What was the last film you watched?

[citoyen]

The Breakfast Club (only took me 30 years).  Didn't think it was all that great; the dialogue is rather mumbled and I may have missed some of the humour.  Would have stopped watching if it hadn't had Ally Sheedy in it.

One of those films you have to be 15-16 to fully appreciate.

Also you really ought to be around that age to be allowed to look at its stars in that way, Mr Z. I used to have a serious crush on Molly Ringwald, but last time I saw the film, a couple of years ago, I felt very uncomfortable about how young she looked in it...

[Ruth]

Wolverine. Not 3D.

Hugh Jackman. Oh my.

[Jaded]

Life of Pi at home on the big screen, not in 3D.

Just as magical.

It's got a tiger in it!

[spesh]

The Breakfast Club (only took me 30 years).  Didn't think it was all that great; the dialogue is rather mumbled and I may have missed some of the humour.  Would have stopped watching if it hadn't had Ally Sheedy in it.

One of those films you have to be 15-16 to fully appreciate.

Also you really ought to be around that age to be allowed to look at its stars in that way, Mr Z. I used to have a serious crush on Molly Ringwald, but last time I saw the film, a couple of years ago, I felt very uncomfortable about how young she looked in it...

Quite.

Molly Ringwald (DOB 18/2/68) and Anthony Michael Hall (DOB 14/4/68) were the only two of the five leads who were still of high school age during production of the film (released February 1985). Emilio Estevez (DOB 12/5/62) and Ally Sheedy (DOB 13/6/62) were in their early twenties, and Judd Nelson (DOB 28/11/59) was playing a high school student at the age of 25!

[Jakob]

"Olympus has Fallen".

This movie boasts some of the worst VFX in a Hollywood movie. They tried to do it on the cheap and went with a studio in Bulgaria and it backfired big time. The CGI is truly terrible. Most of our pre-vis stuff is better than the final FX in that movie and in many ways it did our industry a huge favour. proving that there's a reason that VFX are so expensive.

 Despite that, it's not a bad action flick. Gerard Butler is a reasonably believable action hero type guy (a la Bruce Willis in Die Hard) and the action sequences plays along nicely enough and aren't interrupted by too much story

[pcolbeck]

The Dancer Upstairs

On Movie Mix on Sunday night. A detective in an unidentified South American country is trying to find the leader of a terrorist group whilst at the same time falling for his daughters ballet teacher.  John Malkovich directed and  Javier Bardem who was the villain in the last Bond movie plays the detective. Lovely atmosphere to this film.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

MacBobb and I watched the Shawshank Redemption yesterday. He hadn't seen it before. I think he's a convert.

[Wascally Weasel]

"Olympus has Fallen".

Interesting to read your take on the SFX.  I think they kind of matched the poor quality of the film overall though.  If I hadn't already seen Gangster Squad, this would have been my worst film of the year so far.  Wondering if White House Down will be any better?

[Ruth]

Oblivion. On Blu-Ray.  You've seen Privates On Parade? Well it looked absolutely beautiful, and oddly it made me want to go cycle camping. But Privates On Parade is a much better film. Even though it's in black and white. Rear Window? No comparison. Watch Rear Window if you have a choice.

Don't get me wrong. It was OK. It looked great. But it wasn't a great film.

Post alien invasion, Tom Cruise and an English readhead are tasked with the protection of the remnant of the human race.  Morgan Freeman appears to play Morpheus out of the Matrix, at the same time as being Geoff Goldblum in Independence Day.  No, really.

You'll have to watch it if you don't believe me.

[Jakob]

"Olympus has Fallen".

Interesting to read your take on the SFX.  I think they kind of matched the poor quality of the film overall though.  If I hadn't already seen Gangster Squad, this would have been my worst film of the year so far.  Wondering if White House Down will be any better?

It's an Emmerich film. I doubt it...although supposedly Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx hit it off and there's a lot of good humour/interaction between them, with both of them ad-libbing their dialogue.
The VFX are guaranteed to be better, though.

[Illegal Combat Ant]

Alpha Papa. Very shitfaced so it was very werry funny.

[Andrew]

A Single Man  Quite simply, one of the best movies I've ever seen. It'll slot easily into my top ten list, that's for sure. Colin Firth is brilliant.

[Pickled Onion]

The Hunt

Yeah, we seem to be on a Mads Mikkelsen season... this film by contrast was truly excellent, if rather* emotional.


*major understatement.

