[Stubbs]

Troll Hunter is brilliant, but unfortunately for the film a lot of what makes it great for me (the troll hunters mainly) is hard to show in the trailer, and as such I bet they lost a lot of potential watchers. I thought Cabin in the Woods had a similar issue, in that you couldn't show much in the trailer without ruining the film.

[rich d]

How To Train Your Dragon - Having watched tons of kids animated films they often blur into one but this is great. Looking forward to the sequel.

The books are better still. Well worth looking out at the library

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Enjoyed Adventureland, shown over Christmas. Not as funny as Superbad but I'm a sucker for a teen/twenty's "growing up/coming of age" drama with a decent 80s/90s soundtrack. Makes me all reminiscent of the US upbringing I didn't get to have. 

Also see Dazed and Confused on Film4 this friday.

[Rocksteady]

Went to see 12 Years A Slave on Saturday night.

Couple of thoughts about it.

It's compressed what probably is a very interesting memoir of 12 years into 2 hours of just the bits involving brutality and torture. As such, yes, it drills home how awful and brutal and dehumanizing slavery in the US was - but to be honest, I think I got that anyway. And certainly did after a short amount of time. I bet there are more interesting bits in the book than were shown on the film.

Second, I think nearly every film I've ever seen of black slavery in the US pitched the white slave owners as more or less psychotic. I guess the point is that being in a position of absolute power over others is deranging. I'm not sure though. I think some of the impact is lost by this, as it allows the viewer to think 'well, this could never happen again, the slave owners were psychos and maniacs and we wouldn't let people like that get away with it.' For me the point is lost that actually, most normal people, people like you and me and our neighbours, were culturally inured to slavery in the Southern states. It was just how things were. It didn't necessarily involve deliberate cruelty or brutality or perversion, it was part of everyday life. To me this didn't come across at all in 12 Years A Slave - they tried to do it a bit with Benedict Cumberbatch's character but he was presented as someone who would have acted otherwise but was trapped by debts and the system. So my feeling is that the point of a film like this should be that we must be vigilant in our own time for practices or behaviours that are degrading and dehumanizing but seem culturally acceptable, and not just the province of a few perverts or psychos. Because these are the things that history will condemn us for.

Bit rambling and pointless, but how I felt after the film. Thought it was pretty good, pretty harrowing, but certainly not a great film and not enjoyable to watch.

[Fultonius]

Having a day in bed due to particularly quick to hit and nasty cold. Particularly annoying since it dumped 30cm of snow overnight grrr....

So far I've seen Zodiac, which I thought was pretty good. Nice pace, good acting nothing ground breaking but worth a watch.

Now I'm onto Sleeping Beauty and I'll report back later...

[SA Chris]

I think nearly every film I've ever seen of black slavery in the US pitched the white slave owners as more or less psychotic.

Didn't get that from Django Unchained

I'm sure that there were many people who had just one or two slaves, and treated them very fairly. Wouldn't make for a good Hollywood film though.

[kelvin]

Now I'm onto Sleeping Beauty and I'll report back later...

So, also laid up with flu, I thought I'd have a scan of Sleeping Beauty. Not at all related to the Disney movie from what I've seen so far...

[Grubes]

Enjoyed Adventureland,

Had this on DVD for a year or two really good film.
I have liked all the main actors (jesse eisenberg) I have seen.
Zombieland, Social network and most recently Now you see me.
Which I thought was brilliant. Well written, acted and kept me gripped all the way through.
The story follows two sides of a story.
A group of street magicians who are grouped together by a mystery person. who as part of there first performance together they rob a back.
A detective who is trying to catch them in the act.

