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Pancake

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Hamilton Saint

Hamilton Saint

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The 1935 version of 'Mutiny on the Bounty' on DVD - the one with Clark Gable and the wonderful Charles Laughton. Good fun but historically inaccurate to a impressive degree.

 

I understand Captain Bligh may not have been quite the monster depicted here (no Bounty crew member was ever Keelhauled for instance) and Fletcher Christian's band of mutineers most certainly did not live happily ever after on Pitcairn Island. I will have to seek out a copy of the Marlon Brando version - If I remember correctly the plumy 'British' accent he employs is quite extraordinary.

 

Yes, Brando is completely wrong in the part of Fletcher. And then there's the version with Anthony Hopkins and Mel Gibson - it's better than the Trevor Howard/Marlon Brando version. But the film with Clark Gable as Fletcher is by far the best - thanks to a great performance by Charles Laughton as Bligh.

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Block 5

Block 5

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Gainsbourg

I'm a big fan of Serge Gainsbourg. The word 'legend' is bandied about far too much these days, but in Gainsbourg's case it would be entirely appropriate to use it.

The man was a great lover, a bon viveur extaordinaire and a musical genius.

'Je t'aime....moi non plus' is IMHO the sexiest song ever recorded; and that's even after taking into account the thousands of times it was played at every lame disco I went to as a kid.

The film is pretty good and is well worth watching even if you're not a fan of Gainsbourg. You can't help but be impressed by him.

My only criticism of the film is that it skimmed over large periods of his life far too quickly but I suppose that is to be expected in any biopic.

7/10

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RonManager

RonManager

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Watched Cloverfield last night after meaning to for ages based on the trailer. A bit like Blair Witch in that it is based on the footage found on a video camera after the event. The special effects and hand held camera techniques were excellent and I liked the fact that you never find out exactly what the monster is or where it's from or, indeed, how it all eventually pans out, you just drop into the story and out again 2 hours later.

 

What did p*ss me off though was the voice track which consisted entirely of 'Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh My God, Oh my God' and 'What's happening, did you see that?' ad nauseum throughout the film. This made me come down firmly on the monster's side and I punched the air when the narrator got eaten :lol:

 

 

Result:

Monster 1 American gob****e 0

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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Stocked up on over 30 movies on my trip to Asia.

 

We chose the first one to watch tonight the Adjustment Bureau.

 

Really enjoyable. The chicks will love it as it is a "true Love" Story. The guys will enjoy it as it steals the men in hats thing from Fringe.

 

The stars Matt Damon Emily Blunt Terence Stamp don't quite make you truly believe they sort of look good through it rather than rock as in Inception (Matt Damon)

 

But a good watch & a good adaptation of a Philip K **** short story.

 

Paul, Limitless & The Diplomat in the queue for when the jet lag gets out the system

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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The Outlaw Josie Wales was on telly tonight.

 

What a damned good film that was.

 

Reminded me about Sondra Locke. She seemed to appear in every Clint Eastwood movie back in those days so I Wiki'd her - boy did she screw up her career when she had a row with her squeeze.

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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Paul

 

Simon Clegg et al

 

ROFL factor 7.5 out of 10

 

Managed a few flat bits, lots of stereo-typical redneck & Men in Black jokes, managed some (you could see it coming) homage to Close Encounters but for the Stephen Spielberg Advisor moment alone it rates an overall 8/10

 

And will keep it cranked up on the DVD player as it really is gonna keep getting watched.

 

(oh but really NOT for younger kids - a lot of the comedy is the "Conversion" of the Bible Basher into the Pot smoking Swearing Fornicating Love interest and really dopey use of wrongly timed obscentities).

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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Get some Microwave Popcorn in, put some tinnies in a cooler by the chair and strap on a DVD

 

Invasion Earth Battle Los Angeles.

 

It has about as much artistic merit as a Poopey subs bench. It has plot holes deeper than Snotrills excuses. It's marginally better than 2012 for Yanks Surving unpredicatably

 

But it is an old fashioned edge of the seat action movie without Sly or Bruce and a good old fashioned mind flush.

