[nai]

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.

First 5 minutes brilliant. The rest utter tosh.

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[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.

First 5 minutes brilliant. The rest utter tosh.

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Strange opinion Ian: in what sense was one big space monster battle with some 13 year old humour any different from the others? Seen one you've seen them all perhaps?

[nai]

Maybe that's a little harsh bit for some reason I was expecting great things.

Then it goes and opens with a showstopper and expectation rises but it never reached such heights again.

Didn't see it in 3D so missed out on the SFX.

If I'd been watching at home it wouldn't have been long before I was messing with my phone.

[Mike Tyson]

I went to the cinema last night to see it. I quite enjoyed it if I'm honest. Not quite as good as first one but some laugh out loud bits and decent action. 7/10

[TobyD]

Maybe that's a little harsh bit for some reason I was expecting great things.

Then it goes and opens with a showstopper and expectation rises but it never reached such heights again.

Didn't see it in 3D so missed out on the SFX.

If I'd been watching at home it wouldn't have been long before I was messing with my phone.

Yeah OK, we thought pretty much the same then! My expectations were basically nil. The 3d was genuinely amazing. But overall pretty mediocre, but that's good if you expected utter shit. Keenly awaiting Alien, and Blade Runner. Really hoping Scott doesn't screw them up.

[TobyD]

I went to the cinema last night to see it. I quite enjoyed it if I'm honest. Not quite as good as first one but some laugh out loud bits and decent action. 7/10

Yup. It might have helped that I knew nothing about it, and hadn't seen number 1.

[tomtom]

Saw rogue1 on DVD last night. First 'new' film I've watched since TTjnr was born (largely due to me and MrsTT rarely having 2-3 hours spare.

Superb. Best one of the new Star Wars I've seen - the franchise seems so much better when not laden down with all the old characters.

[Falling Down]

Yeah I did the same a couple of weeks back and loved it.  Much, much better than any of the other prequels.  I really like Ben Mendleson too... he's great as the baddie.

[andy popp]

We watched a brilliant documentary last night, "I am Not Your Negro," on the author James Baldwin. It seems to start out as an exploration of Baldwin's relationship with Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X, but becomes in the end a much more far reaching meditation on race in America. Baldwin gets the writing credit so I assume all the words are his, either spoken by an actor of by Baldwin in old interviews and debates. I'm not making this sound very exciting, but what is thrilling is Baldwin's intelligence, the subtlety and complexity of his thought. Most powerful for me was how he laid out race's corrosive impact on all, black and white. I don't think any other film has shown me as much about America.

After we watched it my wife posted a brief note on Facebook, which immediately got trolled by a very WASP cousin of hers, who seemed determined to unwittingly prove Baldwin's point about white America's refusal to countenance its racism. He was reduced to claiming that he off the hook because he'd once watch "Hoop Dreams." In some ways it was like the perfect coda to the film.

[TobyD]

We watched a brilliant documentary last night, "I am Not Your Negro," on the author James Baldwin. It seems to start out as an exploration of Baldwin's relationship with Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X, but becomes in the end a much more far reaching meditation on race in America. Baldwin gets the writing credit so I assume all the words are his, either spoken by an actor of by Baldwin in old interviews and debates. I'm not making this sound very exciting, but what is thrilling is Baldwin's intelligence, the subtlety and complexity of his thought. Most powerful for me was how he laid out race's corrosive impact on all, black and white. I don't think any other film has shown me as much about America.

After we watched it my wife posted a brief note on Facebook, which immediately got trolled by a very WASP cousin of hers, who seemed determined to unwittingly prove Baldwin's point about white America's refusal to countenance its racism. He was reduced to claiming that he off the hook because he'd once watch "Hoop Dreams." In some ways it was like the perfect coda to the film.

Nice review Andy, I've wanted to see this for a while but not got round to it yet. Apparently SL Jackson's narration is good as well. I've just read the excellent Golden Door by AA Gill, also a brilliant work on the nature of the American people and nation, from a very different perspective.

[andy popp]

Watch it Toby, its superb. I need to watch it again, its too much to take in in one sitting. Here's a great review from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/movies/review-i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin.html?_r=1

Key quote that explains the thesis much better than I can: "He understood the deep, contradictory patterns of our history, and articulated, with a passion and clarity that few others have matched, the psychological dimensions of racial conflict: the suppression of black humanity under slavery and Jim Crow and the insistence on it in African-American politics and art; the dialectic of guilt and rage, forgiveness and denial that distorts relations between black and white citizens in the North as well as the South; the lengths that white people will go to wash themselves clean of their complicity in oppression."

[SA Chris]

Yeah I did the same a couple of weeks back and loved it.  Much, much better than any of the other prequels.  I really like Ben Mendleson too... he's great as the baddie.

