Topic: Anyone seen any good films lately - Part the second (Read 79204 times)

Paul B · « **Reply #25 on:** September 17, 2006, 04:21:41 pm »

watched battle royale last night after hearing some hype about it, wasnt very impressed.

For any of you who are unfamiliar with it the story is as follows:
Teenagers become disprespectful to adults -> adults stick entire class of teenagers on an island for a battle to the death, they must kill each other within 3 days or they all get the chop.

However watched unbreakable during the week, thought this was pretty good (its on itv2 every night it seems) but I always have liked films from M. Night Shymalan....

al · « **Reply #26 on:** September 17, 2006, 08:10:07 pm »

'the devil and daniel johnstone' intense doc about lo-fi legend, is well worth checking out (on DVD release now)

tommytwotone · « **Reply #27 on:** September 17, 2006, 09:20:33 pm »

Note to all that haven't seen it yet (and anyone who wants a second viewing)..."Brick" is out on DVD. Watch it - it's very good.

It's a twisty/turny thriller but set in the present day - an LA high school. The dialogue is a strange hipcat noir slang, which is a bit of a love/hate thing, but as a story I think it's fantastic.

lorentz · « **Reply #28 on:** September 17, 2006, 09:58:02 pm »

I thought Battle Royale was (uuuuh, huh huh that's like uuuuh huh huh) pretty cool, albeit in an up late with insomnia and what's this on channel 4 type way.

However. Just watched "Tsotsi" on DaViD. Set in a south african township - about a rudeboy thug (tsotsi) who nicks a car with a baby in the backseat. Goes on to show how he's affected by the experience. Beautifully shot well paced, good story, fantastic acting (by a cast of amateurs, I think). Well worth a watch unless you can't abide subtitles (in which case why are you even reading this thread?) Check it. Word...

Paul B · « **Reply #29 on:** September 17, 2006, 11:10:51 pm »

each to their own i guess on Battl Royale.

Really enjoyed Azumi, in an up late insomnia kind of way

, much better than crouching tiger hidden dragon.... think it must have the most blood in it ive ever seen.

SA Chris · « **Reply #30 on:** September 18, 2006, 06:43:51 am »

Quote from: lorentz on September 17, 2006, 09:58:02 pm

However. Just watched "Tsotsi" on DaViD. Set in a south african township - about a rudeboy thug (tsotsi) who nicks a car with a baby in the backseat. Goes on to show how he's affected by the experience. Beautifully shot well paced, good story, fantastic acting (by a cast of amateurs, I think). Well worth a watch unless you can't abide subtitles (in which case why are you even reading this thread?) Check it. Word...

I propped this when it was in cinemas. There may be a few new actors in it, but I have seen many of them in small roles in South African film and telly before.

It is good, insightful and well acted.

lorentz · « **Reply #31 on:** September 18, 2006, 10:35:36 am »

Wanted to see Tsotsi on the big screen, would have looked awesome, but vetoed by the g/f (sigh...)

Azumi you say, Paul B. Will watch out for it. Watched Battle Royale 2 recently... mmmm, may have been pushing the envelope of plot a tad far. There's only so many exploding Japanese schoolkids you can tolerate before a saturation point is reached.

Paul B · « **Reply #32 on:** September 18, 2006, 11:11:44 am »

Yeah azumi, I recollect it being very long (3hrs?). But pretty good. Battle Royale 2? don't think i'd even give it a chance.

moose · « **Reply #33 on:** September 18, 2006, 01:06:38 pm »

Battle Royale 2 is quite probably the worst film I have ever seen, and this is speaking as a fan of the first (which rapidly became the "pissed film" of choice within my circle of friends). My memory is thankfully fading, but my shuddering recollections are of horribly muddled scenes of po-faced pseudo political sloganeering and gross sentimentality taking the place of black-humour. Lots of half-arsed "one man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist" twaddle espoused by spikey-haired teenagers with big-hearts and no brains. The director of the original died early in filming and it was finished by his son: making it not only a superlatively terrible piece of cinema, but quite possibly also an affront to the Japanese national religion of ancestor worship (Shinto).

On a brighter note - I join in the recommendations for Tsotsi. Deftly combined grimness with a sense of beauty - touching without being overly sentimental.

