[SA Chris]

Definitely The Artist

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/arts-%26-entertainment/the-artist-named-this-year%e2%80%99s-'amaaayzing'-film-201201164770/

[BB]

Opted for Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last night. Really good remake. Enjoyed it alot, partly because of the amazing cast and partly because they didnt try to 'hollywoodize' it. Best film I've seen for a while.

[tomtom]

Saw "Harry Brown" at the weekend....

I really liked it, but its pretty bleak. Its kind of along the lines of Grand Torino (former soldier takes issue with local scrotes) but set in Elephant and Castle rather than LA somewhere - along with the associated bleakness. Michael Caines main character is shuffling old man rather than grunting sneery eatswood, but I liked this and the way it added to the overall gloom of the film.

Theres no happy part to this film really - so dont see it if you live on an estate and are on the brink of depression - but I thought it was pretty good, some very strong performances and good scenes - especially with the dealer scenes.

[moose]

I saw Rise of Planet of the Apes last night.  Good... but I was left a little disappointed.   With all the hype, I was hoping for something on a par with the original Planet of the Apes.  Instead, it's decent sci-fi-thriller but without the gravitas and oddly haunting, metaphorical character of the original (I'm not kidding - the original is a great film, maybe takes itself a bit seriously, but, for me, its reputation has suffered unfairly from pop-culture and sequels).  My fault... I guess for being taken in. 

Still, it is well made with lots of chimp action and it (almost) makes up for the Tim Burton film.  Perhaps I never recovered from the early realisation that the premise is very similar to Deep Blue Sea - I was waiting for Samuel L Jackson to appear and shout "Just what the hell did you do to those sharks chimps?!". 

If feeling uncharitable you could also regard it as a po-faced remake of Gremlins too.  Instead of  "Don't feed after midnight" it's "Don't give them experimental anti-Alzheimers drugs"!  Perhaps those scientists should have researched something less risky, like making the world's cheekiest chimp - that way, any mishaps would be limited to showers of flung shit!


Also *SPOILER ALERT* though only for people who don't understand what the title means.... A few questions for others who've seen it, did I miss something?



Towards the end, where the hell do all those apes come from? You see one zoo being raided but does San Francisco have a population of hundreds, thousands of chimps all waiting for liberation? And surely only the original lab subjects would be intelligent enough to take part in the "rise"?  Also, I'll go along with the drugs making the chimps clever, but they also appear to grow Cornelius the new chest/tongue muscles and voicebox that human speech require!  Not to say enhanced althletic abilities - there are apes that could enter the Olympics as discus and javelin throwers!

[SA Chris]

Towards the end, where the hell do all those apes come from? You see one zoo being raided but does San Francisco have a population of hundreds, thousands of chimps all waiting for liberation?

They are freed by the C.L.I.T.

[magpie]

I am excited about Troll Hunter now, you guys have made it sound much better than I was expecting.

I didn't really like Rise of the Planet of the Apes much, all the cruelty to the chimps made me sad. :girl: 

[galpinos]

Finally got round to watching “The Guard” this weekend. Very good black comedy with strong performances by Brendan Gleeson and Don Cheadle. Simple plot with great characters and consistently humorous as well laugh out load funny in places.

[magpie]

Watched Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 recently, they're both excellent, long but totally worth the time to watch them.  Vincent Cassel is excellent.

[Nibile]

nothing new, but recently I watched "The Tree of Life" and...
wow.
what a movie. as heavy and slow as a ton of bricks, but what an intensity. I don't know if I'd watch it again, but am well happy to having done so. no ones has the balls to do films like that.
I understand it could easily be regarded as c**p, but I think it's great.

[Paul B]

again, nothing new but I caught 'the Reader' the other night. I thought it was fantastic, quite chilling at times.

