Movies wot I saw 2011

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

RE: Movies wot I saw 2011

Aodan · Teiam Member

Despite my dislike for Leonardo DiCaprio (he looks like some weird man-child.. I think he's older than me but he has that weird baby face that makes me go >:[ ) We watched Shutter Island last night. It was a pretty decent thriller film. It had one of those "ooo what does it all mean!??!" twisty endings that usually irritate me, but the movie itself was good enough that I could overlook it :)

-- Edited by Aodan on Monday 11th of July 2011 12:24:47 AM

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

DiCaprio's actually growing on me as an actor. He was pretty good in Blood Diamond and Inception. You're right though, he's a funny looking bloke. Maybe when he's old and grey, he might look different and we can forgive him for Titanic and that beach movie. What was it called? The Seaside? The Sandy Place?

I watched a whole bunch of movies on my week off. I'm not sure if I can remember all of 'em, but here goes:

Centurion - A bunch of Roman soldiers in a fairly predictable chase movie. You could transplant the soldiers for teenagers and the Picts for any random bad guy/monster and have your pick of recent 'running around in the woods' movies. There was some decent action and a couple of beheadings, so I was happy! That guy (no, the other one) from The Wire was in it.

Dr Strangelove - Haven't seen this for years. It was better then I remember, but I've always really hated Kubrick's weird pacing with movies. Peter Sellers was awesome though.

The Pink Panther - Peter Sellers again. Ace.

Predators - I saw this in the cinema a while back and enjoyed it then. It was just as good the second time. Now, then. What time is it? 5 o'clock?

Pitch Black - The mighty Vin Diesel in a pretty decent monster movie. Claudia Black's in it. Yay. Claudia Black gets ripped in half. Boo (but still 'yay' cause it was funny)!

There may have been another one or two, but I don't remember.

Truckman · Old. But wise!

I snagged the latest edition of Cowboy Classics at Sam's Club...100 full length westerns from the '30's through '60's...Includes 16 Roy Rogers movies I didn't already have...I'm set for a couple of months......Ben

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Nightmare on Elm Street is the movie I forgot to mention last time. The new one. It was okay. i didn't think it was very scary - at least not as scary as my 12 year old self thought the original was!

Prince of Persia was entertaining enough. I was pretty disappointed by the cast: Jake Gyllenhall, gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley have all proven themselves to be excellent actors in the past, but pretty much phoned it in for this movie. It did make me think that a movie set in ancient Persia might have benefited from some arabic actors in the lead roles rather than an all-white cast.

Me and Catfish saw Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides in the cinema last week. Again, it was okay. I got the vague impression that Johnny Depp is a bit bored with Jack Sparrow. Geoffrey Rush was great, as was Ian McShane (athough I'd have liked to see him lose his rag). It turned down the special effects a bit after the excesses of the previous two films and focussed more on action. Unfortunately it just didn't have the chemistry that made the first one such a great movie. It still consistently entertained for an hour and half though.

Speaking of which, we also watched Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl at the weekend. Just to remind ourselves of how great the franchise was, once. And it was great. From that iconic entrance on the sinking ship from Jack Sparrow to the genuinely exciting climax. Although it had plenty of them, it didn't rely on special effects - instead we had interesting characters in Sparrow and Barbossa. Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann were'n annoying yet - in fact Kiera Knightley actually did some acting in this one, unlike the later entries. great movie!

Aodan · Teiam Member

I saw Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2 on Friday. I have read all the books, and I've seen all the movies, and while I'm not one of the people that dress up for midnight book and movie releases and know all HP Trivia there is to know, I enjoyed them, and was looking forward to the last installment. I guess I hyped it up in my own head too much because I was incredibly disappointed with the non-epicness of the film. This was THE battle, THE culmination of everything that had happened 7 books and 7 movies prior - so big they had to split the movies into two!!!111eleventy! .. and it didn't deliver. Sure it was beautifully shot, and the basic story was there, but all of these beautiful moments were glossed over or left out, and their attempts at "epic" were laughably obvious. They felt forced, and not genuine, and elicited no emotional response.

FWIW, I didn't see it yet, but Kevin went to see Captain America last night, and the only review I could get out of him was "It was ok". Not exactly enthusiastic.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

The Lovely Bones. I wasn't expecting to like this, but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's the story of a little girl who gets raped and murdered and then goes on a post-mortem voyering spree on her family. Excellent performances by everybody - even Mark Whalberg. Saoirse Ronan who I previously saw in City of Ember was pretty awesome and, I think is going to be an actor to watch out for in the future while Stanley Tucci gives a good turn as the baddie!

