ulrich.  Armstrong.

For me, there were those three names.

Some people may remember Coppi, Indurain and Bartali.   Indurain was an icon, an extraordinary rider who dominated the field.  But those three young men, in their diverse, driven, single minded intent to dominate in Indurain's wake, were the riders of my time.

Some of the footage that held me mesmerised, while the dinner burned and Crusty whined, is in this film.  Pantani, ascending like a butterfly.  Ulrich, striving in pain.  Armstrong, almost broken under the weigh of his own expectation.  It was a new golden era.  But we didn't know it, yet.

Then the riders were sitting in the road, refusing to go on, because they were being challenged by the police in the middle of the night after days of suffering and competing.  The Festina nightmare.  In the middle of it all - Pantani. 

Armstrong survived, for a while.  Ullrich vanished.  Pantani was ultimately destroyed.

This is a wonderful film.  Watching it broke my heart all over again, watching as a sensitive man was ripped away from the sport that was his life. 

Somebody profited from EPO.  I don't know who it was, but they deserve to burn in hell.

This is a very good film.

Think I might buy that.. 

Somebody profited from EPO.  I don't know who it was, but they deserve to burn in hell.

I thought 'Belleville Rendezvous' caricatured the business rather well.  As it did so much else.

Cycle racing looked a lot better before they all had to wear hats.

[Woofage]

Dune

I bought a cheap copy on eBay as Miss W (a Twin Peaks fan) expressed an interest and I watched it myself the other night, just to check it's suitable you understand . For a 30 yo film the effects are obviously very basic by today's standards but the story hasn't lost anything. However some of the dialogue, especially the voiced thoughts of some of the characters, comes across as a little cheesy compared with what we're now used to (I haven't read the book(s) so I don't know if this is accurate or not).

[Kim]

Dune

I bought a cheap copy on eBay as Miss W (a Twin Peaks fan) expressed an interest and I watched it myself the other night, just to check it's suitable you understand . For a 30 yo film the effects are obviously very basic by today's standards but the story hasn't lost anything. However some of the dialogue, especially the voiced thoughts of some of the characters, comes across as a little cheesy compared with what we're now used to (I haven't read the book(s) so I don't know if this is accurate or not).

My understanding is that the film is only acceptable if you haven't read the books (or have a particular interest in films featuring 80s rock stars).  One day I might read the books, maybe.  I hear they're quite good.

[spesh]

Dune

I bought a cheap copy on eBay as Miss W (a Twin Peaks fan) expressed an interest and I watched it myself the other night, just to check it's suitable you understand . For a 30 yo film the effects are obviously very basic by today's standards but the story hasn't lost anything. However some of the dialogue, especially the voiced thoughts of some of the characters, comes across as a little cheesy compared with what we're now used to (I haven't read the book(s) so I don't know if this is accurate or not).

My understanding is that the film is only acceptable if you haven't read the books (or have a particular interest in films featuring 80s rock stars).  One day I might read the books, maybe.  I hear they're quite good.

The David Lynch Dune film was a bit of a mess, albeit a glorious one, provided you ignore

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the "wierding modules" and the bit at the end where Paul makes it rain.

I've read the books and I actually quite like the Lynch version, it has its moments...

Mind you, the abortive Alejandro Jodorowsky production would have been even more of a mess that the Lynch version, though it's well worth checking out the concept artwork by Chris Foss, H.R. Giger and Jean "Moebius" Giraud.

As far as the books go, stick with the original six books written by Frank Herbert and avoid the sequels and prequels written by his son and Kevin J. Anderson. IIRC popular opinion on the originals is that the first two are the best, book 3 is OK, and the second trilogy tails off - but they are still miles better than the sequels and prequels.

FHM magazine once speculated that while they may have begun with notes from a deposit box, by the time of the last books they were down to a Post-it Frank left on the fridge saying "NOTE: Write more Dune books". Penny Arcade's assessment of these books was rather... blunt.

[T42]

Rewatched Pierrepoint the other evening. Timothy Spall is excellent.

[rogerzilla]

Runaway Train.  Extremely violent (the main antagonist, the psycho prison warden, comes to a satisfying end) and a rather good plot.  My only criticisms would be:

1. Jon Voight overdoes the "nutter" thing a bit
2. In some shots the four locomotives don't seem to be moving all that fast.

The shot where the train first appears out of the murk is awesome.

[redshift]

Dune

I bought a cheap copy on eBay as Miss W (a Twin Peaks fan) expressed an interest and I watched it myself the other night, just to check it's suitable you understand . For a 30 yo film the effects are obviously very basic by today's standards but the story hasn't lost anything. However some of the dialogue, especially the voiced thoughts of some of the characters, comes across as a little cheesy compared with what we're now used to (I haven't read the book(s) so I don't know if this is accurate or not).

I'm still waiting for someone to make a proper rendition from the first three books.  Considering the thriving political currency of jihad I'd say that it could be made to do justice to them.  There's no reason why it couldn't be given the Game of Thrones* treatment by HBO, but so far all the versions I've seen are without exception dreadful.  You can throw the rest of the books in the bin.





*GoT: Beautifully made television wrestling with a story not worth the candle, with a cast of unsympathetic and unlikeable characters.  I've tried reading the books, and I've tried watching the series, but I just can't be arsed...

[Pickled Onion]

Cloud Atlas

Still trying to work out if that was clever & deserving of another viewing or a pile of childish crap with style & no substance.

The Great Gatsby

That was pretty good. Started out a bit of a Moulin Rouge parody, but turned into a decent film.

[Andrew]

I've watched the Edge Of Darkness series over the last few weeks, because of the recommendations here. I liked it to start, stuck with it but thought it got progressively sillier as the ending neared. I couldn't get a handle on Craven - what was he exactly? A local copper? Secret services? He seemed to have had a number of experiences and contacts that made him difficult to place, and so accept as believable. I thought it hammy-intense too... but maybe it hasn't aged well.  I found some scenes amusing as they verged on homo-eroticism though! Maybe that was deliberate, or maybe that was to (clumsily) show Craven's 'sensitive side'? Dunno, whatever, I can't say I'd recommend it other than as an example of an 80s BBC production.   

[Wascally Weasel]

I've watched the Edge Of Darkness series over the last few weeks, because of the recommendations here. I liked it to start, stuck with it but thought it got progressively sillier as the ending neared. I couldn't get a handle on Craven - what was he exactly? A local copper? Secret services? He seemed to have had a number of experiences and contacts that made him difficult to place, and so accept as believable. I thought it hammy-intense too... but maybe it hasn't aged well.  I found some scenes amusing as they verged on homo-eroticism though! Maybe that was deliberate, or maybe that was to (clumsily) show Craven's 'sensitive side'? Dunno, whatever, I can't say I'd recommend it other than as an example of an 80s BBC production.   

Burn the heretic!

If you thought the ending silly, cringe in fear when you find out that the writer actually wanted him to turn in to a tree at the end.