[Falling Down]

Ronin!

Ya'll just naming ones you can think of. Are any the case where you think, that is memorable and made the film better?

Ronin!

"WHAT COLOUR IS THE BOAT HOUSE IN HEREFORD?"

[Fultonius]

Those BA screens are terrible!  Especially after having flown regularly with Emirates.

Went to see T2: Trainspotting at the packed, newly renovated Glasgow Film theatre (beer in hand  ) and it was great. Lots of little nods to current affairs, to the old film, humour, tension - a great piece of film making even if Euan McGregor's acting was a little underwhelming and the cast's rough Scottish accents from the first film had softened and gentrified over the intervening years.

[SA Chris]

Yay for another Arrival appreciation.

What about The Blues Brothers' car chase though??

On movie mix right now

Sent from my SM-A300FU using Tapatalk

[Lopez]

Yay for another Arrival appreciation.

I watched Arrival last night mainly out of the endorsement it gets here. Really enjoyed the first half, and then it just got, let's say silly...

I had this really strange feeling when watching it and after that i couldn't quite place. I was like 'well that didn't make any sense' while at the same time i was sure i understood the movie's plot. So i went online to read the boards and stuff about the movie, which only confirmed that i did get it, which just made the conflict in my head worse, and then i saw the light in a post in IMDB

NSFW  :

So, just because someone can read "circles" they can see the future? Wait...what?

How can learning a language "rewire" a human brain in such a way it bends the rules of time.

That's like saying that learning fish language gives you the ability to breathe underwater.

And that nails it. I have no problems just accepting the fi in sci-fi without questions no matter how outlandish or unlikely it is, but in this film i think it just didn't work and tipped the scales from clever to silly, and only gave more weight to the other holes in the movie which i would otherwise ignore, so all in all, while it was ok, i didn't think it was such a good movie and lags well behind other 'clever' movies out there which it tries to be.

Or maybe that's just me 

[Yossarian]

I agree wholeheartedly with that. I didn't want to spoil the fun, but I thought that, despite some fantastic acting and beautiful execution, the story wasn't anywhere near as meticulously thought through in comparison to, say, Interstellar.

I'm still blown away that the ultra low budget Primer has a complex plot along similarly abstruse lines, with multiple nested timelines, and was figured out entirely by one writer / director with virtually no experience, yet it resolves perfectly. Assuming you concentrate very hard for the first three viewings, anyway.

I don't think anyone has mentioned Nocturnal Animals? I thought it was a pretty fine piece of work though Aaron Taylor-Johnson's acting has been overrated in most of the reviews I've read. Perhaps my expectations re the portrayal of psychotic hillbillies are set too high...

[tomtom]

Watched Deepwater Horizon the other night and thought it was pretty decent. Managed to carry a reasonably strong anti corp message despite it being a fully fledged Hollywood blockbuster. Worth a rental.

MrsTT saw the fence yesterday - and whilst good, she found it sad and pretty heavy going. She left with 30 min to go (the film started late and she had a train to catch - but said she was relieved to get out...). Makenof that what you will!!

[Lopez]

Glad it wasn't just me

Assuming you concentrate very hard for the first three viewings, anyway.

Errr. thanks for the warning. Think i'll give it a pass though... Ha, ha

ETA: Just checked that movie out and it does look good. I'll be giving it a try at some point

[Yossarian]

You should. $7000 budget. Mind blowing…

Darren Aronofsky's Pi was an overblown Hollywood affair in comparison. (At $70,000?)

[moose]

Primer - I enjoyed it after a fashion but it left me with a feeling that I was either stupid and unworthy of its brilliance, or it was just an interesting tale but poorly told.  Frankly, in retrospect, I suspect if a film needs three viewings to make sense, it isn't "clever", it's incoherent.  Incidentally, an interesting timetravel film I enjoyed is "Timecrimes" - a Spanish effort.

Re $7000 budgets - that was also the cost of Roberto Rodriguez's first film "El Mariachi" (he later remade it on a big budget as Desperado with Antonio Banderas).  If I recall correctly, he filmed it using a video camera he got as a wedding present and funded it with money earnt as a drug trials subject.... and decades later he was making Spy Kids (admittedly with From Dusk Till Dawn in the interim - a film I am always happy to watch, despite thinking it's pretty bad).

[Falling Down]

Watched a couple of flicks on a short trip to the US with work this week.

Hell or High Water - Brilliant.... really great.  Has a proper classic '70's golden age of cinema feel about it. 4.5 or 5 out of 5.  Will definitely watch again on HD at home.

Equity - Senior hedge fund manager seeks to raise cash for a .com IPO and things go a bit pear shaped.  A good film... 3/5 maybe a bit more. Would watch again.

[moose]

.

[Yossarian]

Primer - I enjoyed it after a fashion but it left me with a feeling that I was either stupid and unworthy of its brilliance, or it was just an interesting tale but poorly told.  Frankly, in retrospect, I suspect if a film needs three viewings to make sense, it isn't "clever", it's incoherent.  Incidentally, an interesting timetravel film I enjoyed is "Timecrimes" - a Spanish effort.

In Primer's defence, I think it makes you work for it. There are plenty of twisty films you watch and think differently the second time you watch them, but the majority are those are of the "omg, why didn't I spot that" one twist wonder ilk, like the sixth sense. Primer is much harder to fully figure out, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

It was shot on film which I think was by far the biggest cost. I think it was virtually all first take.

Hold on, are you saying Spy Kids is superior to From Dusk Till Dawn?

