What was the last film you watched?

[Ashaman42]

Finally watched Pacific Rim at the weekend and I loved it.

I want a Jaeger for the commute.

[redshift]

And today was: Interstellar.

There's the odd cheesy moment or three.  I got the ending within ten minutes of the start.  Nolan channels Kubrik for some of the shots, and it's lovely to look at - his dislike of CGI being what it is, the landscapes are great, but there's some stuff you can't pull off without computers.  Mind you, the computers are used appropriately so that's ok.  Weird

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bad-guy

cameo from an unexpected actor, and at least one made-you-jump moment.  The use of sound, and silence, is pretty good, and it looks fabulous.

Verdict: Not Quite Perfect, but I liked it.

I haven't seen Gravity, so can't compare.

[Tewdric]

You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

Is on now on more four!

[Tewdric]

Trivia question - without googling - what's the aircraft type in TIJ?

[Jakob]

his dislike of CGI being what it is

Yet, he chooses to make films that would be impossible without using a lot of it. Ok, fair enough, he tries to get as much in camera as possible. (He applied to crash a real helicopter in Chicago for one of the Batman movies....strangely enough the city didn't approve), but his action style owes lots to Michael Bay.


Sorry, it gets me everytime they trot out the 'I don't like CGI'  line and yet make movies where virtually half it relies heavily on.

[Jakob]

"Inside Llewyn Davis". A Coen Brothers movie that I completely missed until a colleague told me that it was on netflix.
Mesmerizing, but a little frustrated by the ending.

[padbeat]

Tonight's movie marathon ...
Sin City - A Dame to Kill For
Prepare popcorn. Remove beer from fridge. Insert brain in fridge. Enjoy film. Remove brain from fridge and refit in head.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Yeah. It lasted 30 minutes

Donnie Darko
Still as awesome as the first 4 times I watched it!

[Redlight]

And today was: Interstellar.

I haven't seen Gravity, so can't compare.

Haven't seen Interstellar yet but by about two thirds of the way through Gravity I was praying for the Alien to turn up and put us all out of our misery.

[citoyen]

Mr Turner.

Slow, episodic, almost storyless.  Beautifully shot, beautifully acted.

We went to see it tonight at the shiny new Curzon cinema in Canterbury, which was a revelation - huge comfy reclining chairs with lots of legroom, two bars, neither of which sell half-gallon buckets of fizzy pop or wheelbarrows of popcorn, just a pleasant grown-up environment for watching films in. Only problem was being in the second row (there are only eight rows) meant I was a little too close to the screen - wish I'd taken my reading glasses.

Anyway, I agree with your assessment of the film. Sumptuous would be the word I'd use. And yet... although overall I found a lot to like in it, somehow for me it added up to less than the sum of its parts. Not sure why. Still very good though.

Made me laugh in places where I was clearly the only one in the cinema who got the joke - or maybe was the only one who felt it was appropriate to laugh out loud

I LOLed at the Wuskin scene, and a few other places.

[tiermat]

Yesterday, having seen the first two episodes of the TV series, we watched Constantine.

I have seen it before, but Mrs T hasn't. Well she has now. She declared it good, but gory.

[T42]

Avatar.

Seen it already, but remembered that if you put a low-density ND filter in front of one eye when watching things moving on the box the brain interprets the difference in the 2 pics it receives as being due to different perspectives, and throws it into 3D whether the perspectives are different or not.

This isn't all that great with most films, but the scenes in those shot for current 3D are set up to emphasize perspective. There's much more movement too, choreographed to reinforce the impression. It's not all fancy tech.

Anyway, my humble ND filter worked a treat.  Maybe not 100% as well as the pukka tech - the colours were a little muted and a wee bit of eyestrain was involved - but it worked well enough that every time I took the filter away I wanted to put it back again.

Fun.  Crap story, but fun.

[Andrew]

Mesmerizing, but a little frustrated by the ending.

I know what you mean, in that there was no fame and fortune or sticking it to the man. BUT, if you think of his character, his notion of himself being 'real', both flirting with and rejecting success, it was an ending that made sense. He was 'doomed' to repeat the cycle for the rest of his days. Depressing or life validating, depending on your POV.

[Pickled Onion]

I'm so Excited

The bizzarrest film I've seen in a long time, and absolutely hilarious. Almodóvar is a complete loon.

[Jakob]

Mesmerizing, but a little frustrated by the ending.

I know what you mean, in that there was no fame and fortune or sticking it to the man. BUT, if you think of his character, his notion of himself being 'real', both flirting with and rejecting success, it was an ending that made sense. He was 'doomed' to repeat the cycle for the rest of his days. Depressing or life validating, depending on your POV.

Yeah, that's what I took away from it too. Still amazed by their ability to suck you in to their characters. I want to see it again, but will wait a few months.

