[Jaspersharpe]

Watched Stoker last night which has nothing to do with vampires but is a pretty cool, tense psychological thriller. Worth a look.

[tomtom]

Enjoyed Super 8 the other night... A little like an ET re-make in parts - but well put together...

[Teaboy]

A Walk Among the Tombstones, ok but not worth the price of a cinema ticket.
Watched Noah on download, interesting enough to be worth £3.49 for the pair of us, some of it stretched credibility but on the whole it was believable!

[galpinos]

Started on Blood Ties last night, which seems well written and acted, quite slow moving, but not suffering for that. Has a French writer/director (although it's an American film) which maybe helps with the tone.

It's a Hollywood remake of Les Liens du Sang, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942379/. The director of the re-make played the cop in the original.

[Evil]

It's a Hollywood remake of Les Liens du Sang, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942379/. The director of the re-make played the cop in the original.

Ah good to know. Have you seen the original? Good/better?

[Fiend]

Clash Of The Titans - almost marginally entertaining complete garbage that would possibly be good if you were a pre-teen (it's basically a live acted cartoon) or mentally deficient. The medusa was pretty cool though.

[galpinos]

It's a Hollywood remake of Les Liens du Sang, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0942379/. The director of the re-make played the cop in the original.

Ah good to know. Have you seen the original? Good/better?

I've not seen the re-make and the reviews didn't exactly convince me. I don't get time to watch many films so they have to come highly recommended for me to actually see them!

[butters]

Have I missed out or did no one else see Sin City II? Unfortunately I had the misfortune to see it in 3d (first and last time for that awful experience) so I think it was a good film but given I was struggling not to go insane/throw up for the entire movie I'm not 100% sure.

[Fiend]

Good call butters, seems to have totally gone under the radar. 3D though - why??

Incidentally everyone should have watched Gravity in 3D, it worked brilliantly in that.

[shurt]

Saw Reel Rock 9 last night in Bristol. Really really good film if anyone gets the chance. It's basically the history of climbing in Yosemite. Interviews with everyone of note who is still alive and also fittingly very funny.

[SA Chris]

You mean Valley Uprising? Part of the RR Tour.

[duncan]

A slightly longer version...

 I really enjoyed Valley Uprising and would recommend it to anyone interested in climbing history or thinking of a trip to Yosemite. It’s terrific to see the familiar place on the big screen. Most of it is streets ahead of your average climbing film. 

It tells a story of climbers and climbing in Yosemite Valley. It is emphatically not the story of climbing in Yosemite and some of it is as accurate as Braveheart or other Hollywood representations of history. The tale is told in three acts and some of the faults of the film I sensed were due to an over-enthusiasm to create a triptych with Dean Potter and Alex Honnold as the modern-day equivalents of Warren Harding and Royal Robbins in their attitudes to climbing and authority. 

The golden age section is mostly made up of digitally animated stills and talking heads. This could have been dry but the (simplified, necessarily) tale - Royal Robbins versus Warren Harding, Roundhead versus Cavalier - it so compelling, and the film-making so well-done that it is riveting viewing. Constrained by their limited material, the film makers use digital effects and snappy cutting to keep the story moving. The editing is sometimes cruel to Robbins but he is dignified and self-aware in his interviews, a true great. The vintage TV footage of Harding and Dean Caldwell (no relation to Tommy) and the media storm surrounding the Dawn Wall is a hoot. Hats off to whoever tracked down this material.

The second part chronicles the rise and fall of the Stonemasters, from dropping acid with Bridwell to punch-ups in the Camp 4 parking lot via the looting of the downed drugs plane. Familiar stories but well told. More talking heads, animated stills (did we really wear shorts like that?) and priceless archive footage: watching Bachar advertising shavers was well worth the entry fee alone!

The third section titled ‘Stone Monkeys’ had by far the most cinematic material and was by far the weakest, North Red Face Bull advertorial in style. Much of the climbing footage is familiar. We are told modern Valley climbing started with Dean Potter’s arrival in 1995. This is utter crap. Potter is a minor player: no significant new routes and his soloing and speed-climbing feats swiftly surpassed. He and the other Monkeys appear to possess an overweening sense of entitlement. “I just want to be free” he keeps repeating, spinning his outlaw fantasies whilst being sponsored by Patagonia. You sense he would only be content if he had Yosemite Valley entirely to himself (and a 15 person film crew). Honnold, in contrast, just quietly gets on with his climbing, accepting the compromises inevitable from sharing The Valley with 4 million others.

The premise of the film is that Valley climbers are modern-day outlaws. This is self-mythologising crap.  Ironically, the best Yosemite climber from each of the three generations featured in the film (Robbins, Hill and Honnold) emphatically don’t fit this narrative. Iimportant stories which don't fit are ignored: Jim Ericson freeing Half Dome in ‘76, Skinner and Piana freeing the Salathe in ‘88, The Hubers tearing the place up in the ‘90s, Tommy Caldwell more recently (Caldwell is interviewed but we get minimal footage of him climbing and none of his back story). Instead we get photogenic but peripheral slack-lining and base jumping. At one point one of the monkeys (Leo Holding?) says 'most climbers BASE jump'. Well, outside the bubble, they don't and, tellingly, none of the highest achievers do much.

