What DVD / Video did you watch last night? (pt3)

[Belushi]

The Duellists (Ridley Scott 1977) Scott's beautifully shot debut, an ultimately unconvincing film about two Napoleonic officers fighting a series of duels.

 

[DangDarn]

Bridget Jones Diary.

What? Why are you looking at me like that?! I liked it.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Cronenberg's Map to the Stars...

A vicious comment on vile Hollywood lives...reality as horror!

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Oh, and I finished Season One of Ray Donovan....all a bit too nicely resolved for my liking...

 

[krtek a houby]

United 93. Absolutely terrifying.

 

[8den]

Limitless TV Show based on that Bradely Cooper movie. Isn't actually that bad. Very watchable and funny lead (and a great supporting cast), and nice and stylish.

 

[trabuquera]

The Four Feathers - the 2002 remake directed by Shekhar Kapur (and it's not nearly as good as his other historical Elizabethan epics). Beautifully photographed, with some lovely images, and he does inject some interesting undermining of all the British high imperialism and dials down the Islamophobia/racism ... but it really suffers from having big-name Hollywood actors in the central roles. Kate Hudson's Briddish accent is adorably common, and Heath Ledger never sounds less than detectably Australian, so the whole stuffed-shirt ultra-English Victorian military milieu is hard to believe in. An impressive bunch of Brit character talent in the other roles, tho (Michael Sheen!) and an interestingly beefed-up part for Djimon Honsou - as well as a rather bizarre but apt cameo for supermodel Alek Wek. A interesting failure.

 

[8den]

Such a weird film to remake

 

[trabuquera]

it's unintentionally funny when they all keep going on about the Big Bad villain - who is unseen throughout - calling him "the Mardy". The Mardy is not to be trifled with. The Mardy will kill you where you stand etc. (for more on the real Mahdi / Mahdism in Sudan see Muhammad Ahmad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

 

[The Octagon]

Felt like some teen movie snarkiness so watched Mean Girls, Easy A and Road Trip.

Mean Girls in particular has held up well, Tina Fey wrote a hell of a script and the supporting cast is very good. Endlessly quotable and moves at a quick pace so no drag at all. Peak-Lohan too /phwoar, etc

Easy A still entertaining too, Emma Stone carries the movie well and again the supporting cast are very good (Stanley Tucci in particular). Looking back tho it almost irks me that the main character is vilified for being a slut when she hasn't even had sex, almost as if they couldn't quite bring themselves to have her be sexually active and unashamed of it, but a minor issue really.

Road Trip, aged a little but one of the better teen sex comedies of the period, rattles along, plenty of decent jokes and Tom Green doesn't offend my ears and eyes as much here as he does in any other film.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Guardians of the Galaxy - starts off pretty well, not taking itself too seriously, some nice self aware humour, a bit of swagger, and the quickly descends into yet another massive, noisy, slab of hollywood action....

I don't need to see another super hero film in which the last 30 minutes is just non stop CGI action, Arnie-like one liners and plot bending/defying conclusions....

The big action scenes don't even feel dangerous or exciting, because there never seems to be any real casualties of losses. Massive cities get crushed and then the public seem to still be alive to watch the good guys vs the bad guys on the street....

At least in the original superman films I sensed the characters were in the danger when the plot suggested they were in danger....these days...every fucker just gets up and walks away...or dies and comes back to life again...

 

[Belushi]

My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki 1988) Lovely.

 

[DaveCinzano]

I've been reminding myself how much I love the economy of Belushi's reviews

Panic Room (David Fincher 2002) Watchable home invasion thriller.

Gosford Park (Robert Altman 2001) Atmospheric period drama.

Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki 2001) Classic Studio Ghibli.

Walkabout (Nicholas Roeg 1971) As good as I remember.

Black Hawk Down (Ridley Scott 2001) Carnage porn.

Bridesmaids (Paul Feig 2011) Enjoyable Hollywood comedy.

The Adjustment Bureau (George Nolfi 2011) Watchable Sci-Fi romance.

Café de Flore (Jean-Marc Vallee 2011) Café de Merde.

The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa 1958) Really enjoyable comic adventure.

Up in the Air (Jason Reitman 2009) Enjoyable Clooney vehicle.

