[TobyD]

Watchmen

Definitely worth seeing, yet not brilliant. Certainly more adventurous and quirky than the average graphic novel - movie, and you've got to respect it for that. There are some stunning moments: the vignette of the Comedian on the grassy knoll is great, as is the massive glass clock mechanism- ship thing on Mars. It is too long though, and i thought the soundtrack was often over prominent to no obvious effect.   

[Eddies]

This looks good!

[Fiend]

Just watched Watchmen, highly rated it, probably a little long, but the opening credits alone were more entertaining than the whole of 'Dark Knight'. Knew nothing about the books but liked the story, more complex than your usual comic. One of the most surprising things was the sound track. Awesome.

^^^ pretty much this, except no complaints about the length (I was increasingly intrigued by it), and not as huge a fan of the soundtrack though it was good. Oh and I rate TDK higher, but anyway...

Really liked it, powerful, flamboyant, involving, and a few classic characters - I found Dr Manhatten (schlong and all) fascinating and Rorschach viciously excellent. It was a bit camp in places and a bit gory in others but overall great stuff. I hadn't read the book so I had the plot to maintain interest too.

[chappers]

i recently saw Bobby.
i really enjoyed it, it seems to play out seemingly unconnected events during the day leading up to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. the thing that surprised me the most is the cast - huge name keep popping up in the film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308055/

[Houdini]

Gomorrah, Italian flm based on a book of the same name. Its about low and mid level members of the Camorra and the short, nasty, grim lives they live.
The guy who wrote it, an investigative journalist, is now in protective custody.
Awsome

An excellent recommendation and an excellent film which continues the (mostly, it seems) Italian tradition of using non-professional actors;  Pasolini, for example, was a keen advocate.

Loved the film:  dark (literally & in cadence), harsh, shabby and completely convincing.    Those brutalist housing schemes are awesome.

[SteveM]

saw gran torino ... well worth checking out

Definitely. Clint eatswood makes acting look effortless, his grumpy old man impression is superb. And good for quotable quotes on religion (especially catholic priests).

 

[Falling Down]

Looking forward to Where The Wild Things Are

[Dr T]

Looking forward to Where The Wild Things Are

trailer looks awesome, seems to be very in keeping with the spirit of the book, and spike jonze directing 

[mini]

If you enjoyed this then I'd recommend this

Intacto http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220580/

Took on your recommendation and watched this last night; very, very good call Beard  

[Dr T]

First none climbing afternoon away from Jr T (non climbing due to stress fractured knuckle  )
had to go out because we'd promised friends they could baby sit
so for lack of anything else better at the cinema watch the boat that rock
actually turned out to be a right good giggle (with a top soundtrack too)
 

[tomtom]

"In the loop"
Saw this on Saturday and thought I'd cut my movie review teeth here (dutifully doffing my hat to the review master Moose...)

If you like programs in the ilk of 'in thick of it', you will be as happy as a politician in scandal pig in shit. If however, like me you dont really watch much in the way of that sort of program - its kind of like a film version of 'drop the dead donkey' meets new labour yes minister - its still worth going, it had me in stitches a good few times.

The synopsis is that a rather limp minor minister of something or other makes a quip that the (probably upcoming Iraq) war might not happen and somehow he becomes a sort of international pawn between hawks and doves in the US State department. Into this mix is thrown a sub plot revolving around a nerdy UK junior advisor and an old flame who happens to be his US counterpart. Then add a sprinkling of intentional and unintentional leaks to the press about what might or might not be going on. Trying to reign in all this mahem is the chief press officer - an Alisair Campbell figure I suspect you are supposed to believe - who is the main character. He is a scrote like hard nosed Scot, trying to keep a really tight control on things. He swears profusely, threatens everyone, is a real weasle yet also runs around almost John Cleese like trying to keep a lid on things. Even better is his sidekick - an even nastier Weegie, and theres a great scene where he kicks the shit out of a fax machine in front of cowering employees to screw a leak confession from them. Like some of the best scenes from the office. Ultimately the Cambell clone ends up meeting his match in the role of a US General played by Tony from the Soprano's (sorry everyone I have some sort of actors names memory block - so they've all been left out!). And it all comes to a calamitous and swearing/insult based end. Theres also a great cameo role by Alan Partridge with superb comic timing.

So I laughed quite alot. But - it left me feeling like there were alot of in jokes I didnt really get. Kind of like watching an episode of the office mid series - its funny but not as funny as if you have watched all of them. They try and develop the characters to allow these 'in jokes' to work better but as its a film there is little time for this to happen. Also, its strangely slap stick in humour - and whilst hearing that someone is a 'fucking cocksucking pimple faced little shit' is quite funny at first - after an hour you're so used to the swearing, and the first use of 'cunt' only raises a titter...