I was really looking forward to this film and, in the main, it more than met my high expectations.  I slightly wished I'd left at the interval.

[Wood FT]

Thanks for the comprohensive review Duncan, interesting stuff. I'd love to know how they animate the pictures like that. . . .  probably seven shades of ball-ache but makes life out of a narration-over-picture scenario.


In less eloquent terms:

Saw Gone Girl the other night - fucking weird.

[shurt]

Well Duncan that was indeed pretty much the jist of the film. I couldnt face punching any more sentences on my mobile! Its weird how the recent stuff had the best footage but the worst story - rangers chasing dirt bag climbers through the boulders in between bouts of slacklining, climbing and base jumping. Felt like they were trying a bit too hard to have their place in Yosemites climbing history.
It was weird them missing out the Hubers and some other notable people. Despite this though the film was really well put together and was a lot better than most other climbing filcks. The material they had to use certainly helped this due to the characters and stories that litter the history of climbing in the valley. I'd really like to see it again at some point.

[Falling Down]

Great review Duncan. Thanks.

[Will Hunt]

Saw '71 last night.

I would expect that this will be seen as a controversial film as, for many who lived through The Troubles, there will be much that is close to the bone and touching on still-fresh wounds. The basic plot is a British army soldier finding himself out of his depth, alone behind "enemy lines" in Belfast. The most poignant line in the film is where the regiment's CO tells them they are "not leaving this country" before they are deployed. This sticks with you throughout all that you see in the film and is a jolt to anyone whose knowledge of The Troubles is rusty at best ( ) or who wasn't alive when it was at its height (also  ).

The context aside, as a suspenseful action film, I found it absolutely excellent. From where it "kicks off" it was tense throughout. Well paced and just the right length - edge of the seat stuff.

[Nibile]

Cheers Duncan, great review.

[ghisino]

Ironically, the best Yosemite climber from each of the three generations featured in the film (Robbins, Hill and Honnold) emphatically don’t fit this narrative.

i didn't find it shocking or out of context though.

i saw it as a "being the best vs having the most fun" dichotomy.
Possibly the first time such rather classic theme is featured in an american climbing movie? (usually they're simply about being the best, period)
Also an explanation why many highly important moments and figures of yos valley's history were skipped: they did not fit the main theme, nor the "parallel lives" construction.
(Just to make another parallel : Plutarch vs Sender films  )

I also think that the word count for "next" and "level" must be at its lowest for american climbing flicks of the last 15 years, which is another really positive thing about the movie.

as far as the last thirs is concerned, imho it mostly lacked some aging. In 20 or 30 years, someone will be able to narrate that chapter as well as the other two.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Probably a bit OTT but this review has made me want to see Interstellar (and avoid reading more reviews/spoilers) even more...
http://qr.ae/mI6C3

[Falling Down]

My nephew (13) is coming to stay for his first visit to London this weekend.  I have tickets for us at the 5:15 screening at the BfI IMAX on Friday in 15perf 70mm (I had no idea there are 49 reels of film and it weighs 600lbs) so I'm hoping he's going to enjoy it as much as I did the Spielberg's and Lucas films when I was a kid.    

[shark]

important stories which don't fit are ignored: Jim Ericson freeing Half Dome in ‘76, Skinner and Piana freeing the Salathe in ‘88, The Hubers tearing the place up in the ‘90s, Tommy Caldwell more recently (Caldwell is interviewed but we get minimal footage of him climbing and none of his back story).

Any mention of Pete Croft soloing Astroman? huge news in 1987

Good write up Duncan

[Jaspersharpe]

Be interested to see your thoughts on Interstellar as my Mum and her husband went to see it at the weekend and both thought it was rubbish.

We often disagree on films though.....

[cowboyhat]

Probably a bit OTT but this review has made me want to see Interstellar (and avoid reading more reviews/spoilers) even more...
http://qr.ae/mI6C3

That review sets alarms off from the outset. Be wary of anyone using the word 'important' straight after they've had their socks blown off by a very loud continuous drone.

"It's important for the human race"

Nasa need a big movie to accidentally kick start their funding. Obama has a private view right? Lets hope his plans aren't blocked in the senate, or he isn't sitting too far to the side because he'll miss all the dialogue*.

*I got a refund. If you go to see interstellar, don't sit anything other than dead centre.

[Falling Down]

Nebraska is brilliant.  Road trip, family stuff, poignant.

A Most Wanted Man. Really good.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman is great in spite of his curious German/Irish accent.

I'll report back on Interstellar.

[Milford Cubicle]

The lives of others, top film.