Also recently saw Enron: the Smartest Men in the Building, a good documentary on the collapse of the company. I was fairly familiar with the basics (a book recommendation: "Dot Con" by John Cassidy - entertaining account of the techno bubble) but was still amazed by incredible levels of hubris, selfishness and venality on display. All with the collusion / compicity of the entire financial establishment, and to a degree the current Bush administration. The arrogant coolly tones of Enron traders phoning Power Stations to ask them to "switch off for a while, just make up an excuse" or gloating over forest fires that were threatening California power line, hence enabling them to ramp up their charges will long stay with me.

Monolith · « **Reply #34 on:** November 03, 2006, 09:29:04 pm »

Watched Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanours the other day. Very much enjoyed it. Doubtless there are a lot of Allen haters around, but a pleasant dark film all the same.

And I was made to watch Half Bakedthe other day by a room of stoners which wasn't fun. "Dude...how can you not like this shit, it's the greatest!"
"Fuck off".

Falling Down · « **Reply #35 on:** November 05, 2006, 10:24:25 am »

Went to see Borat last night

really funny and quite shocking in places for all sorts of reasons. Some top slapstick moments too... well worth the effort of trecking to the cinema.

moose · « **Reply #36 on:** November 08, 2006, 11:42:46 am »

a quick "heads up" . Kontroll - previously recommended on this thread (possibly by Bonjoy?) is on Channel 4 on friday night:

02:20 Kontroll
[subtitles] [widescreen]
(2003) An undercover Budapest Metro Kontroll officer and his eccentric raggle-taggle comrades play pranks and face off rival ticket inspectors, and the odd serial killer, in this cultish comedy from Hungary. Nimrod Antal's debut feature veers from the surreal to the comic but is always accessible. In Hungarian with English subtitles.

The number of quality films hidden away late at night or on random, otherwise shit-filled, digital channels is pretty amazing. The Battle of Algiers was on last week on some terrible digi channel, sandwiched between a load of plastic-surgerise-my-dog-USA style programmes! It's tragic to admit but I have lately started getting a TV guide and going through it with an electron microscope and highlighting stuff in advance.

Also worth mentioning, "The Business" is on film4 this week - a far better and funnier film than it has any right to be given its pedigree. If you liked Sexy Beast it's well worth a punt.

Paz · « **Reply #37 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:08:30 pm »

The nearest cinemas to me doesn't show things like Borat or X Men 3 (they have bars though) so if you similarly find yourself in an arty picture house full of ponces and darlings (and don't fancy watching going home to watch X Men 2 tonight) then Volver's good if it's being rerun and not just because Penelope Cruz is fit.

That Inconvenient Truth is bollocks, a fucking lecture. If I'm going to patronised about the environment then I prefer it to be done by cartoon characters - those Studio Ghibli film's were awesome especially if you saw the ones with subtitles. Flying islands, ornithopters, proper baddies, guardian robots and pirates all in one. Forest Spirits and Wolf tribes. Awesome `I want one of them' flying glider jobs and more airships. A cat bus. Genius.

That's what I want in a film.

Fiend · « **Reply #38 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:13:48 pm »

I agree entirely, but what exactly is the film recommendation there, Paz??

On an older note, I saw The Incredibles on DVD recently, good film, good fun entertainment, well paced and some good humour - very little to dislike about it apart from a slight lack of "superheroes working in normal society".

Paul B · « **Reply #39 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:17:43 pm »

Saw the history boys a week or so ago, not my kind of thing but the soundtrack was pretty good.

I'm going to put in another vote for the classics: Rocky 1, 2 &3....

Bonjoy · « **Reply #40 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:21:18 pm »

Catbus rules!

Nibile · « **Reply #41 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:30:17 pm »

a bit old, but genius "mr hula hoop" by coen brothers.

Paz · « **Reply #42 on:** November 08, 2006, 04:37:20 pm »

My Neighbour Totoro is the one with the Catbus. They were all on filmfour, but they only showed this one once which was a shame.

My next favourites are Nausicaa (Valley of the wind), Princess Monoke and Laputa the Flying Island cos I like the sci-fi fantasy shit and heroine princesses. But Porco Rosso, and Kiki's delivery service are good. There were some other adult ones that I didn't manage to sit through, and there's a new one that was supposed to be awesome but I havent' seen that.

The Korean films got mentioned on rocktalk but I didn't see many of them. I meant to thank someone for recommending Old Boy it was that good and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance was awesome.

the_dom · « **Reply #43 on:** November 10, 2006, 09:53:45 am »

Quote from: Nibile on November 08, 2006, 04:30:17 pm

a bit old, but genius "mr hula hoop" by coen brothers.