Hey, maybe it was all a bit too high brow for me - after all I like a movie that has a good car chase, something getting blown up and a bit of shagging as well... Mind you, I wasnt bored, didnt look at the clock, laughed alot (sometimes a great deal) and still remember quite alot about the film... maybe it was quite good after all!

T

[duncan]

In The Loop II

I thought it was very funny.  Most brit-TV-coms. that make it to the cinema feel like they have one episode worth of jokes stretched over 90 minutes, this has more and better than many 12 part series squeezed into one film.  The posters give the impression it's a light-hearted comedy but there is more to it than that.  The targets may be soft but they get the kicking they deserve.  The script is brilliant, people will be quoting it's one-liners for years to come, if only as a source of insults (the closing titles credit a "swearing consultant").  There were many excellent performances particularly from James Gandolfini (as the Colin Powell-esque anti-war general who gets out-maneuvered by the Donald Rumsfeld figure) and Peter Capaldi (as 'Alistair Campbell').  It occasionally felt like a TV movie: no sex, car chases or explosions and there are a couple of plot holes.  I'm a bit of a politics wonk, so it's more likely to appeal to me than some.  Even so, it gets a strong recommendation: I can't remember laughing as much in a film in years.

[Houdini]

In the loop is a phenomenon.  Just watch it.  Tucker is fantastic.


Tucker's Law:   If some cunt can fuck it up then that cunt will find the worse possible moment to fuck it up - because that cunt's a cunt.

[Will Hunt]

Die Hard 4

Bruce Willis crashes a car into a helicopter. It explodes in a ball of flames.

Bruce Willis crashes a car into a lady baddy. She explodes in a ball of flames.

Bruce Willis drives a lorry into a F-34 jet. It explodes in a ball of flames.

Bruce Willis shoots a bady through himself.

The End

So long as you watch it with a group of friends and make comic points about how ridiculous it is this can be a couple of hours well spent.

[moose]

Bored, can’t climb, and the football won’t kick off for hours, so here’s a film and DVD round-up!  Any complaints: blame Andy Swann.  I bumped into him at Brimham and one-hour in his company left me with too skinless and battered to contemplate pulling-on for days… now there’s man who loves his eliminates. 

BRONSON
Contrary to expectations, this is not another tiresome contribution to the real-life-crime genre.  There are no cheeky, sportswear clad hooligans, justifying their “naughtiness” as a response to Maggie Thatcher and a need for man-love.  Instead it is far stranger and harder to categorise. 

Michael Peterson is the eponymous hostage-taker: an entirely self-made man.  A man whose obsession with fame created an entirely new persona: a combination of the criminal and the circus performer.  An artistic project sculpted from flesh and desire. 

The film itself is not a conventional biopic, rather a series of stylised sketches characterised by the juxtaposition of mannered performances and sudden, often violent, depravity.  Although there are many lighter moments and some good dialogue; a hi-energy disco in a psychiatric ward is a particular highlight. 

Criticisms that the film is too sympathetic to a dangerous man seem wide of the mark.  The viewer is left glad that Bronson is locked away.  There is no sentimentality towards a man willing to cause so much pain for reasons so personal yet so abstract.  Anyway, regardless of any larger moral dimension, it’s a deeply peculiar film whose purported similarities to A Clockwork Orange for once seem deserved rather than lazy.  Well worth watching for its oddness if nothing else. 


LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
The much lauded Swedish child-vampire film.  It does a lot right: the gore and shocks are largely well-calibrated, the performances are naturalistic and there’s a nice sense of place.  Vampirism, rather than being a freak, super-natural phenomenon is portrayed as merely a natural consequence of living in such bleakness: a peril on a par with alcoholism or falling through ice.  Something to be regarded with long-suffering phlegmatism.  Or at least I assume that’s why bloody murders cause so little police activity or panic!

However, despite its many good points, I admit to leaving the cinema disappointed.  Mainly because the ending felt like it has been imported from a far cruder, crowd-pleaser.  And, although it is a well-executed vampire film, it is just a vampire film.  There is little that hasn’t been seen before in the likes of Near Dark or 30 Days of Night; films which although perhaps inferior, remove most claims to originality.  A similar phenomenon occurred for the likes of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”: kung-fu films that were hugely over-praised by mainstream critics unaware of their debt to the genre – films such as The Prodigal Son and The Legend of Fong Sai Yuk had done it all before… and with a sense of humour.

So whilst Let The Right One In is a very good, admirably serious vampire film, I suspect that, unusually, the more affection the viewer has for the genre, the less impressed they will be.

IN THE LOOP
Predictably this feature-length version of Armando Iannucci’s critique of spin-culture, In the Thick of It, is a must for lovers of inventive verbal abuse, but not really a film.  Rather it is a stretched TV episode, with length and plot development seemingly predicated by the writers’ desire not to let any good insults to go to waste.