 

You can watch sensible serious stuff tomorrow.

 

Retreat Hell.

 

Hu Yah.

 

put a 8) on the face

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pap

pap

Posted
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In the interests of balance, I'll comment on the two films that Phil has just put up.

 

Paul is alright. The absence of Edgar Wright is definitely felt as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost branch out on their own. A big problem with the film is the complete mismanagement of fan service. It has too many sci-fi references shoehorned into its dialogue. Yes, I said that. Set expectations to "low" and you should have some fun.

 

Battle Los Angeles is another sci-fi film which doesn't really get sci-fi. My main problem with it is that all the interesting stuff seems to be happening off-camera.

 

You've probably all seen this by now anyway, but if you want to see a really good sci-fi film, you've got to watch District 9. Easily my fave film in the genre from the last few years, and stands up to repeat viewings.

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pap

pap

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Oh, and watched Burn After Reading for the second time last night. As I suspected, it's another Coen brothers film which stands up to a few views.

 

Very good cast. John Malkovich owns most scenes he is in, and most of the other actors in it get to play against type and do some acting. Brad Pitt and George Clooney both have good roles.

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Suhari

Suhari

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Watched 'Let the Right One In' on Film 4 t'other night.

 

Swedish horro/romance movie. Nice little film - really enjoyed it.

 

8/10

 

Source Code: Decent, but should have ended 5 minutes before it did: hate Hollywood ending - what's wrong with leaving it hanging? 7/10

 

Limitless - Good silly fun. 7/10

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CHAPEL END CHARLIE

CHAPEL END CHARLIE

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The Outlaw Josie Wales was on telly tonight.

 

What a damned good film that was.

 

 

You're not wrong DP - and after 'Bronco Billy' my favorite Eastwood movie. Blessed with a script to die for.

 

Chief Watie - "I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender. They have him pulling a wagon up in Kansas now"

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LVSaint

LVSaint

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Watched 'Let the Right One In' on Film 4 t'other night.

 

Swedish horro/romance movie. Nice little film - really enjoyed it.

 

8/10

 

Brilliant film.

 

 

HP7 - 7/10 Was hoping Hermione would get her norks out finally, but alas.....

 

Revanche 8/10- Austrian drama/thriller. Subtle, satisfying and gorgeously filmed.

Insidious - 4/10 - Horror with a bit more substance than the usual mainstream crap. Started well enough but got silly. Not scary. Not a shade on Poltergeist (still my fav of the genre) that it tries to emulate.

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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In the interests of balance, I'll comment on the two films that Phil has just put up.

 

Paul is alright. The absence of Edgar Wright is definitely felt as Simon Pegg and Nick Frost branch out on their own. A big problem with the film is the complete mismanagement of fan service. It has too many sci-fi references shoehorned into its dialogue. Yes, I said that. Set expectations to "low" and you should have some fun.

 

Battle Los Angeles is another sci-fi film which doesn't really get sci-fi. My main problem with it is that all the interesting stuff seems to be happening off-camera.

 

You've probably all seen this by now anyway, but if you want to see a really good sci-fi film, you've got to watch District 9. Easily my fave film in the genre from the last few years, and stands up to repeat viewings.

 

District 9 without a doubt is clever, thoughtful and a cracker. It also left itself open to a "They come back and weren't happy about how they were treated when they were broke" Hollywood follow up - which would be a shame.

 

Battle Los Angeles. As a mate said. It is simply what it says on the tin. Is it Sci-Fi or just an old fashioned Good Guys get blown up & Bad Guys lose type "Action/War" movie?

Don't think it pretends to be anything other than the latter. It's on Pay per View now over here and watching the clips for it, the CGI for some of the scenes when the Choppers fly over the beach the first time is outstanding.

 

Re-watched Frequently Asked Questions about Time Travel again the other night. Amazed to fnd a "low budget" Beeb Film in a Dodgy DVD shop in Asia! It really is a cracking daft nerdy yarn.

