What was the last film you watched?

[pcolbeck]

Interstellar

Wow a proper hard SF movie. Well as hard as your going to get from Hollywood. I wish I had seen this at the cinema as it a big movie with a huge soundtrack. A bit schmalttzy at times but then again it's American so you have to expect that. More than a passing nod to 2001 on the way as well.
Recommended but get the popcorn and some drinks in as its a long one !

[Kim]

Pride

As expected, it tended to apply a bit of a noughties filter (toning down the communism and the homophobia), and it did LAPC a great disservice by portraying them as a sort of comedy People's Front Of Judea, but that aside it was a very good film.

[T42]

Interstellar

Wow a proper hard SF movie. Well as hard as your going to get from Hollywood. I wish I had seen this at the cinema as it a big movie with a huge soundtrack. A bit schmalttzy at times but then again it's American so you have to expect that. More than a passing nod to 2001 on the way as well.
Recommended but get the popcorn and some drinks in as its a long one !

A wee bit of a

(click to show/hide)

I was very thankful when they kept the "message from family" bit to a minimum.  In other films of that ilk it gets really nauseating.

[Jakob]

Interstellar
but then again it's half English* so you have to expect that.

Both Nolans were born in London and have dual citizenship.

[hillbilly]

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

It's peculiar which teen franchises take off and which don't.  Whilst a bit similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in premise and style, and a bit generic and predictable, this had more to recommend it than other teen fiction translations (such as Twilight).  But rather than spawning a series of films, this one faded into obscurity (albeit with a TV show in production).

Standard teenager discovers she has repressed powers and uses them to battle with evil, with the support of an ancient order.  If anything in the film surprises you, then you've probably not watched many films in this genre.  All the tropes are ticked off, one by one.  Worth having on in the background, as whilst it probably won't become a favourite film it was vaguely entertaining in a "switch off brain and just let it happen" kind of way.

[Charlotte]

Knights of Badassdom: Peter Dinklage LARPing on 'shrooms. Dear Gods.

[L CC]

Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

It's peculiar which teen franchises take off and which don't.  Whilst a bit similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in premise and style, and a bit generic and predictable, this had more to recommend it than other teen fiction translations (such as Twilight).  But rather than spawning a series of films, this one faded into obscurity (albeit with a TV show in production).

Standard teenager discovers she has repressed powers and uses them to battle with evil, with the support of an ancient order.  If anything in the film surprises you, then you've probably not watched many films in this genre.  All the tropes are ticked off, one by one.  Worth having on in the background, as whilst it probably won't become a favourite film it was vaguely entertaining in a "switch off brain and just let it happen" kind of way.

Ahhhh but...

The trouble was that the film was Too Far from The Books, and kind of missed.

The books are HUGE.

[Kim]

Star Wars: A New Hope (remastered CGI dinosaur edition)

This is part of my strategy for dealing with election coverage; ie. to finally get round to watching the prequels, on the somewhat dubious basis that Jar Jar can't possibly be as annoying as the assorted smug lizards that are going to be elected later tonight.  On that basis, and because I haven't seen any of them since about 1997, I've decided to watch them in the recommended {4, 5, 1, 2, 3, 6} order.

Anyway, watched it with barakta, who suffered from traumatic Star Wars as a child - subjected to endless loud-but-inaudible VHS repeats  - quite possibly of Empire - from the wrong side of a hospital ward.  I reckoned it was worth her watching the good one in proper controlled conditions with subtitles at least once.

We concluded that it's all about the sets, props, music and cinematography.  Jury's out on the acting, because the whole thing is endless star wars quotes.  Instant childhood nostalgia for me.  I don't think barakta's as impressed.

Like everyone else, I wish Lucas had stopped meddling, though I do think the CGI space scenes are an improvement.

Oddly what dates it the most seems to be the 1970s more-Disney-than-Disney view of robots, rather than Harrison Ford being about 12.

[Mr Larrington]

[spesh]

[Otto]

Cloud Atlas.... despite the bum reviews I really enjoyed it

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Far from the Madding Crowd.

It was ok. More laughs than Tess of the D'Urbervilles that's for sure.

[geraldc]

Avengers, age of Ultron.
Meh.  Superheroes who use hidden earpieces to maintain constant communication have caused telepaths to become redundant. Didn't like the movie.

[Jakob]

Avengers 2. Enjoyed it. Ironman normally really annoys, but he had much less of a pivotal role in this one. Ultron character was decent too.
Also some of my/our best work in ages.

[Mr Larrington]

My version:

Avengers, age of Ultron.
Meh.  Superheroes who use hidden earpieces to maintain constant communication have caused telepaths to become redundant. Didn't like the movie.

[Jakob]

Who would have thought? Superheroes in a superhero movie? 

Watched Kingsmen yesterday. As I personally have declared the current 007 franchise for dead, I think this is the perfect replacement!. Loved it.