Paprika (Satoshi Kon 2006) Really enjoyable anime.

Skyline (2011). Shiteline.

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) Shite never sleeps.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog 2010) Wonderful.

The Iron Lady (Phyllida Lloyd 2011) Mediocre Thatcher bio-pic.

 

[Belushi]

I'm particularly proud of Café de Merde

 

[DaveCinzano]

Or Dead Man Running...Dyer, Hassan, Brenda Blethyn and 50 CENT!

I can't believe I subjected myself to this. The other... day. Full of half-baked Ritchieisms and. Terrible. Pacing. And no respect for. Hitting the. Beats.

Fuck you, Nanker Phelge and Netflix, fuck you very much

 

[Nanker Phelge]

I can't believe I subjected myself to this. The other... day. Full of half-baked Ritchieisms and. Terrible. Pacing. And no respect for. Hitting the. Beats.

Fuck you, Nanker Phelge and Netflix, fuck you very much

You poor fool

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Using my flu as an excuse to catch up on Blockbusters....only to find myself wondering why I feel a need to catch up on blockbusters...

Just more of the same....2.5hrs of more of the same...

 

[DaveCinzano]

Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Using my flu as an excuse to catch up on Blockbusters....only to find myself wondering why I feel a need to catch up on blockbusters...

Just more of the same....2.5hrs of more of the same...

You poor fool

 

[Voley]

Finally saw Mad Max Fury Road all the way through. I went to the pictures to see this and despite enjoying what I saw of it, it being right in-yer-face from the opening credits, in booming stereo and in 3D I managed to sleep all the way through it. Glad I gave it another go - it really is spectacular.

 

[Nanker Phelge]

Splice - science horror type thing about genetic engineering....

A great 'monster' but the story got ridiculous. To have these renowned and dedicated scientists lose control of their moral compass so quickly was silly. Which was a shame because it looked great and could have been very good.

 

[starfish]

Catching up with The Walking Dead series 5. Watched episodes 7, 8 & 9 last night.

Spoiler: .

 

[DexterTCN]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang...a brilliant pastiche of noir written/directed by Shane Black and reminiscent of the comedy of the Coen brothers. Black's mainly known for Lethal Weapon, Predator,Last Boy Scout but he hadn't done much for years when he came out with this.

Robert Downey Jr finds his rasion d'etre as an actor in this. Don't try and follow the plot.

 

[sim667]

Just watched blue is the warmest colour.

French, a bit sad, a bit existentialist, nearly pornographic in parts.

 

[DotCommunist]

Just watched blue is the warmest colour.

French, a bit sad, a bit existentialist, nearly pornographic in parts.

nearly!?

 

[sim667]

nearly!?

Very very very nearly.

 

[fishfinger]

Turbo Kid.

A low budget, post apocalyptic scenario. Mad Max on push-bikes meets '70s martial arts movie (gallons of blood spraying everywhere). Quite daft. Cheesy soundtrack, and Michael Ironside is in it too

 

[DotCommunist]

The Duellists, ridley scotts first film. I liked a great deal of it from dialouge to sumptuose period scenery but ultimately it fell flat. One thing was how the main character never won a single engagement with Kietel (who was playing the other duellist) so why would kietels character keep offering him out?

I thought the end was nicely done though, even if it did leave the film feeling a bit flat. I think I will give this film a solid 7/10. There is just such a lot to like and that includes boneys cavalrymen wearing the most adorable braids. Watch this film if you like historical fluff done with flair and don't care if it makes much sense

 

[magneze]

Upstream Color
Enjoyable but confusing. One of those films that you need to read about afterwards to fully understand.

 

[DotCommunist]

Upstream Color
Enjoyable but confusing. One of those films that you need to read about afterwards to fully understand.

yeah I had to read about it then watch it for a second time to get it and I recon I still just enjoyed it for surreal audo visuals. Same people who did Primer which is also a it of a headfuck but a great time travel film

 

[magneze]

yeah I had to read about it then watch it for a second time to get it and I recon I still just enjoyed it for surreal audo visuals. Same people who did Primer which is also a it of a headfuck but a great time travel film

Primer is great, it's why I watched this.