[TobyD]

saw Girl with the dragon tatoo yesterday (the David Fincher directed one, rather than the Swedish 2009 movie) ... and thought that it was well worth it; in fact a considerably better movie than it was a novel, in my opinion, as it loses Larsson's rather ponderous, repetitive writing style, but retains the power and narrative drive which seems to have made his trilogy such a success. O, and the soundtrack is great. Give Trent Reznor a medal. 

[mark s]

looking forward to going to see the muppets 

[yorkshireman]

for all you alien fans 

really hoping this film has been worth the wait as the bit before the start of alien,all about the space jockeys and how the ship they found actually came to be on lv426 has needed telling.

[BB]

I'm so excited by Prometheus I could shit. Mind you I was exciited about the Gash of the Shitans film and look how that turned out.

[yorkshireman]

i suppose it depends what you are expecting.if you are expecting it to be alien,it wont be,you cant make a film like that anymore as it was such a new idea when it came out.if you are expecting an action packed story to give you some answers to alien,i think it will be enjoyable,i hope it is anyway as ive been waiting 10 years for this film.

i was forced to watch class of the titans but it must have done well as there's another due out soon

[moose]

Prometheus... on the one hand, Ridley Scott who made the orignal Alien is directing.  On the other hand, Ridley Scott who made Robin Hood, A Good Year and Kingdom of Heaven is directing....

Still, the cast looks half-decent: Michael Fassbinber, Noomi Raplace, Guy Pearce, Rafe Spall - so even if the plot stinks at least there should be some quality, scenery-chewing thesping.

[tomtom]

Prometheus... on the one hand, Ridley Scott who made the orignal Alien is directing.  On the other hand, Ridley Scott who made Robin Hood, A Good Year and Kingdom of Heaven is directing....

Still, the cast looks half-decent: Michael Fassbinber, Noomi Raplace, Guy Pearce, Rafe Spall - so even if the plot stinks at least there should be some quality, scenery-chewing thesping.

Rafe Spall.. Excellent. Hope he plays someone mentally unhinged.. Of which there is a fair chance!

[yorkshireman]

kingdom of heaven is an excellent film!

[Falling Down]

I also enjoyed Kindgom of Heaven, much better than its reputation implied.

Some cracking reviews in today's Observer.  The Descendents looks great as does The Grey and Patience (after Sebald) plus there's a DVD release of Two Lane Blacktop.

[moose]

Rafe Spall.. Excellent. Hope he plays someone mentally unhinged.. Of which there is a fair chance!

Rumour has it that Rafe will indeed be doing what he does best: he plays an effete, lisping alien with twin passions for fine-china and carnage.

[Dr T]

I also enjoyed Kindgom of Heaven, much better than its reputation implied.

[tomtom]

Rafe Spall.. Excellent. Hope he plays someone mentally unhinged.. Of which there is a fair chance!

Rumour has it that Rafe will indeed be doing what he does best: he plays an effete, lisping alien with twin passions for fine-china and carnage.

The drowning cat scene in the recent bbc drama he was in stood out for me....

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Finally got around to watching The Worlds Fastest Indian this weekend, nothing to do with a Cherokee Usain Bolt wannabe, but basically a road movie about a Kiwi old timer taking a highly modified motor-'sickle' to the Bonneville salt flats for 'speed week'. Great movie irrespective of your level of interest in all things two wheels. Hopkins is at his best. Sticks pretty close to the true story it's based on, it's such a good story why make it up?

[tomtom]

Finally got around to watching The Worlds Fastest Indian this weekend, nothing to do with a Cherokee Usain Bolt wannabe, but basically a road movie about a Kiwi old timer taking a highly modified motor-'sickle' to the Bonneville salt flats for 'speed week'. Great movie irrespective of your level of interest in all things two wheels. Hopkins is at his best. Sticks pretty close to the true story it's based on, it's such a good story why make it up?

It's brilliant.. Saw it ages ago..

[Moo]

went to see anonymous last night. It's good because it doesn't really centre on a being a conspiracy, just makes a good story around it.  Ryhs effands is brilliant