Agree, he's brilliant. Watch him in Animal Kingdom if you haven't seen it.

Forest Whittaker was terrible though.

Just watched Fury last week on 5 Star or something. Film about tank crew in final days of WW2. Got Brad Pitt in it, but he's actually excellent and the film is very intense in places. Really enjoyed it, I think it's on again this week.

[seankenny]

Saw "Lady Macbeth" this weekend. Set in the north east in Victorian times, it's the story of a young girl, Katherine, who gets married off to Alexander, an older man who is the son of a local mine-owner. Alex confines her to the austere, cold house where she's brutalised by the family and watched over by her maid Anna. Eventually Katherine begins an affair with a farmhand and all manner of violence and betrayals begin.

Katherine's transformation from victim to perpetrator is definitely not comfortable English period drama but something quite a bit darker (it's based on a Russian short story). It's beautifully shot, mostly indoors but a few atmospheric moorland moments, quite lush and slow, definitely worth seeing in the cinema. Occasionally it was a little obvious what was coming next, but the final scenes were good enough that I didn't care.

[Will Hunt]

Watched Shame last night after it appeared on Netflix. Was looking forward to this after I missed it at the film festival a few years ago (it received top billing).

Very disappointing. All the ingredients of a good film went in except the plot. Nothing really happened! Or maybe something did happen but it was of no particular consequence? Or we didn't care enough about the characters to be bothered about the events that were happening to them?

[tomtom]

Speaking of Netflix - already beginning to salivate (in a film kind of way) about the upcoming new instalments of House of Cards...

[nai]

Looking forward to it but like all Netflix series I've watched it seems in danger of being stretched that little bit too far.

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[Falling Down]

>Agree, he's brilliant. Watch him in Animal Kingdom if you haven't seen it.

Yup, it's an amazing film and he's just fantastic in it.

[Fultonius]

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/

That one's been on my list "to watch" for a while. Last night I was flicking through my list and couldn't remember why I added it, not recognising the name. Now it's moved up the list, cheers!

Watched Victoria last night. Unbelievable mix fo theatre and film, being done in one single, 2 hour take!  This gives it a very honest, natural feel. We both fault there were a couple of unlikely characterisations, but not enough to detract. Some surprisingly good acting and well shot scenes. On Netlfix.

[duncan]

Baby Driver, complete tosh but superbly done. Hats off to the editors in particular. There are a lot of car chases. I don't watch this kind of film often enough to know if how they rate by modern standards but it was all good fun. Great soundtrack, crucial to the film in more ways than one. I was overjoyed to hear Baby Let Me Take You, one of the sexiest songs ever written. The debt to Tarantino, Pulp Fiction in particular, is transparent. The director comes from my part of the world and we have mutual friends. Good to see a Somerset lad doing well!

[mrjonathanr]

Yeah good film, loses touch with reality a bit much towards the end but cleverly done, superior romp, pacey. Think it owes a bit of a debt to Vanishing Point too.

[Falling Down]

John Wick 2 don't bother... I really enjoyed the first one.  This is a retread and simply a first-person-shooter game set to film.  Only saving grace is Lovejoy.

[Falling Down]

Dog eat Dog dir. Paul Schrader.  Hmmmm... this could have been brilliant.  An adaptation of Eddie Bunker's novel starring Defoe and Cage.  It's a bit of a mixed bag with too much of the aforementioned unnecessary violence. The opening scene for example was off putting and didn't add much to the film other than introducing Defoe's Mad Dog character.  Three ex-cons get handed a big job that could see them off into retirement.  It all goes pear shaped and they don't.  Nicholas Cage and William Defoe are great.  The whole package a bit underwhelming and disjointed (and too violent for my tastes).

[tomtom]

Rather randomly, I watched "Train to Busan" on Amazon Prime earlier in the week...

Its an apocalypse/zombie film centred on a train (not my usual fare I'll admit) and its a fairly linear plot line - but has some really nice ideas and is very well acted and produced. The stage (platform - groan) of being set on a train makes for some interesting ideas.

Don't let the screenshot on the trailer, or the fact its Korean and subtitled put you off.. well worth a view...

[lagerstarfish]

  Only saving grace is Lovejoy.

speaking of which - I enjoyed American Gods

not a film, but it it did feature Lovejoy being pretty damn groovy

I was disappointed with only 8 episodes - bring on the next series

[remus]

Just gotten off a long haul flight from Rocklands, where I watched these.

The Boss Baby Pretty standard animation fare, probably a good one to go and see with the kids.

Life A bit disappointing, probably because it felt close to being really good but was let down by the details (e.g. they're on the ISS, discovering extra-terrestrial life and talk to ground control ~twice during the entire film). I feel like there's been a glut of pretty decent space films over the last few years, so maybe it just compares poorly with those and might rate as better than average otherwise?