Horlicks and off to bed
Take care fella
I didn't really enjoy the first two MI films. But 3, 4, and 5 are all very good.
I'm thinking abut watching John Wick.
Has anyone seen it?
Never heard of it Coldy - Keenu, hmmm, assassin - not sure about that one
LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS
Silly, corny, predictable ... and a bit of a giggle at times.
A bit rude too.
Offers nothing new - at all - which was disappointing.
Funny (at times) but instantly forgettable.
Not as good as : Doghouse
Tangerine.
We've just beÃĻn to see it this afternoon. Brilliant, and apparently the whole thing was shot using iPhones.
Originally Posted by Cold Sweat:
I'm thinking abut watching John Wick.
Has anyone seen it?
Yeah - saw it at the cinema. Thought it was merely OK; not great, not much in the way of plot, but some fairly decent "gun fu".
FAR AND AWAY on ch32 NOW !!!
Originally Posted by Saint:
Although I go the cinema a lot, there were quite a few films on that list that I hadn't even heard of - which says it all, really...
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHNIG
We all know the story - and that's part of the problem.
Acting, production, direction and on and on are all excellent but there was nothing there to stir the soul.
Yes, it's an amazing story ... if I didn't know it already - but I do.
Should the next part be a problem - it's that it is all wrapped with success.
Hawking may have had a tragedy physically but in every other way his life has been positive and productive: marriage, children, recognition, fame.
I was left with a "Oh, its not so bad then" feeling.
Should that spoil things?
For me it's that it lacks the tumultuous finale - the unknown bit, the punch line which never arrives.
Maybe it's for the best that it hasn't been as Hollywood-ised as some and stays faithful to the truth even if it does mean there is a happy ending this time.
Not as good as : The Imitation Game
Thank you (flatterer) 
ELYSIUM
Oh this is awful.
A turgid rehash of literally every sci-fi movie that's gone before. Literally everything has been thrown into the pot for good measure. You can almost list them as the movie goes along.
Dystopian future? Mad Max
Earth is a second class concentration camp? District 9
The elite that live apart from the rest of earth? Hunger Games
A perfect world everyone wants to get to? Tomorrowland
Sci-fi cat and mouse with weird weapons? Total Recall
Dying man becomes part machine? Robocop
. . . I could go on.
It's a messy, lazy effort that offers nothing new and shamelessly rehashes it all.
Not as good as : everything that's gone before
Originally Posted by velvet donkey:
Once Upon A Time in The West.
Stunning pioneering cinema with a good dose of comedy. Only Scorcese picked up the baton. Robards, Fonda, Bronson and Claudia in their finest hour and killer Morricone soundtrack.
Victor Lewis-Smith for News At Ten - Fleetwood.
Up there with If and O Lucky Man.
Ennio Morricone wrote the music around the film script and Sergio Leone directed the majority of the film to merge with the music. It's a great film and one I've seen many times. Leone's use of sound in the opening scene is brilliant. It's also one of Henry Fonda's greatest performances.
Far and Away on CH32 now!!!
THE BRILLIANT - A few best men - is on BBC1 right now
A great comedy in the classic 'caper' sense
Originally Posted by Saint:
Thank you (flatterer)
ELYSIUM
Oh this is awful.
A turgid rehash of literally every sci-fi movie that's gone before. Literally everything has been thrown into the pot for good measure. You can almost list them as the movie goes along.
Dystopian future? Mad Max
Earth is a second class concentration camp? District 9
The elite that live apart from the rest of earth? Hunger Games
A perfect world everyone wants to get to? Tomorrowland
Sci-fi cat and mouse with weird weapons? Total Recall
Dying man becomes part machine? Robocop
. . . I could go on.
It's a messy, lazy effort that offers nothing new and shamelessly rehashes it all.
Not as good as : everything that's gone before
Yeah, it's not a great film but you can't acuse it of ripping off Tomorrowland, as it predates Tomorrowland.
I don't think 'dystopian future' is something to knock the film on as dystopian futures are a rich and varied genre within sci-fi. Aldous Huckley's "Brave New World" pre-dates Mad Max by 50 years.
The features of the film are well-worn sci-fi staples. For example, "The elite that live apart from the rest of earth" is not unique to the Hunger Games, it is a theme of HG Wells' "The Time Machine".
It's a bit like knocking a romcom for being a romcom or a film noire for being a film noire.
The problem I had with this film was the similarity between District 9. The whole film looks the same aesthetically as District 9 (same director) and the plot isn't all that different.
Having said that and IMO, Chappie, by the same director and with much the same look, is still a far better film than Elysium
Understood re, Tomorrow Land.
I'm not knocking the dystopian future.
I only knock it as a sci-fi cos its soooo lazy - and basically a rip off.
I like sci-fi .. see my review of Edge of Tomorrow
It is like District 9 - even has the same actor from it.
All in all its nothing new - literally in any way
Originally Posted by Saint:
Understood re, Tomorrow Land.
I'm not knocking the dystopian future.
I only knock it as a sci-fi cos its soooo lazy - and basically a rip off.
I like sci-fi .. see my review of Edge of Tomorrow
It is like District 9 - even has the same actor from it.