I admit that this less than rapturous response is probably more my fault than the film’s.  A symptom of a shameful lack of engagement with the wider world; I have no great expectations of politicians so am perhaps left less enraged than I should be by revelations of mistakes and venality. 

So whilst I found such a hugely distended sack of bile impressive, I was left just plain tired by the end.  Worn-out by vitriol directed towards matters I simply don’t care enough about.  That said, I still recommend it: it is at time very funny, acutely contemporary and feels important.   It’s a forlorn hope, but maybe this film, and ones like it will do for Government what Smashie and Nicey did for Radio 1.

[St Hubbins]

Michael Peterson is the eponymous hostage-taker: an entirely self-made man.  A man whose obsession with fame created an entirely new persona: a combination of the criminal and the circus performer. 

I would simply have called him a Knobhead thats been in prison for a long time?

[moose]

and you'd have been right (and now I've got an image stuck in my head of a giant angry penis with a luxuriant 'tache... thanks!).  It is a really odd film though... more like some weird piece of performance art than a biopic.  The fact that there's a real nutter is almost irrelevant as it's just a series of surreal little vignettes with bugger all basis in reality (Monty Python do ultraviolence stylee).

[Monolith]

I had the pleasure of watching Terence Davies' Of Time and The City today at a screening with the directors. The film is less a historical overview of Liverpool and is instead  a sort of memoir  of Davies' life and the  troubles he faced in dealing with his homosexuality. The film is saturated with some fascinating archive footage and has a particularly brilliant score. The directors talked afterwards about how the film came about and it was interesting to see how the Liverpool Culture Company gave the film backing despite it not being an overt celebration of the city. Certainly worth seeing from my perspective. Whether the film may have a lesser degree of poignancy for those not from the area I can't say but the archive footage is very rich.

http://www.oftimeandthecity.com

[robertostallioni]

Managed to get my hands on an early Moose review.  Enjoy. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h6sBu9tLzw

[benj_d]

Managed to get my hands on an early Moose review.  Enjoy.  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h6sBu9tLzw

What on earth  He's hilarious! 

[Falling Down]

Managed to get my hands on an early Moose review.  Enjoy. 

[magpie]

That kid is freaky. 

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN ...I admit to leaving the cinema disappointed.  Mainly because the ending felt like it has been imported from a far cruder, crowd-pleaser. 

I like the ending, partly cause I felt like it had to end that way, from what had happened earlier in the film, I thought it highlighted how her life worked, a never-ending circle, just with different people over time. 

I really liked the whole film actually, I thought it had a lovely feel to it and was nicely paced, and the two kids were great.  Plus, you can't beat watching a foreign film with subtitles on a Monday night for making you feel all trendy and intelligent. 

hugely over-praised by mainstream critics unaware of their debt to the genre

Though maybe I should bow down to your superior knowledge, I don't watch a lot of vampire / horror films due to the fact I am a total wimp and tend to cower and cry with fear a lot.  I enjoyed LTROI because it was more atmospheric than just gore and jumpy bits for the sake of it. 

[Plattsy]

Star Trek
Being a big Star Trek fan I had high hopes for this and I wasn't disappointed. Although I'm not a huge fan of J.J. Abrams I have to say this a great summer blockbuster sci-fi film.

The movie essentially tells the story of how the original crew all end up on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Throw in some Romulan baddies. All the famous catch phrases. A big chunk of humour and cheese. Good action and great special effects and every box has been ticked.

Everyone I saw the film with thoroughly enjoyed it (unusual) and even the slightly cliched ending didn't detract from the overall experience.

A solid rating of pain aux chocolate out of 10.

[namnok]

watched Taken starring Liam Neeson on DVD saturday night.

at first you do think that the lead character's a bit obsessed with seeing his child, but forgetting that and realising that it a very good action film when it gets going.

for the 1st time in ages i thought shortly into it past all the sickly bits, this is a very good film and i'm enjoying it!


another one i watched over the weekend (the missus was away in london) was Get Smart....good funny film.

[tomtom]

Star Trek
Being a big Star Trek fan I had high hopes for this and I wasn't disappointed. Although I'm not a huge fan of J.J. Abrams I have to say this a great summer blockbuster sci-fi film.

The movie essentially tells the story of how the original crew all end up on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Throw in some Romulan baddies. All the famous catch phrases. A big chunk of humour and cheese. Good action and great special effects and every box has been ticked.

Everyone I saw the film with thoroughly enjoyed it (unusual) and even the slightly cliched ending didn't detract from the overall experience.

A solid rating of pain aux chocolate out of 10.

 

A good film. Solid rather than excellent. The fairer half didnt want to go, but loved it and didnt stop talking about if after. I had heard it was good and was not disappointed, nor underwhelmed - just thought it was good instead of great. Neat plot - intelligent enough to keep me engaged but not too out of this world (well it is sci-fi!)...

Definitely worth leaving the pink anazasis in the cupboard for on a rainy evening...