20391 replies to this topic

[DamnCoffee]

Unknown

Starts off as a perfectly decent thriller, then totally loses itself half way through.

2.5/5

[The Shark]

Torn Curtain

Right, I love Alfred Hitchcock and stuff, he makes some amazing movies, and he’s such a brilliant director. 'Psycho', 'The Birds' and 'North By Northwest' are 3 of my favourite films. So I was really excited when my mum got me the Hitchcock boxset for Christmas. So you know, just threw ‘Torn Curtain’ on, and I actually never thought Hitchcock was capable of making a bad film, but my god, this film is atrocious. I can watch old films. No problem at all, but this is one of the most boring things. Jesus christ.

It's just 2 hours of Julie Andrews looking distressed.

Very true. The oven scene was one of the only scenes I thought was interesting. Got the same boxset recently too, since I am a huge fan of a lot of Hitchcock's films but also due to the fact that the version of Vertigo included in the boxset is the only way to get the film with the original mono track.

The film suffered a lot from Benny Herrmann's absence. In his own words:

"What TORN CURTAIN needed was music that didn't make these people into ludicrous TV characters, but into reality."

This is the prelude Herrmann wrote for the main titles that Hitch rejected, and bowed to studio pressure by going for someone more hip, and could sell a few records.



The murder:

[MrKidd]

The Iron Lady

One word..Meryl Streep. Ok, two words then. Probably helps if you were around in the 80s as the story technique was a bit off but overall I very much enjoyed. I know some will have problems with this movie from a political standpoint but as a standalone film I highly recommend. And Meryl (should have gone with that to begin with) is orrsum.

[Matt_13]

THE A TEAM: Extended Edition

Still don't quite understand the animosity levelled at the one. Each member of the cast gives an outrageously game performance, elevating the story despite any narrative short comings that exist (and there are many). The action is well staged but poorly shot for the most part. That said, it's still easy to get the gist of what's going on. The extended cut has about 15 extra minutes and none of it feels wasted. The added material very much fleshes out the character and the plot in a way the time constraints on the theatrical addition didn't allow. This is pure fun. A wonderful popcorn flick and I recommend it to anyone looking for a mindless action flick on a rainy day.

[Captain Tightpants]

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

I went today on impulse, and was pleasantly surprised. The story was a little average and some of the motivations of characters (particularly Rene) were a little murky, but the film addresses many of the flaws of the first. The dialogue, for one, is far easier to understand, and I enjoyed the way we get to see Holmes plot out his next move, particularly in fights (even if he is a little too good at predicting the outcome, though the film makes fun of this). It's still a little maddeningly reliant on exposition, with a few plot points - like the red diary and the twins (who I didn'r even notice until the film pointed them out) - held in reserve, as if the film doesn't want to give too much away for fear that the audience will work things out too quickly. And some of the slow-motion camera work feels very out-of-place for a film set in 1891.

3.5/5 (though I'm tempted to bump it up to a four)

[007jamesbond]

Sherlock Holmes A game of Shadow

What can I say...more mystery than the first movie...more action, most waston and Holmes working together...very fast pace and a interesting plot

4 1/2 /5

[The Dove]

Went and saw the remake of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo featuring one, Mr. Daniel Craig... HOLY GOD!! It was TERRIFIC!! As a huge fan of the original Swedish film trilogy and the books, I initially had my misgivings when I heard they were doing an English remake.. Man, Craig and Rooney Mara were JUST as good as Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace in the original. And, I was very pleasently surprise at how much I enjoyed Trent Reznor's score..certainly a different take on the film compared to Jacob Groth's score from the Swedish film.. I say, bring on The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest... Craig and Mara are signed up for them already!

[Mr. Blofeld]

The film suffered a lot from Benny Herrmann's absence. In his own words:

"What TORN CURTAIN needed was music that didn't make these people into ludicrous TV characters, but into reality."

This is the murder:

Shark, since you adore John Barry so much... you might like this:

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Pretty good one! BTW, does anybody felt the same I felt when watching the MGM/Columbia logo?

[Safari Suit]

Conan the Barbarian (2011)
A messy, ugly and largely joyless film that seems humourously oblivious to its own inanity. Lionsgate have added some vaguely "torture pørn"ish overtones to the Conan world (I guess they were looking for something to fill the void Saw has left), and some of the violence is more sadistic than exciting. That's not helped by an uninteresting hero. I know Robert E. Howard purists feel that Arnie was miscast as Conan, and I'm not a great fan of the Arnie film, but it can't be denied that his casting was a shot heard around the world, whereas Jason Momoa (whoever that is) makes no impression in the role.