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miserableoldgit

miserableoldgit

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Watched "Winters Bone" on Sky Anytime last night. It is a bleak, some might say slow moving film, set in a muddy, cold, poverty-stricken backwoods America. It tells the story of a 17 year old girl who is looking after her family (a much younger brother and sister and a sick mother) as her criminal father has disappeared. It transpires that he has put their home up as a bond against him appearing in court. She sets out to find out what has happened to him and in the process. save their home. Well worth watching and deserved the awards that it recieved IMHO.

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pap

pap

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Posted
District 9 without a doubt is clever, thoughtful and a cracker. It also left itself open to a "They come back and weren't happy about how they were treated when they were broke" Hollywood follow up - which would be a shame.

 

I'm in two minds about the sequel. They left it in a place where pretty much anything could follow on. As long as they kept the quality level up, I probably wouldn't care if the story is exactly as you describe.

 

 

Battle Los Angeles. As a mate said. It is simply what it says on the tin. Is it Sci-Fi or just an old fashioned Good Guys get blown up & Bad Guys lose type "Action/War" movie?

Don't think it pretends to be anything other than the latter. It's on Pay per View now over here and watching the clips for it, the CGI for some of the scenes when the Choppers fly over the beach the first time is outstanding.

 

It's a fair point. My problem (one of them) is that I am a massive sci-fi nerd and a bit of a purist. From my perspective, seems a shame to lavish the expense on something that is ultimately a bit vacant, although Battle Los Angeles hardly stands alone in that characterisation.

 

I'd probably have a more charitable opinion of it if I'd viewed it as a war movie.

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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On the subject of Sci_Fi & not quite relevant to this thread...

 

Torchwood Season 4.

 

There is a great deal to enjoy about it in a Flash Forward sort of way and Gwen Cooper being a badass Mum

 

But, is it really our Torchwood now? Is the whole concept of big bucks and big budget and really deep and disturbing perfomances (from Bill Pullman) really "It". Let's face it we're up to episode 6 and there is a load of weirdness but not a whole lot of Dr Who Spin off, let alone Sci-Fi.

 

We're enjoying it for what it is and some of the "cultural cliches" and role reversals, but we can't help feel that Russel T Davies has sold his soul for a load of air miles & some winter sun.

 

Oh and for Sci-Fi & Twists? gotta love A Good man Goes to War.

 

Should put this on the watching thread but it's Sci Fi & we just did some catch up Torrent watching and are still reeling from the River Song moment. Moffat 1 - Davies 0 at the moment

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pap

pap

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Haven't watched the new Torchwood yet, but it's on my "to watch" list. tbh, never liked it when it was a freak of the week show.

 

Children of Earth totally turned it around for me.

 

As for Davies vs Moffat on Who, I prefer Moffat's show to Davies'. He just has a better sense of what the show is about. Matt Smith's Doctor has a real sense of dangerous madness about him that his immediate predecessors lacked. Plus, Moffat really gets time. In a time travel show, that's pretty key :)

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hypochondriac

hypochondriac

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I watched the German film 'The Lives of Others' the other day, it was very good. An interesting insight into East German paranoia and conspiracy before the wall came down.

 

One of my favourite films. In fact, foreign language films and generally better than Hollywood crap. Watch the counterfeiter, that's a great film too.

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CHAPEL END CHARLIE

CHAPEL END CHARLIE

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I saw 'Super 8' the other day and left the cinema still not quite sure of what to make of it. Probably best summarized as a confused mix of whimsical kids Sci Fi fantasy (Think of ET) and hard-core monster adventure (Think Cloverfield) it should come as no surprise to learn that both Steven Spielberg and J J Abrams were intimately involved in its production. Both these noteworthy filmmakers have made movies that will live longer in the memory I suspect.

 

Nevertheless, despite its confused nature and lack of originality, I still kind of enjoyed it. The mostly young cast made a good fist of it and the production values (as we've come to expect these days) are top class - the CGI generated/live action train crash sequence in particular being truly spectacular.