It was kinda funny to see Chris Moltisanti from the Sopranos playing... well... not Chris Moltisanti from the Sopranos. I haven't seen him in much else.

The direction by Peter Jackson borrowed quite a lot from his earlier low budget horror stuff, creating a really good, creepy atmosphere and then making excellent use of over the top CGI for some of the more fantastical sequences.

I haven't read the book, so don't know how it compares to that, but it's certainly very, very effective as a movie. Definitely worth watching!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon. What can I say about this film? It was much better than the second one. it has a shitter name than the second one. Seriously though, once they got all the 'plot' out of the way, the final 45 minutes, which played out as one huge action scene was awesome. It was visually stunning and genuinely exciting. That latter point actually surprised me!

I saw it in 3D, which was pretty enough, but I'm quickly coming to the opinion that 3D doesn't really add anything to the cinema experience. It's a bit distracting for the first half and hour or so, and then effectively becomes invisible for the main part. I don't think it adds anything that a well shot scene that uses optical tricks like focus pulling and depth of field doesn't. I'm not going to avoid 3D movies, but then I'm not sure I'll be going out of my way to watch them in 3D either.

I'd quite like a go at 3D video gaming on my plasytation though. I hink that might benefit from it!

Hot Tub Time Machine. A silly, predictable fun film that will while away an hour and half entertainingly enough. I suspect that in 3 months time, I will have forgotten all of the detail from it! It had Marty McFly's dad in it. And he was playing Marty McFly's dad in all but name! It's nice to see that Crispin Glover doesn't take himself too seriously.

Aodan · Teiam Member

The Lovely Bones was very different in tone from the book. Same story more or less, but the book was crushingly sad, and in parts, absolutely horrifying to read. The movie's fantastical elements lifted the mood ever so slightly. Both are good, just different.

And Hot Tube Time Machine was funny indeed.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I don't think I'd like to be crushingly sad. It doesn't sound like fun.

Aodan · Teiam Member

I dunno... sometimes you want that kind of emotional release. It's why sad movies and dramas do so well. Sometimes you need a good cry about something that isn't your own life.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Sometimes I cry when I chop onions. But that's more because of it's extreme onionnyness than any emotional shortfall.

Also, they make my hands smell. Onions, that is, not weepy movies.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Superman. I went to see this in the cinema at the weekend. We don't get meny opportunities to see older movies on the big screen in the UK - once it's finished it's initial cinema run, that's pretty much it. This screening was being put on at a local(ish) theatre.

I've never considered Superman to be a great example of movie making. It's cheesier than a block of mature cheddar and only a handful of the cast can actually act. That said, Chris Reeve and Gene Hackman are excellent in it!

The movie hasn't aged particularly well. I'm not talking about special effects - it was the late seventies, after all. there's only so much you can expect from them. I just don't think it's particularly well shot or scripted.

That all makes it sound like I didn't like it. I did. I was kept entertained for the duration. Sometimes because of the unintentional hilariousness of it (Lois Lane's airbourne poetry, WTF!) and sometimes because Gene Hackman was awesome!

Unfortunately, the last half hour of the movie has been ruined for me by this cartoon:

[video=www.youtube.com/watch?v=yavK0mnE3wI]

How To Train Your Dragon is one of those disposable CG animated movies. This one was about Vikings and Dragons, which instantly makes it brilliant. Because of the Vikings and the Dragons! In it, a boy befriends a dragon who looks uncannily like my cat, Rochester, only...er... scalier. It was all a bit predictable, but lots of fun nonetheless. On balance, I would say 'see this movie'.

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

Superman is an awesome movie from 1978. Its true that its aged, but actually I think it builds quite well and its the benchmark that all hero films get compared to.

Its a bit long - but hey ho, it was supposed to be watched in two sittings, with the climax of the movie actually being at the end of the sequel. Its all a bit mad really - the producers ruined it rather than the Director.

Best thing to do is watch the first one up until Superman pushes the missile into space and fixes the fault line, then before the turn back time bit - move on to the sequel, then it works well, because it plays as Mario Puzo wrote it.

The version we saw was a ropey print as well, and the sound was terrible - the bue ray is much more engaging and I have evidence that the kids of today like it :)

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

But didn't you just find yourself quoting the cartoon to yourself as soon as it got to that bit of the movie?

"What, you mean these two missiles, Lex? I flew around the world a few times but these were the only two missiles I could find!"