This isn't all to say that there's absolutely no fun to be had; the story is borderline incomprehensible and totally failed to carry me through the film, but there are a handful of set pieces that show that this could have been a decent matinee romp in the hands of another director. Not an auteur mind you, just someone better than Marcus Nispel; even Chuck Russell would have sufficed. Still, in fairness I have to say this is Nispel's best film to date. This being the same Marcus Nispel who got fired from End of Days for attending a a meeting where he announced he was "not interested in working with you guys if you don't give me the same respect you would give a Coppola or a Kubrick”. Why have I seen every one of this idiot's films?

[Captain Tightpants]

The Lincoln Lawyer

I can't stand Matthew McConaughey. And I don't really like legal films or shows. I probably wouldn't have even bothered with THE LINCOLN LAWYER if it weren't for the way I've been reading a lot of Michael Connelly of the late. But I'm glad I did, because I really quite enjoyed it. I still don't like McConaughey, but I was happy to see he was cast against type in this one, because he really pulled off the overly-cocky and morally-questionable defence lawyer.

4/5

[Jim]

The Lincoln Lawyer

I can't stand Matthew McConaughey.

And yet he speaks so highly of you.

[Captain Tightpants]

He said that, did he?

That bastard.

[thecasinoroyale]

Sadly, not been to the cinema in a while but a film I have watched today on TV....'Licence To Kill'!

[elizabeth]

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

Despite nodding off a little bit towards the end (it was on at 12:45 AM, already), I enjoyed it. Typical suspense about two lovers plotting to kill the girl's husband. It was worth watching just to drool over him.

[J B]

Just finished watching Cowboys and Aliens, starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. A good cast and decent plot made for a pretty good movie. It's not exactly "classic" material, but it was entertaining. 7/10 is what I might rate it.

[Captain Tightpants]

High Crimes

It was a pretty average legal thriller with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, right up until the last ten minutes when a story twist meant that nothing in the film made any sense:

Spoiler

Jim Caviziel was accused of a massacre while on a mission in El Salvador. Up until this point, the entire plot had hinged on Caviziel being the innocent victim of a military conspiracy to cover up an unlawful assassination. But then Caviziel is revealed to have been guilty all along, and this is a problem because it undoes everything up until then - if Caviziel was a part of the conspiracy (and he is), then there was no need to charge him with murder in the first place.

0.5/5

[tdalton]

THE IDES OF MARCH


This wasn't quite the film that I was expecting it to be. Based off the trailers I remember seeing for this a while back (although I'm perfectly willing ot accept that I may have remembered them incorrectly), I was expecting more of a pulse-pounding political thriller. That isn't quite what The Ides of March is, but it is still a top-notch political film.

Ryan Gosling is excellent as Stephen Meyers, the second-in-command of the presidential campaign of Mike Morris. Morris is played expertly by George Clooney, who infuses him with enough charisma and sleaziness to make him a believable politician, even though his character is desperate not to be the typical politician.

The Ides of March often moves fairly slowly, but what happens on screen is engaging throughout. Clooney, who also directs the film from a script he co-wrote, does a good job of navigating the twists and turns in the script as well as handling the numerous back-stabbings by the various characters with ease. The Ides of March is definitely a movie worth watching, if you're a fan of films that take a while to simmer to a boil rather than the typical pulse-pounding from beginning to end political thrillers.

4/5

Edited by tdalton, 29 January 2012 - 05:48 PM.

[Lt. Garfield]

The (Spaghetti) Dollars Trilogy

9 | 10 for all!

[SecretAgentFan]

COWBOYS AND ALIENS

So, finally saw it. And... fun! The finale is a bit by the numbers - but the first two acts are a highly entertaining film. Sure, you could argue about this or that - but then again, you can argue about every movie (why did they do this? why didn´t they do that). Craig and Ford are very good, in fact, all major players were putting in respectable work. Why this film failed at the box office and TRANSFORMERS 3 packed them in... yeah, it´s not about the quality.

So, check it out if you want some mindless fun. Give it a chance.

[Safari Suit]

The Grey
Far better than I ever expected, a visceral and thoughtful viewing experience. The choppy editing largely works, for once (the key disaster set piece is genuinely traumatic), and there's a lot of provocative musing about life and death in the manor of The Thin Red Line. A real treat; an intelligent and gripping popcorn movie for adults.