 

I can't really recommend it, but you could do a lot worse.

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CHAPEL END CHARLIE

CHAPEL END CHARLIE

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Has anyone else seen 'The Worlds Most Dangerous Roads' ?

 

A bit like a Top Gear challenge without Clarkson I suppose, but so damn entertaining I don't mind the lack of originality at all. The Dalton Highway adventure in Alaska was great, but last night's very hairy journey along Nepal's awful road system was almost worth a months license fee all on its own.

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dubai_phil

dubai_phil

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Just watched Inside Job.

 

Documentary movie about the financial crisis.

 

Ouch it hits some home runs and explains the whole thing very well.

 

Starts with an explanation of the Icelandic debacle and then goes into WTF mode as facts fly up on the screen about the build up and how much money people made. Fascinating and scares the bejeesus out of you when you realise - nobody really got fired, they all got promoted.

 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inside_job_2010/

An insightful and very sorry tale of the worst kind of greed, this Oscar-winning documentary exposes the people behind the global financial crisis, men & woman who are still wealthy and still running the banking industry....

 

Wall Street owns Washington. You might think you know this, but "Inside Job" makes you feel the enormity of it.

 

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes web site described it as a Horror Film but it's real.

 

This leads to the trailer & a lot of the snippets

 

Edited by dubai_phil
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pap

pap

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Asda were doing the A-Team movie on Blu Ray, which was quickly snaffled.

 

I try not to think of it as a film. I go with the "best A-Team episode ever made". Imagine if we'd have seen that on a Saturday night in the 1980s. We'd have lost our sh*t :)

 

The entire opening sequence ( shootout in deserts, car chases and the classic A-Team van ) is a massive nod to the original series.

 

The extended edition features a few of the more whimsical scenes that were axed from the theatrical, but are in the tone of the original series. Worth a watch, despite Jessica Biel being a bit of a cold fish.

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pap

pap

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Attack The Block

 

Decent british film anout the yoof of today fighting with aliens.

 

Seen that. Good movie, written and directed by Joe Cornish of Adam & Joe fame.

 

Apparently, he is now in the frame for bigger stuff after producing such a decent film on such a small budget.

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CHAPEL END CHARLIE

CHAPEL END CHARLIE

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I saw the modern Japanese language film '13 Assassins' on DVD last night - and I regret to say that, despite some impressive set pieces, I was left vaguely disappointed by the experience.

 

Set in 19th century feudal Japan, this is very obviously yet another adaption of the familiar Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven story, but with the villain of the piece becoming a powerful nobleman instead of some mere bandit and with the entire nation (rather than a single village) his imperiled victims. The film opens with a highly uncomfortable 'Hari-Kari' ceremonial disemboweling scene as a proud Samurai warrior kills himself as a protest against the evil Lord Naritsugu, and rest assured we are soon left in absolutely no doubt as to why he should feel so strongly about it ! Left unchecked this dangerous psychopath threatens the stability and peace of the nation.

 

The trouble is that Naritsugu is not only the son of the former Shogun, but also the half brother of the current ruler, and thus above the rule of law, and even the bounds of common decency it would seem. So the powers-that-be must find a way to ride themselves of this monster while at the same time saving the face of the Shogun - 'saving face' always being a important consideration in traditional Japanese culture. The solution to the problem of course is to have him secretly assassinated by a band of hand picked Samurai led by a idealized example of the type, Shinzaemon. The film is firmly back on the Seven Samurai storyline now as Shinzaemon goes through the process of recruiting his 12 (later 13) assassins and a elaborate trap is set for Naritsugu and his escort - although I must say these important scenes are handled in a rather perfunctory manner compared to the earlier versions of this story. In truth you struggle to get to know many of the 13 as proper individual human beings, rather than stereotypes.

