What was the last film you watched?

[ian]

Interstellar at the Imax. I was a bit dubious. You know how I get about Prometheus (just don't, OK), and I'll commit a heresy by staying that 2001 was pretty much a few iconic scenes struggling to stay afloat on a Sargasso sea of garbled crap. I think it's supposed to be meditative. Oh, get on with it or at least give me the drugs. Who you want to see, a monkey with a bone making out like he's a heavy metal drummer getting his first solo, or McConaughey hammering happily away on his space bongos? So, yeah, 3 hours of rehashed 2001-lite was a little daunting, like the first visit to the porcelain throne after an evening overdoing the vindaloo.

(click to show/hide)

OK, McConaughey keeps his bongos quiet. There was a tad bit too much haddock-philosophisticating in places, but I really liked it. I had no issues with the science, of course you can't fly into a black hole, but then most people can't reverse into their own driveways. I want to see a movie not a textbook. I'll believe anything that Caine or Freeman tell me. If they do a bit of poetry, I'm theirs. The 'twist' was a bit obvious, but it was more about the journey than the surprise. It looked stunning, though the segues between the Imax sections and the – I presume – 35 mm-shot* scenes were a bit odd on the huge screen. Seeing William Devane crop-up in slightly oversaturated grainy shot was weirdly like being transported back into the 70s cinemaverse. Which might have been intentional. I will award special points for the sound and score which was gut-rumblingly awesome and made all the more so by the scenes of perfectly deployed silence. Despite the long running time, it still managed to ramp up the tension and a few scenes had you on the edge of your seat. Yeah, you knew Matty-D was a nutso but you didn't know when he'd open the jar and start spreading the peanut butter.

Oh, and sarcastic robots.

*Anamorphic 35 mm says Google, so now I'm more educated than when I started this post.

[L CC]

We went to Interstellar last night too.

My disbelief came plummeting back.
I did like lots of it, but it just got silly.

[Jaded]

Gone Girl.

I thought I was going to see Bond Girl, but instead was hit full on with an 18 Certificate. There were plot holes that could not be adequately filled by a wine bottle, despite what you might have read.

Having said that, this was a rare film - I didn't at any time wonder if it was nearly time to go home. Towards the end I imagined all sorts of endings, but none of them came true.

It was marvellous to see an heroine gain 2 stones in weight and then lose them again all in the space of 6 weeks.

[tiermat]

Guardians of the Galaxy.

Wonderful, daft, funny Marvel film. What is not tonlike about a film that has:
A talking raccoon.
An Ent. This role really stretched Vin Diesel's acting ability.
Glenn Close?

[fuzzy]

Zombieland.

Rule No. 2- Double Tap.

"Goddamn it, Bill fucking Murray! I had to get that out. I don't mean to gush. This is so surreal. I mean, you probably get this all the time. Maybe not lately, but I'm such a huge fan of yours. You know, I swear, I've seen every one of your movies a million times. I even loved your dramatic roles and just everything. Six people left in the world and one of them is Bill fucking Murray. I know that's not your middle name. I've been watching you since I was like... Since I could masturbate. I mean, not that they're connected. "

[redshift]

The Imitation Game.

Definitely Not a documentary.  Everyone's jolly splendid, and nearly everyone has a stiff upper lip.

Actually I quite enjoyed it, despite the liberties taken.  Crypto-history buffs should note that they'll wince, probably more than once, but hey, it's a movie...

[Andrew]

Northern Soul.

Bloody awful. Script by a 12 year old, and that's disrespectful to 12 year olds. Wanted to be Quadrophenia, and failed failed failed. Not even the music could save it.

[mrcharly-YHT]

The Machine

I'd not heard of this. Much better than expected - decent depiction of a dystopia

[fuzzy]

Attack the block 

What's Ron's weed room?
It's a big room! Full of weed. And it's Ron's.

It smells like a shit did a shit.

No idea. Not a bloody clue. Maybe there was a party at the zoo, and a monkey fucked a fish.

Even if it is an alien invasion, they're four foot high, blind and got kicked to death by a bunch of kids. We got nothing to worry about.

Well, 'ere, lads, you've discovered a species hitherto unknown to science, quite possibly non-terrestrial in origin, and you kicked its fuckin' head in!

This is too much madness to explain in one text!

What kind of alien, out of all the places in the whole wide world, would invade some shitty council estate in south London?
One that's lookin' for a fight!

Believe me, I'd go out there myself if I wasn't so profoundly stoned.