[DamnCoffee]

Thor (2011)

Atrocious. Embarrasing. Boring. Annoying.

1/5

Edited by Mharkin, 06 February 2012 - 10:37 PM.

[SecretAgentFan]

Drive

Well done, stylish thriller with a superb Ryan Gosling (but I like him in every movie so far). However, it is not the greatest film of the year (as it was hyped by many critics) but just an entertaining genre exercise. I also like Albert Brooks but the killer behind the nice smile is something any good actor can pull off in his sleep. So - sorry, Albert, but this was not better (or worse) than other stuff you already did.

All the outrage about this film being overlooked by the Academy seems to me pretty pointless. I would have been astonished had DRIVE been nominated. Simply because it is "just" a good film but not more.

[SecretAgentFan]

Insidious

Surprisingly effective story about a haunting. In some ways a modern rethinking of the classic "Poltergeist". No gore, just atmosphere and plenty of shocks made without CGI, just with live action, strategic staging and blocking. The finale is a bit ordinary and predictable - but still, I enjoyed it. News about this getting a sequel did not surprise me since the ending is kind of open.

[Jaws0178]

The Punisher

Allow me to start out by saying this: I am a big Punisher fan, and I am not sure why. Its actually a very funny story as to why I watched it again today. I recently bought a copy of the Punisher game for the PS2 among a few other games for 3 bucks. So yesterday, my daughter wanted to play her dance game. I grabbed the remote and set up her Nintendo (TV is one of the kinds that you need the remote to get to video mode. Last night, I wanted to play one of the other games I bought, and could not find the remote to switch it back. So I watched The Punisher movie instead. Very good movie, IMO

[SecretAgentFan]

Quantum of Solace

Yes. I wanted to see this film again after some time has passed, having watched it four times before, enjoying it very much and knowing everything about it.

And, boy, is this film fast. It really has no fat at all. Lean, mean, getting down to business. Craig delivers a fantastic performance as Bond. I do miss the slower pace, however. But it definitely is a film of its time (as any Bond film is). So, still great. Still effective. And definitely a showcase for Craig being a fantastic Bond.


Spider-man 2

Although I always was more a Superman- and Batman-Fan as a child, I enjoyed Spidey, too. The first film was a let down for me, due to the cartoony villain. But this second film I´ve always liked a lot. Watching it again proved that, for me, it takes the character seriously and still has fun with it. This second film has a fantastic villain. And the emotional undercurrent of it all is what distinguishes the film. Visually, it´s pretty fantastic, too. The structure is a bit stop-and-go at times, but the film remains one of those rare sequels that are better than the original.

But I do like what the trailer of the re-boot has to offer. And while Tobey Maguire is effective, I believe Andrew Garland will be even better.

[Messervy]

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Pretty good. Very good, actually. I strongly recommend.

I wasn't that surprised, since I read the novel (and many others by Le Carré) and hence knew what to expect and how to encompass his world. Yet I was impressed by the cinematography.
The direction is wise, the actors are delivering impressive performances (noone overplays), the tone is right (quite faithful to the novel), the pace is slow yet enthraling, etc.

All in all, a very good spy movie. It's playing with the audience (flashbacks, multiple locations, etc.), everything being blurred and nothing being very straight.
But beware, I do mean "spy movie" (no shaky-Bourne-action, no John Woo gunfight, no Bond glamour extravaganza)!

[Matt_13]

GREEN ZONE

Meh. Wasn't bad, wasn't great. Good time killer, though.

[Safari Suit]

Robin Hood (2010)
Honestly, better than I expected; I enjoyed it. Granted, Crowe is a bit of a problem; yes, the accent(s), but more the typical frowny-faced, self-important, far-too-serious-in-the-wrong-way performance typical of him, which is often a bit jarring, and none more so than here. But the film has more to offer. I don't think Scott intended this to be the "as historically accurate as possible" take it was alleged to be, or if he did it seriously does not come off. Nor is it really the Robin Begins film I was afraid of, until the last ten minutes or so when it suddenly seems to decide that it is. Whatever the film was intended to be, overall I found it to be a perfectly enjoyable bit of matinee fun. Remember, many critics found Prince of Thieves too dark and grounded back in its day too, something I suspect a "post-Nolan audience" would find hard to fathom.

[Matt_13]

THE DESCENDENTS

Absolutely wonderful. Go see it.