Aodan · Teiam Member

Watched Salt on Saturday. Garbage, just garbage. I didn't have high expectations before watching it, and even then it failed to live up to them. I'm glad we Netflixed this and didn't waste money seeing it in the theaters.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Captain America: The First Avenger was surprisingly good.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from it. It could easily have gone either way. But it went quite well. In terms of superhero movies, it was up there with the first Iron Man movie, in that it was genuinely entertaining and exciting. Chris Evans was much better than I though he would be and, although he was woefully underused, Hugo Weaving was his usual excellent self as the cookie cutter bad guy.

I think the thing which sets this movie apart from all the other comic book fare is that it was set in WW2 and played out like a proper war adventure story rather than a traditional superhero origin story. Alright, it had Cap getting his powers in the lab, but because those powers don't include flight or laser eyes or magic rings, it all feels quite grounded and almost plausible. Almost.

I liked it a lot. It was a good action movie. It could have been a bit longer and maybe if it had elaborated on the Red Skull's backstory and his crazy plan to take over the world, it might have been a great action movie.

Best line (paraphrased):

'Do you know what you're doing?'

'Hey, I've personally punched Hitler out over 200 times!'

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Henglegert Rinkerdink wrote:

Little catch up here cos I dun saw 3 in 3 days ... one on BluRay, if the counts ... in order, Sunday through Tuesday

X-Men : First Class -- utter toss, overblown self important crap. Plot was great in concept but badly executed. The best thing in it was Kevin Bacon, really hammed it up ... clearly saw the film for what it was and ran with it. Be good if you knocked 45 minutes out or filled that time with plot and not mindless meandering.

I thought it was a pretty entertaining movie. There are a few bits I would have changed - the training montage was in the wrong place - shoulda either been about 20 minutes earlier or it should have been less comedy driven. But apart from that, I hit all the right notes. A certain cameo in it was very funny. The big set piece on the beach at the end rocked. The secondary cast were the usual bunch of teen wannabe actors, but the headliners, Bacon, Fassbender and McAvoy were pretty good. I liked it!

Truckman · Old. But wise!

Well, Darren, it sounds like the looters left your DVD player and widescreen alone...Was Stead guarding your house with his crossbow?......Ben

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

I had to fight them off myself! One glimpse of me wearing my underpants on the outside was enough to scare em off!

Truckman · Old. But wise!

ddvmor wrote:
I had to fight them off myself! One glimpse of me wearing my underpants on the outside was enough to scare em off!

Just the visual image is enough to make me turn in my passport... disbelief ...Ben

Aodan · Teiam Member

Imagine if you'd been eating a Twinkie at the time. They're little looting heads would have exploded.

JonnyStead · **"I'm Lois!"**

A Twinkie 35 feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds?

thats a big twinkie....

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Batman Begins is a great movie. And it's also a movie that I watched again last night.

Truckman · Old. But wise!

Many of you will be shocked to learn that I watched a movie from the latter half of the 20th century this week..."Donnie Brasco" was an outstanding look at life inside organized crime...As usual, Al Pacino and Johnny Depp gave stellar performances......Ben

Aodan · Teiam Member

We watched Date Night last night - the one with Tina Fay and Steve Carrell. It wasn't as awful as I kind of expected it to be. It was predictable, and silly, and had some genuinely funny moments. Not a bad Friday night movie.

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Truckman wrote:
"Donnie Brasco" was an outstanding look at life inside organized crime...As usual, Al Pacino and Johnny Depp gave stellar performances......Ben

Donnie Brasco is an excellent movie! And back then, both actors were amazing. Sadly they've both sold out since then.

sha76jam · Cpt Acorn Short of An Oaktree

Johnny Depp, sold out? How very dare you!

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

You have to admit that he phoned in his Pirates 4 performance. It has nothing on the previous installments, particularly the first one. I'm sure he'll go back to making proper movies again soon.

sha76jam · Cpt Acorn Short of An Oaktree

I shall admit no such thing! I loved pirates 4, it's not like it's meant to be be taken seriously you know. With books I chop and change; for example today I took a break from the translation of a medieval travelogue to read a fabulous bit of chick lit cover to cover. With films I like entertainment, pure & simple, I don't want a film to be challenging or provoking, I merely want it to entertain. Pirates was pure swashbuckling fun :)

ddvmor · **I am the Jammie King!**

Just not as much swashbuckling fun as the first one!

The Dark Knight graced my screen this evening. And it was awesome. It's not just a great 'super'hero move, but a great crime movie. Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckheart put on stellar performances. Christian Bale (looking more and more like another sellout

) not so much, but then the movie isn't about his character, so who cares!