I think it's called The Hudsucker Proxy in english-speaking nations, Nibs..

moose · « **Reply #44 on:** November 10, 2006, 10:41:26 am »

Quote from: Paz on November 08, 2006, 04:37:20 pm

The Korean films got mentioned on rocktalk but I didn't see many of them. I meant to thank someone for recommending Old Boy it was that good and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance was awesome.

Then you saw by far the best of them... Oldboy is awesome... Lady Vengence wasn't as resonant (slightly hackneyed plot) but was beautiful to behold. To be honest though I found most of the other recent Korean films to be pretty poor and at best only redeemed by style. If they were in English they would probably have received mediocre reviews citing muddled plotting and incredibly cliched stories before disappearing almost without trace. I am partially convinced that a lot of the overly praising reviews are a result of critics not wanting to appear stupid when confused by their often very elaborate plotlines (e.g. similar actors interacting over multiple timelines). Instead of blaming poor direction they secretly assume that any bewilderment was their own fault, but refuse to publically admit it and write posisitve reviews to cover up.

Paz · « **Reply #45 on:** November 10, 2006, 04:31:53 pm »

Wow, that really was good advice I got from cock talk then!

Quote

Lady Vengence wasn't as resonant (slightly hackneyed plot) but was beautiful to behold

Aye, I thought she was gorgeous at the start, but I can only find really good images of the film after that:

I was just wondering the night before last - is she the same bird as the one who played -wait for it this name is fucking cool- Lady Deathstrike in X2? But I just looked it up and she's not, that's just me being thick.

What you're on about with the critics is a classic case of The Emperor's New Clothes. The Emperor's New Groove, now there's a film (disney feel good pantomine-esque cartoon).

I think the problem is your expectations when you go in - seen Taxi Driver last night. It's alright, but it's not as good as they all reckon. Maybe it was the original, and all other non Woody Allen films set in new york (most of them also by Scorsesee) have sinced ripped off its imagery, but frankly it and a lot of these other 100 best films to see before you die (apart from Old Boy), they don't live up to the hype of the grandiose title of the list. I worry that there are easily influenced people who are like 85 or 90 who've just mail ordered 100 DVDs, who really should've been going bunjee jumping or on holiday. Your life will be perfectly fucking happy and content without watching a load of movies that film buffs like. Kagemusha looks absolutely awesome in the advert, but it's 3.5 hours long - you've already seen the cinematic bits! It'd be great to watch in the middle of the day on a bank holiday spent doing nothing or something, but late at night you'll have trouble staying awake.

Heads up on some Hungarian comedy Bonjoy mentioned on channel 4 2:20 tonight too. You probably want to put the video on.

Yossarian · « **Reply #46 on:** November 24, 2006, 02:58:26 pm »

shiri is a korean flick that i thought was quite good the first time i saw it, but have subsequently decided is fairly rubbish.

i watched ultraviolet the other day. that was impressively shit. it started badly, and then got really crap. and then the twist was that it get even worse.

the african queen on the other hand was better than i ever remember.

am quite looking forward to the night of the hunter tonight.

for all you biking fans, unscene is quite a nice lo-fi alternative to the collective and other highly polished mtb films

also saw pusher 2 and 3 recently. maybe not quite as good as the original, but still very worthwhile watching

precinct 13 - outrageously ridiculous plot, but quite a lot of fun nonetheless. bbc parkour bloke and some bald chap engage in heavy duty parcour to soundtrack of french hip hop.

Yossarian · « **Reply #47 on:** November 24, 2006, 03:58:36 pm »

also, nearly forgot - puppet on a chain. great soundtrack. great wardrobe styling. great haircuts. not sure the screen adaption was that successful though...

Rob · « **Reply #48 on:** November 25, 2006, 09:10:40 am »

Harsh Times

http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0433387/

Bit of an odd one, set in LA. I thought it was worth seeing just for Christian Bale using 'Daawg!' and 'Homie' like a native.

Nibile · « **Reply #49 on:** November 29, 2006, 12:53:38 pm »

lately:
seven,
cyrano with gerard depardieu,
and

(absolutely brilliant) aguirre, wrath of god by herzog.

Author Topic: Anyone seen any good films lately - Part the second (Read 79204 times)