[hillbilly]

Ender's Game

Sci fi film with Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and some child actors.  Felt very rushed and poorly edited, with a story that lacked any sense of scale.  Basically a mish-mash of ideas that doesn't really come together.  The central premise is the heroes journey, whose quest is to save humanity from alien invasion.  The only thing is, it doesn't follow the classic trajectory (i.e. goes into wilderness and finds self).  Instead, this was extremely linear, with no barriers really put in his way.  This made it feel incredulous that the central character could reach the position he did.

I didn't really like it and find it hard to recommend other than for some of the zero gravity scenes.  Oh, and Ben Kingsley being intense.  Not as intense as Sexy Beast (which would have been interesting in a child's film) but he's definitely left Ghandi behind.

[pcolbeck]

Fury

Five men in a Sherman tank at the fag end of WWII. Nasty and depressing. Probably much like the real thing. A bit clichéd but recommended.

[Andrew]

Heaven Adores You - a documentary about Elliot Smith, a singer-songwriter I'd not heard of before. One of the better docu-films I've ever seen. Well shot and sensitively put together. Recommended.

The Falling - much to like but just didn't come together for me. Not one to avoid, it may work for you. It's references are perhaps too obvious, it feels like it's copying without adding much. It's humour, I found, difficult to judge.

[Mr Larrington]

Heaven Adores You - a documentary about Elliot Smith, a singer-songwriter I'd not heard of before. One of the better docu-films I've ever seen. Well shot and sensitively put together. Recommended.

He became briefly notorious last year as Peaches Geldof was reportedly a fan and therefore her death was entirely Smith's fault.  Miss von Brandenburg is also a fan but to my knowledge has not OD'd on smack.  Before he went solo he was in a band yclept Heatmiser, who I rather like.

[TimO]

Ender's Game

Sci fi film with Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and some child actors.  Felt very rushed and poorly edited, with a story that lacked any sense of scale.  Basically a mish-mash of ideas that doesn't really come together.  The central premise is the heroes journey, whose quest is to save humanity from alien invasion.  The only thing is, it doesn't follow the classic trajectory (i.e. goes into wilderness and finds self).  Instead, this was extremely linear, with no barriers really put in his way.  This made it feel incredulous that the central character could reach the position he did.

I didn't really like it and find it hard to recommend other than for some of the zero gravity scenes.  Oh, and Ben Kingsley being intense.  Not as intense as Sexy Beast (which would have been interesting in a child's film) but he's definitely left Ghandi behind.

The trouble is, to do it anything like the book, it would be a looooong film, and the US film industry is never going to tolerate that with an expensive high profile film.  I thought it did an OK job, better than I expected, but yes it lost some of the flow of the book and how he reacted and changed along the way.  Having said that, I found that element of the book a bit too long, as much as it's inevitably a bit short in the film.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I confess, I've read 3 of the books from the series.
Was looking forward to the film, then Orson Scott-Card ruined it by coming out as an extreme homophobic moron.

Fun fact for you right-wing homophobes; homosexual behaviour was promoted by kings as a solution to overpopulation. Have a think on that while you are foaming over the tales of feckless dole-scroungers spawning sprogs.

[Pickled Onion]

Horns

Billed as a Fantasy/Thriller with Daniel Radcliffe and Juno Temple. Started well enough, then started to drag with tedious flashbacks, then descended to pantomime/slapstick silliness.

Overall had the structure and obvious comedy style of a children's film - apart from the murder, rape, bloody violence, drug taking, drink-driving, smoking, male nudity, swearing, etc.


Obvious Child

Comedy about abortion. Without the comedy. Reasonable as a drama though.

'71

A young soldier gets left behind in Belfast's Falls Rd when his unit has to retreat from a riot. Very good film.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Spooks.  Poor Man's 'Tinker, Tailor..'  Recommended for a wet and windy day. 

[L CC]

Ender's Game

Sci fi film with Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and some child actors.  Felt very rushed and poorly edited, with a story that lacked any sense of scale.  Basically a mish-mash of ideas that doesn't really come together.  The central premise is the heroes journey, whose quest is to save humanity from alien invasion.  The only thing is, it doesn't follow the classic trajectory (i.e. goes into wilderness and finds self).  Instead, this was extremely linear, with no barriers really put in his way.  This made it feel incredulous that the central character could reach the position he did.

I didn't really like it and find it hard to recommend other than for some of the zero gravity scenes.  Oh, and Ben Kingsley being intense.  Not as intense as Sexy Beast (which would have been interesting in a child's film) but he's definitely left Ghandi behind.

Another bad adaptation of a teen book....

At least they didn't succumb to the temptation of a love interest. I found it both lengthy and skimpy - it went on too long and missed too much out.
Also, Harrison Ford has gotten old, without getting distinguished. Meh.