[moose]

In Primer's defence, I think it makes you work for it. There are plenty of twisty films you watch and think differently the second time you watch them, but the majority are those are of the "omg, why didn't I spot that" one twist wonder ilk, like the sixth sense. Primer is much harder to fully figure out, but I don't think that's a bad thing.

I agree that it's not necessarily bad, but I do feel that "it'll grow on you" / "it's complex" is often used to excuse sloppy plotting / justify spending money on a poor purchase. The best works might have plots whereby different layers / inter-relationships are revealed on repeat reading / viewing (Proust etc.) but they are also immediately satisfying and beautiful.  A book / film that just leaves a sense of bewilderment is sometimes flawed rather than the viewer being at fault - I like Primer, I just think it would have been better if clearer.

Hold  on, are you saying Spy Kids is superior to From Dusk Till Dawn?

No, the complete oppposite.

[cjsheps]

La La Land

This one was a very nice surprise. I'm not a fan of "happy" films, musicals, or films based entirely around the pursuing of some relationship (Scott Pilgrim excluded). My expectations weren't high.

Weirdly, it starts off as a typical musical, but halfway through the mood completely changes. The message shifts from "chase your dreams!" to "at what cost?". In this new light, the first half appeared almost ironic.

SPOILER:

NSFW  :

In particular, the last ten minutes made the film for me. It's so human that the girl should abandon her fairytale ending and accept that she's been taken down a different path. That was heart-wrenching.

Wouldn't watch it again, but I'm glad I saw it once.

[Nibile]

On the opposite side of the thread, but maybe still on the subject.
Yesterday I've managed to summon all my patience to watch what is probably the worst film that's ever been filmed. Surely the worst one that I've ever watched.
A film that makes Van Damme and Seagal's movies worth an Oscar.
A film whose dialogues make"Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker." sound like poetry.
A film whose special effects make any Ed Wood's animation a technical mastery.
A film whose plot make "Fury Road" hard to understand and contrieved.
It's title is:
"40 days and nights - final apocalypse".
It's produced by the mighty The Asylum (sic...) company, proud makers of the "Sharknado" series and other gems.
The level of amateurishess - or just Mala Fides - is appalling.
Waves filmed on a beach and pasted on mountains; dark, rainy skies outside and full sunlight from windows inside; carachters at sea in a storm with dry hair and clothing; rain that never touches the ground; a helicopter at the mercy of a storm, that miraculously stays still when the heroin steps on from a rock...

The full monty. If you resist, watch it.

[andy popp]

We watched Moonlight on Sunday afternoon, ahead of the Oscars debacle. Exactly the kind of film making I love (just like the books I love too, in fact): rooted in the everyday, full of detail, resisting sensationalism or neat endings/messages. Beautiful to watch as well. A worthy winner.

Manchester by the Sea has similar qualities and is similarly good but the accusations against Affleck leave me feeling pretty queasy.

Also so Loving, about a biracial marriage in late 50s Virginia. Based on a true story that is a solid piece of straightforward "History-by-Hollywood," but again they've resisted over dramatising/sentimentalzing.

[Snoops]

 I'm a bit behind as it's 5 years old, but saw Drive last night...one of those films you regret it ending as so good 
Went straight into my top ten films ever.

[TobyD]

I'm a bit behind as it's 5 years old, but saw Drive last night...one of those films you regret it ending as so good 
Went straight into my top ten films ever.

Agreed. I think it'd be somewhere 6-10 for me.

Ghost in the Shell
Saw this yesterday evening. The original is probably one of my top ten as well, but this remake was great. The moaning Hollywood 'whitewash' argument is total carping for the sake of it. Major being Japanese was in no way intrinsic to the original story, and, for god's sake, the climactic scene (minor spoiler)... Features a girl fighting a gigantic robot spider with huge laser cannons on its head. It's hardly hyper realistic. If you want to see Scarlet Johansen, in a skinsuit, in this scene, definitely go to see it. Good basic cyber punk entertainment.

[the_dom]

We watched Moonlight on Sunday afternoon, ahead of the Oscars debacle. Exactly the kind of film making I love (just like the books I love too, in fact): rooted in the everyday, full of detail, resisting sensationalism or neat endings/messages. Beautiful to watch as well. A worthy winner.

Agreed, I thought this was stunning.

[Eddies]

Watched Ghost in the Shell last night.... best new film I've seen since Rouge One.
Brilliant story, cinematography, cast, costumes, effects, scenes etc etc
One to add to the DVD/Blu-ray collection fo sho

[SA Chris]

best new film I've seen since Rouge One.

Moulin?

[Eddies]

haha
Well, Red One is the leader of red squadron!

[lagerstarfish]

finally got round to watching Primer

ace

I have obtained this film several times over the years, but ended up not watching it for all sorts of dumb reasons - I recently managed to get a bit of time to my self when I was reasonably alert - well worth it

[TobyD]

Saw Guardians of the Galaxy the other day (vol 2) that is. It's basically a whole lot of utter crap. But oddly enjoyable crap. The 3D effects are worth it; possibly wouldn't be worth seeing in standard. A good future Christmas movie to pass out in front of, full of turkey and booze. Much like a more traditional Monopoly game on Christmas day, it lasts too long, and doesn't require much thought.

[Wood FT]

I watched 'Son of Saul' recently which left a big impact on me, filmed in such a way as to box you in on the protagonist's viewpoint only, you only realise atrocities through noise and peripheral vision. Not an enjoyable film but very very good.

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt3808342/