 

And so to the mammoth 50 minute battle scene as Naritsugu's army is ambushed on the road and engaged in a battle to the death with Shinzaemon and his grossly outnumbered band of brothers. I'm sure you can guess how it all ends, so I'll restrict myself to saying that after a while fast edited 'Chop-Suey' sword action of this nature can become repetitive, and for one man to kill 20 or more opponents (with apparent ease) does stretch creditability to the limit when this remarkable feat of arms is repeated time, and time again. By far the best film portrayal of face to face, blood 'n guts sword slaughtering I've ever seen was in Mel Gibson's visceral 'Braveheart' - to be frank, nothing on offer here even comes close to matching that level of brutal combat realism.

 

Another case of "not a bad film but you could do better" I'm afraid. So my top tip is to beware of imitations, save your money and buy the real thing instead. In this case Akira Kurosawa's magnificent Seven Samurai. I promise you, you'll never regret it.

Edited by CHAPEL END CHARLIE
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Colinjb

Colinjb

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Watched Senna last night for the first time. Both the extended cut and the theatrical version.

 

An absolutely brilliant film, utterly gripping and also enjoyed by my F1 ignorant housemate, she was gasping in horror at the point when Senna ran Prost off the road in Japan 1990 and had a tear rolling down her face when the crash at Imola 1994 was shown.

 

That a non-F1-ista can be wrapped up that closely in the narrative says it all for me. It's a phenomenal film. The only word of warning is that the extended cut isn't particularly well editted, the theatrical version is just right, lean, to the point and encompassing all of the emotion/comment and footage that is required.

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Dog

Dog

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Watched "Winters Bone" on Sky Anytime last night. It is a bleak, some might say slow moving film, set in a muddy, cold, poverty-stricken backwoods America. It tells the story of a 17 year old girl who is looking after her family (a much younger brother and sister and a sick mother) as her criminal father has disappeared. It transpires that he has put their home up as a bond against him appearing in court. She sets out to find out what has happened to him and in the process. save their home. Well worth watching and deserved the awards that it recieved IMHO.

 

 

Brilliant film, loved it. But who killed Dolly's dad?

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Saintandy666

Saintandy666

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Just watched Submarine. Absolutely brilliant. Craig Roberts in the lead part shines especially. Too many films with youngish actors are ruined by the quality of acting, but this film suffers none of that. The whole film is just a wonderful journey, but it is a bit depressing... at least I feel depressed by it, despite the somewhat hopeful ending.

 

9/10

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CHAPEL END CHARLIE

CHAPEL END CHARLIE

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I've just gotten round to seeing 'Pather Panchali' - a shoestring budget 1955 Indian film shown as part of Mark Cousins mammoth 'History of Cinema' series. A beautifully realized family story set in a timeless Bengali village, in some ways I suppose you could say that on the face of it little exceptional (one heartbreaking tragedy aside) really happens in this film - but don't let that put you off for one moment because all human life is here. In its own modest way I found this film to be quite exceptional.

 

We follow our dirt poor Bengali family in their ramshackle house as both parents (but especially the mother Sarbajaya) struggle heroically to raise their children (a lovely teenage daughter called 'Durga' and her younger brother 'Apu') amid the grinding poverty of rural India. All the little dramas of family life - Durga steals some fruit to feed her aging aunt which brings shame on her proud mother, a crisis as father doesn't get paid for 3 months and lacks the nerve to demand his pay - a missing necklace - arguments with the neighbors - can the family really afford to host a modest party to celebrate the birth of little Apu ? Watch out in particular for the wonderful performance of Chunibali Devi as the aging Aunt Indir - worth a best supporting actor Oscar in my view.

 

Undoubtedly the most well known scene is when the children run away and trek for miles across the countryside just in order to see a steam train past them by - one of those seminal moments in cinema history this - and trust me when I say that until that moment of revelation you would have been hard pressed to tell whether this film was set in 1920 or 1820. For what seems like a age the novice director Satyajit Ray focus his camera on the monsoon rain falling on a Lilly pond, a lost moment in time captured with such an intense beauty that I wonder if you could ever find a better example of what pure cinema is supposed to be about.

 

I lack the elegance to do this remarkable film justice, so if you get the chance seek out and invest a little of your time in Pather Panchali - its well worth the effort.

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