Its an action film and not at the same time

The cast is pretty impressive too. Michael cain, Morgan freeman, isla fisher, Mark Ruffolo, etc

[lagerstarfish]

tried to watch Vikingdom whilst unable to sleep

worse than that - I tried to watch a 2D version of Vikingdom

it's so bad it's not even so bad it's good - possibly a cult classic in 3D when suitable designer drugs are developed

$15million could have been better spent

Thor's obviously lightweight plastic hammer is amazing

the 3 vikings introducing themselves to each other as Olaf, Sven and Erik did actually make me laugh

it's not as good as watching my 13yr old playing on Skyrim - Skyrim has better effects and acting

all the best bits must have been saved for the trailer



has Charlie Brooker commentated on this?

[Fiend]

You should be playing Skyrim yourself

[lagerstarfish]

Skyrim is too scary for me

[Jaspersharpe]

I have liked all the main actors (jesse eisenberg) I have seen.

That reminded me, Mrs S and I also enjoyed To Rome with Love which he was in. It's the usual Woody Allen comedy stuff about relationships with usual Woody Allen nonsense / mentalism. You either like his shit or you don't but I thought this was great and genuinely hilarious in places.

Oh and Penélope Cruz plays a high class hooker. 

and most recently Now you see me.
Which I thought was brilliant. Well written, acted and kept me gripped all the way through.
The story follows two sides of a story.
A group of street magicians who are grouped together by a mystery person. who as part of there first performance together they rob a back.
A detective who is trying to catch them in the act.

Its an action film and not at the same time

The cast is pretty impressive too. Michael cain, Morgan freeman, isla fisher, Mark Ruffolo, etc

This looks good, ta.

[SA Chris]

Talking fo Trollhunter (tenuous Scandanavian segue), did anyone watch Rare Exports over Xmas?

I only watched second half, but it seemed to be a part fantas,y part horror thing, guess it would appeal to older kids, it get a bit wierd in places.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1401143/

[Falling Down]

Off to see Wolves of Wall St tonight.  I'll report back.

[SA Chris]

Take a cushion - 3 hrs.

[lagerstarfish]

another good point in Vikingdom is the mountain scene - with ski/boarding tracks all over the slopes

[Falling Down]

Take a cushion - 3 hrs.

I'm going to the Curzon, comfy seats, wine, beer and cocktails.

[SA Chris]

regardez moi

[SA Chris]

Troll Hunter is brilliant

Finished watching this Sunday night - great fun film!

Started Time Traveller's Wife, but it's a bit shit so far, is it worth persevering, or bin it? I've not read the book.

[a dense loner]

Turned American hustle off after half an hour, just shit. Kept thinking all these actors are good what's gone wrong here? Shit.
Elysium bit bad but bearable.
Started watching red 2 which should be shit but is actually quite enjoyable.
2 guns I thought was good. Simple.

[Evil]

I also couldn't get into American Hustle. I felt like I was waiting for it to suddenly click and become good, but it never did.

[Falling Down]

Wolf of Wall Street is very funny and entertaining.  A searing expose of the US financial system it is not.  Clearly everyone in America including Scorsese is in thrall to Wall St.  Really good though.

I thought American Hustle was great.

[Jaspersharpe]

Wolf of Wall Street is very funny and entertaining.  A searing expose of the US financial system it is not.  Clearly everyone in America including Scorsese is in thrall to Wall St.  Really good though.

Thought it looked like that, and nothing wrong with that. You watch a Scorsese film for great cinema rather than historical accuracy.

Goodfellas is still one of my favourite films ever but he got a load of stick for glorifying gangsters (despite none of then ending up "winning").

If you want an expose of the US financial system then Margin Call or Too Big To Fail are both very good imo:

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1615147/

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt1742683/

[magpie]

Last Vegas - I really enjoyed it, it was funny and quite sweet in parts, better than I was expecting. 

[a dense loner]

Remember reading a bit back that someone didn't fancy rush since they knew nothing about f1 but thought it was a cracking film, I was the same. Just finished watching it, fantastic.
Don't know if I've already mentioned 42, baseball and the first black player, Harrison ford as team manager. Really good film.