All in all its nothing new - literally in any way
Edge of Tomorrow is best described as "Groundhog Day with lasers" 
, but I agree, it's still an entertaining and underrated film.
No, I get what you're saying Saint. I must admit my comments are a bit of a rambling rant for no other reason than I'd had a bit too much to drink.
You made some good points
I just watched Focus - it wasn't anything special but it did have a really good soundtrack - and Margot Robbie was certainly "easy on the eye"
Watched "Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter"
Visually amazing - the director has also made several other similar movies.
'Night Watch' and 'Day Watch' - will try and watch these soon
Jen-Star posted:Ch5 right now, Django unchained. Fantastic film.
I'm generally not a Tarantino fan as I think his level of 'homage' is generally too much for me, but this I thought was a pretty decent film. The violence aside (which I tend not to like especially when it's based on real events) I enjoyed the story and the acting. Christoph Waltz (sp) is a darn good actor IMO.
Saint, as I point from one of your earlier posts, I am not so keen on the dystopian future as a setting for any type of film, there are too many aspects that annoy me. Probably one of the reasons why I have never been keen on Mad Max 1...n.
Saint
Have you seen Submarine (2010).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1440292/
A film directed and written by Richard Ayoade (I.T. Crowd).
There is also a film set in Scotland that I keep trying to remember which I also recommend and enjoyed, I may even have bought it on DVD, but can't as yet put my hands on it.
Found it !!!
It's called Hallam Foe (2007).
One of those films I caught unexpectedly and found it a decent watch. I bought it cheap to give it a second watch.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466816/
Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:Saint, as I point from one of your earlier posts, I am not so keen on the dystopian future as a setting for any type of film, there are too many aspects that annoy me. Probably one of the reasons why I have never been keen on Mad Max 1...n.
At the time I said I wasn't knocking dystopian movies - mainly cos I wasn't .... but in general - I hate them. Almost always leading to awful movies.
John Carter being a perfect example - though some may argue its not dystopian - just rubbish
I feel I will have to watch Submarine and Hallam Foe, won't I?
However both seem bizarre/unusual movies I would never choose to watch.
I wouldn't describe John Carter as dystopian. A Mars where humans can breath its atmosphere sounds a lot better than real Mars, even with the various lizardy aliens. John Carter is a really boring overlong film. Not as bad as "Battleship" - also staring Taylor Kitsch, but then nothing is as bad as "Battleship" that I can presently bring to mind, apart from maybe the Keith Lemon film.
Saint posted:Enthusiastic Contrafibularities posted:Saint, as I point from one of your earlier posts, I am not so keen on the dystopian future as a setting for any type of film, there are too many aspects that annoy me. Probably one of the reasons why I have never been keen on Mad Max 1...n.
At the time I said I wasn't knocking dystopian movies - mainly cos I wasn't .... but in general - I hate them. Almost always leading to awful movies.
John Carter being a perfect example - though some may argue its not dystopian - just rubbish
John Carter is the biggest pile of crap I've sat through in a long time.
Most movies that bomb seems to have a common thread - they expect way too much from the audience. They expect us to instantly buy into the plot, the hero and the overly complex extras (like odd names and silly language).
The bottom line is that all involved lose sight of the truth - that the movies are just not that good. Disney lost a fortune on John Carter and The Lone Ranger - but could have lost loads more if they hadn't canned things like 20,00 leagues and tightened the purse strings on Lone Ranger.
Silly sausages
Watching "The Man From Uncle", it's ok and has its moments. There's nothing really to dislike about the plot, acting or special effects. It tries for a contemporary to the sixties feel with its fashions and music, so that's a big point in its favour, to me. The film makers were clearly fans of such sixties adventure series.
As an aside, when they remade the Sweeney and set it in the present day rather than the era of Ford Cortinas, side burns, brown suits, flares and kipper ties I thought to myself, why bother calling it "The Sweeney" at all. The film was rubbish too.
Overall I quite liked "The Man From Uncle" but did find myself losing interest at times. It was a bit over-long and the characters didn't really work together too well, even though it was the intent. It lacks something to get me really into enjoying the film and caring about the characters.
Kingsmen : The Secret Service left me cold
I'm going to watch Man from UNCLE tonight even though it was beset with problems - notably casting ...
After Clooney's departure, actors including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Alexander SkarsgÃĨrd, Ewan McGregor, Robert Pattinson, Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joel Kinnaman, Russell Crowe, Chris Pine, Ryan Reynolds, and Jon Hamm were considered for the lead role.
So was Tom Cruise . . . speaks volumes but I shall watch and decide - later
Thing about John Carter is it's Edgar Rice Burroughs - also the creator of Tarzan. One of America's own literary favourites for boys own sci-fi 'romance' fiction. The other thing about him is that I'd never heard of the John Carter books even though I reckon to be quite well up on literary sci-fi. I wonder if it's more an American thing that hasn't really culturally travelled outside America, unlike his Tarzan books.
Those John Carter books came out a long long time ago, the first one, 1912, and I wonder if the recognition is lost on modern audiences, a bit like trying to do a film version of Dan Dare now and trying to sell it to American audiences.
Saint posted:Kingsmen : The Secret Service left me cold
My favourite film of the year. Absolutely entertaining to the max.