[Mr Larrington]

Attack the block 

What's Ron's weed room?
It's a big room! Full of weed. And it's Ron's.

Is this some sort of homage to the Camberwell Carrot?

[Andrew]

Magic In The Moonlight

Yes, it's the annual Woody Allen movie. Yes, it is definitely a Woody Allen film. There is only one voice. There are favourite/worn tried and trusted themes. There is 'why' and neuroses. There is a trad jazz soundtrack.

And it is, for all that, a damned good film. He's become a throwback. A reminder of how simply films were made. No CGI only blue screen back projection. He's a story teller. He's a modern day Oscar Wilde. And, in this film, he's on form.

[fuzzy]

Attack the block 

What's Ron's weed room?
It's a big room! Full of weed. And it's Ron's.

Is this some sort of homage to the Camberwell Carrot?

Well, there was more than the average recreational use of 'erb portrayed, though having said that, after a bit, the 'heroes' of the filum were using said 'erb more to calm than to relax

[tiermat]

X-Men - Days of Future Past

Not as good as the others, but still good. 

[Pickled Onion]

A Boy Called Dad

&

Gold

Two films, one Welsh and one Irish, with slightly different takes on fatherhood and broken families. Each quite good in their own way.

[Pickled Onion]

The Spanish Chainsaw Massacre


Oh dear, why did I watch this? Thankfully it was quite short. I suppose not much should be expected from a film with a title like that, €3,000 budget and not a single review on IMDB. Even the subtitles were by someone with less of a grasp of English than I have of Spanish.

[mattc]

A Most Wanted Man
Hmmm. Hoffman fans will love it - he's brill.

And so are a few other people in it. But the story just doesn't cut it. I haven't read the book, but I've read some other recent LeCarre, and they're not in the same league as Tinker etc.

Still, very well made, a diverting couple of hours. Special mention for the wonderful Ritz cinema in Belper!


<cycling content. sort of>
Also: it was nice to see a major character getting about by bike, without being a figure of fun, or coming to a grisly end; but I'm not sure we needed _quite_ so many lingering shots of her be-denimmed arse. Odd, as the film lacked the usual gratuitous female nudity that is normally shoe-horned into mainstream movies.
</cycling content>

[spindrift]

Judd Apatow has a thing about cyclists, the 40 Year Old Virgin rides one, falls off, and that bloke off This is 40 rides one, falls off. Paul something.

[citoyen]

Gravity

Phwoar! That was great. Loved it. Except the music, which is shit, but I was totally gripped anyway. Only wish I'd got around to seeing it on the big screen - though not in 3D. Can't seriously believe it would have been any better in 3D.

[T42]

Gettysburg. Prosy, cardboard & slow at times - I get the impression that some of the speeches are taken from the characters' writings - but the action is great and the sound is fantastic.  Could do with more maps. All in all, though, a tremendous film.

[Jakob]

Interstellar. Very good. Different from what I expected and ADR was not as big an issue as reported. Also saw it on glorious Imax/70mm.

[Mr Larrington]

Gettysburg. Prosy, cardboard & slow at times - I get the impression that some of the speeches are taken from the characters' writings - but the action is great and the sound is fantastic.  Could do with more maps. All in all, though, a tremendous film.

Everything needs more maps   I wasn't the only test-reader to point this out regarding Dr Larrington's next book.

[mattc]

Things you will never hear in a Hollywood production meeting.

[Mr Larrington]

Travelling By Map is a tried and trusted Hollywood staple though.  Imagine the Indiana Jones films, for example, if there were long sequences of Harrison Ford hanging around grubby aerodromes tutting and looking at his watch.

[mattc]

Oh I know. Perhaps a slight tweek then:

Things you will never hear in a 2014 Hollywood production meeting.

[citoyen]

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).

This is one of the reasons I can't imagine it would be improved by 3D. I like the spectacularly dramatic scenes, and they must look great on the big screen, but what I liked most about it was that it actually had a proper story. The stuff about her daughter was the only bit that grated - Bullock and Clooney were both excellent, very 'human', very convincing, which for me negated the dramatic need for any of that sentimental gubbins. Because of the strength of their performances, I felt the motivation of wanting to survive would have been enough to carry the plot by itself.

I'd like to see Interstellar as well, though it does sound a bit silly.

Best space film of recent years is still Moon. By a large margin. Again, it's the humanity that carries it.

We're thinking of going to see The Imitation Game tonight. It looks dreadful but as long as I can remind myself that it's just a bit of entertainment, not a documentary, it might be fun.