[Wascally Weasel]

Red2 - as enjoyably silly as the first one.

The Place Beyond The Pines - looked at first like it was shaping up to be a variant on 'Drive' then suddenly it went somewhere different and interesting.

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The sort of plot twist that 'To Live and Die in LA' became known for

[Andrew]

Lymelife.  An intelligent, gentle and sometimes amusing coming of age tale - that includes lymes disease, infidelity and deer hunting. Recommended, good performances - with the younger Culkin brothers (who, tbh, I didn't know existed!)

I'd never heard of this movie (an independent production) so had no expectations whatsoever. For me, the perfect way to see a film. That it worked was both an added bonus and a restoration of my faith in the film industry.

[Sergeant Pluck]

I agree - it’s an absolute gem!

[Steph]

Interstellar
Crap, but not wholly
Edited for fuller comments

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A homage to 2001 complete with black slab robots. Much stupidity.  Physics utter bollocks. There is a fundamental plot device which involves time dilation. Of a ratio of one hour to several years. Due to gravity, on a planet's surface. I said boolocks out loud in the cinema to that one.
And then it's an ocean planet, with water only thigh deep, but which somehow produces mile-high waves.

There is the traditional shout at a supposed person of stellar intellect of "Why are you being so stupid?"; this time, she is trying to pull a data pack off some wreckage despite the mile-high wall of water about to crash down. She gets her partner killed, of course, but that sort of thing inspires not tension in me but contempt for the writer.

Thenthere are the frozen clouds. Made of solid ice. No structural logic at all.

Then there is Matt Damon. It is abundantly obvious that he is both barking and homicidal when he is first met. Nope, only me, then.

[sg37409]

Caught the last half of Dr Zhivago at the weekend. Forgotten how much I enjoy that film

[andrewc]

Last nights film was Derek Jarman's "The Last of England" shown at FACT as part of Liverpool Homotopia.

I last saw it on a B&W portable over 20 years ago, and could still remember some of the imagery. Wonderful stuff.
Only about 6 other people in the audience though :-(

Saw "Mr Turner" last week. Lovely photography & music, and Timothy Spall is magnificent. 

[Wascally Weasel]

And today was: Interstellar.

There's the odd cheesy moment or three.  I got the ending within ten minutes of the start.  Nolan channels Kubrik for some of the shots, and it's lovely to look at - his dislike of CGI being what it is, the landscapes are great, but there's some stuff you can't pull off without computers.  Mind you, the computers are used appropriately so that's ok.  Weird

(click to show/hide)

bad-guy

cameo from an unexpected actor, and at least one made-you-jump moment.  The use of sound, and silence, is pretty good, and it looks fabulous.

Verdict: Not Quite Perfect, but I liked it.

I haven't seen Gravity, so can't compare.

I saw it last night and am still processing – whatever I end up thinking about it, it’s visually stunning at times and I would definitely recommend people seeing this on the big screen (rather than waiting for the small screen).

I have seen Gravity and am curious just how much Interstellar changes on second viewing – I saw Gravity twice in the cinema.  The first time out it was a huge visual spectacle, the second time it was actually quite a small film for me and the human parts of it were more to the fore.  In scope I mean, that’s not a criticism of the film.  The scale moves down on second viewing from this awesome big thing down to a much more compact human story (that was my experience YMMV of course).

[Andrew]

Breaking The Waves. A stunning performance from Emily Watson. Watch it for that alone.

[Steph]

Red2 - as enjoyably silly as the first one.

The Place Beyond The Pines - looked at first like it was shaping up to be a variant on 'Drive' then suddenly it went somewhere different and interesting.

(click to show/hide)

The sort of plot twist that 'To Live and Die in LA' became known for

I enjoyed both 'REDs'. I got the impression that La Mirren may have been enjoying herself, and Malkovich certainly was.

[spindrift]

Shame Mr Borgnine didn't live to make the sequel. Best autobiography title in Hollywood:

"I Dont Want To Set The World On Fire (I Just Want To Keep My Nuts Warm)"

[Andrew]

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (shown in France as Charlie's World)

Awful. Hated it. The book is apparently a teenage 'must read' in the US, a newer 'Catcher In The Rye' if you will, but I've not read it. The film is trite and pretentious. It portrays teenage years of money and privelage and other than some themes, I cannot see how it resonates with a wider audience. Scripted and directed by the author of the book, it all comes across as 'look how sensitive and clever I am'. Apart from one performance (that of the gay friend Patrick), I can say little positive about the film.

It's worst crime for me was it's treatment of child abuse. Referred to, arguably a central theme, but used more as a badge to garner sympathy for characters rather than explored in any serious way. Perhaps the book does so. Perhaps the film's producers, with ticket sales and censors in mind, played it safe and in so doing lost the strength of the book.