[CrinklyLion]

Planes, in the company of both Cubs, the Smallest-Superhero-Next-Door and the EldestCub's car-mad mate-that-he's-know-since-toddler-group.  Oh, and CrinklyUncle!

Much less advert/trailer nonsense than last time I took them all, which made the expotition mush easier and meant we got out in time for the bus home although then discovered that it only went half way home. 

SmallestCub particularly liked 'the bit where they go through the sideways bit'.
Smallest-Superhero thought 'it was a bit rubbish at first but then it got really really good'.
Car-mad mate couldn't pick out a best bit because 'it was all brilliant'.
EldestCub says 'pretty cool!'.
I liked it.  Especially the tunnel.

[fuzzy]

Airplane on the tellybox the other night.

Again.

I still laughed like a loon at lots of it 

[Wascally Weasel]

Elysium.

It was good overall, started well but kind of descended into a lengthy chase scene.

[CrinklyLion]

ET, on the big screen!

SmallestCub spent quite a lot of it hiding behind his jumper.
The Car-Mad-Mate liked it, thought it was better on the big screen.
EldestCub thought it was good.
the Smallest-Superhero-Next-Door cried quite a lot, even though we had _promised_ him that Spielberg wouldn't let him down and it would work out OK in the end.

I was a bit shocked by what was a U certificate 30 years ago compared with today.

But not as surprised as I was by them choosing this as one of the trailers.
http://youtu.be/F30PYWYdkZ4

Hmm.

Good film thobut.

[rogerzilla]

Downfall.  Everyone knows the history but it's extremely well done.  Not as distressing as you might think, because it's hard to feel sorry for the uglies at the top of the Nazi tree.   Good to watch the way it all gradually falls apart.  You have to ask...WTF were the German people thinking when they put that lot in power?

[Dibdib]

Downfall.

There's also a fairly decent line in internet memes from re-subtitling a particular scene from Downfall. (following Youtube clip may contain spoilers if you speak german and/or never went to school)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv6hoGgGVcM

As for me, I'm watching Star Wars: A New Hope. Not for the first time, of course, but I've just picked up the blu-rays. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 will be staying in the box forever because George Lucas is DEAD TO ME.

[spindrift]

Downfall.  Everyone knows the history but it's extremely well done.  Not as distressing as you might think, because it's hard to feel sorry for the uglies at the top of the Nazi tree.   Good to watch the way it all gradually falls apart.  You have to ask...WTF were the German people thinking when they put that lot in power?

I did feel some sympathy toward the Germans in the bunker. They knew a tidal wave of death was rolling towards them, and over a hundred thousand rapes.   I asked my Polish friend if she felt the same. "No", she said.

[Aidan]

Hitchcock. Slightly strange dream sequences, but all superbly acted by Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren and a lovely feelgood ending Well worth a watch

[Pickled Onion]

Untouchable

French film based on a true story about a kid from the projects who gets a job as a carer for a quadriplegic rich dude.

I loved it. It's wet-your-pants funny and has great performances by the two leads.

Can't help wondering how much the story has been Hollywoodised though - there are a lot of cracks that have been heavily and glossily papered over...

Edit: Kermode has it spot on, as usual:
http://youtu.be/b7Sw51qFjhg

We saw this last night. Brilliant. Thanks for the recommendation.

[TimO]

Oblivion

It's not bad, and as Ruthie said, it looks very impressive.  The storyline isn't entirely predictable, and Morgan Freeman does behave somewhat as Ruthie described, which isn't a criticism of him, it's the sort of part that he plays well.  I suspect that the backdrops could have looked impressive in 3D, but relatively unusually for a recent release there isn't a 3D version (not even one generated in post production).

Unusually, the Bluray version (and possibly the DVD for all I know) has an isolated score, which is quite rare, I've only got a handful of discs which have this (out of quite a few hundred).

In the category of post-apocalyptic films, I don't think it's a bad example, there have certainly been many worse films, and it is very well done, with some impressive CGI.  I'm not a fan of Tom Cruise, but he's not too annoying in it.

[Jakob]

Pain & Gain: The proof that Michael Bay can only 'direct' movies with big action sequences and sucks at telling a real story.
It has it's moments and as with all Bay movies, has high production values, but it's otherwise really dire.

[Pickled Onion]

The Place Beyond the Pines A reasonable plot but fairly shallow. At well over 2 hours long this film seems to think its something great, but it isn't. Not bad though.