What films are you watching?

[LVSaint]

Went to Argo last night and well impressed. Good old fashioned thriller about the Iranian hostage crisis. True story.

[Block 5]

Went to Argo last night and well impressed. Good old fashioned thriller about the Iranian hostage crisis. True story.

 

 

Sounds good. I'll check it out.

In the mean time, here's something you may like.

http://90something.blogspot.co.uk/

[Nexstar]

Battleship: It's just horrificly bad, save yourselves now.

[LVSaint]

Sounds good. I'll check it out.

In the mean time, here's something you may like.

http://90something.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Thank you, that's going on in the car whenever I get out of the doctors'!

[Block 5]

Thank you, that's going on in the car whenever I get out of the doctors'!

 

There's so much quality music to download from that blog.

Some rare gems too.

And it's all free.

Tuck in.

[pap]

I watched Capricorn One. Excellent film, proving once again that all the best films were made in the 1970s. A few minutes before a manned mission to Mars, the astronauts are pulled off the ship and coerced into faking the landings.

 

I've been aware of this film for some time; didn't quite take the direction I imagined - actually a lot better than I expected. It has some bloody impressive action scenes for the time.

 

Great cast, great yarn; well worth a watch.

[Ampersound]

Watched "the raid". Brilliant kick ass movie with some excellent camera angles. Can't beat a good head cracking, neck snapping, eye popping Kung Foo film.

 

Also watched the last twilight jobbie which was ok I suppose.. If you have survived the others then you'll make it through that.. Kind of wraps it all up nicely for everyone in a sickly sweet sugary way and the freaky baby at the start just looked comical. Personally I would have just killed everyone off just to confuse the book readers out there.

[pap]

Watched "the raid". Brilliant kick ass movie with some excellent camera angles. Can't beat a good head cracking, neck snapping, eye popping Kung Foo film.

 

Also watched the last twilight jobbie which was ok I suppose.. If you have survived the others then you'll make it through that.. Kind of wraps it all up nicely for everyone in a sickly sweet sugary way and the freaky baby at the start just looked comical. Personally I would have just killed everyone off just to confuse the book readers out there.

 

I keep hearing good things about The Raid. Time to run the rule on it, I reckon.

[dubai_phil]

The Expendables 2.

 

No really. A bunch of Grandads playing Mercenaries and saving the world.....

 

It SHOULD be risible, and yet from about 10 minutes in it takes the p1ss out of itself, so much so that by the end it is has moments of absolute ROFLness.

 

Somehow the balance between Action Movie, "We can see what's gonna happen next" "attempts at depth" and "Almost a Catchphrase" had first me, and then FMDP hooting with laughter at the end.

 

It falls so close to being the worst movie ever made (Plan B from outer space not withstanding) and yet....

 

Let's face it, Sly & Jeane Claude Van Damme both look awful with dodgy hair colour and what appear to be facelifts that haven't worked, Arnie looks like he's walking round with 5,000 Volts shoved up his arse, Bruce seems to be looking at his watch the whole way through wondering when he can get the hell out and Chuck Norris looks like he hasn't even bothered to change from his last TV Series appearance. Jet Li goes one better and jumps out the movie within 15 minutes.

 

But, and here's the rub.

 

Even Though Neil Allen clearly wrote the script & jokes, the comedy timing (intended or otherwise) makes it an absolute hoot.

 

I came back...........

 

FFS

 

Drink beer, put this on the DVD and let rip.

[pap]

I watched the new Total Recall film. I'm a big fan of the old film; despite being a little dated now, great at the time. I can remember everyone talking about it.

 

Really enjoyed it. They've deliberately gone for a different tone, and have merged the Michael Ironside and Sharon Stone characters into one sh!t-kickin' missus. She reminds me a bit of a Terminator.

 

No Mars(!) at all in the plot, but I think they've done a good job of creating a world for the story. It's particularly cool seeing the United Federation of Britain

[Bearsy]

Shut up pap, it was terrible! It was worse than the original in every respect! Even the chick with 3 boobs kept her nips covered up!

[pap]

Shut up pap, it was terrible! It was worse than the original in every respect! Even the chick with 3 boobs kept her nips covered up!

 

Dunno what version you've seen, but the nips were out in the version I saw. They probs shouldn't have included it though. Needless fan service.

 

Besides, that's nostalgia talking Bearsy. We were a simpler, less refined people in that time.

[Bearsy]

Total recall

 

How come paps post has amazon link to book bout dogs? Anyone else seeing this?

[Bearsy]

Dunno what version you've seen, but the nips were out in the version I saw. They probs shouldn't have included it though. Needless fan service.

 

Besides, that's nostalgia talking Bearsy. We were a simpler, less refined people in that time.

 

Interesting. Maybe I saw the U12 version. Either that or I'm suffering from nipnesia!

[pap]

Total recall

 

How come paps post has amazon link to book bout dogs? Anyone else seeing this?

 

That is very weird. I can see it on the web version of the site, but didn't put the link in myself. If I go to edit the post, I don't see Total Recall wrapped in anything "linky".

 

Sponsored words, mods?

[Bearsy]

It's there again!

 

Only when you say it tho! Total recall.

 

Edit: Oh wait maybe I need to it better. Hi everyone I recommend you go on Amazon and buy a book bout dogs called Total Recall it's ace book homes!

[Bearsy]

Maybe advertisers only pay for pap links cos he is well respected poster and general trend-setter?

[Bearsy]

Oh wait my first one has got one now, guess it's slow burn!

[pap]

It's a shame the little evils of capitalism thread got locked.

 

Am I wrong to think that this is a big deal?

 

People link stuff all the time. I'm sure they expect to see something about Total Recall, not a f@@king book about dogs.

 

Sort it out mods!

[Bearsy]

I think it sucks! I don't mind Registered Users being harrassed with adverts bout dogs and mature dating websites (i found out bout this when i was ban) but minted £5 full members expect better!

[SuperMikey]

Watched Tyrannosaur today, been meaning to sit down and watch it for ages. The directorial debut for Paddy Considine, it stars Peter Mullen as an angry Scottish man whose path collides with abused religious charity shop worker Olivia Colman. While there are some really great performances in this, Mullen especially, I was a wee bit disappointed. While the whole thing looks fantastic, all derelict estates and bleak wintery landscapes, I thought the pacing was a little odd. Random outbursts of anger from Mullen seem to take precedence over really focusing on the plot, and I thought there was a lot more potential to really explore the abusive relationship between Colman and her psychopathic husband (Eddie Marsan). Still, it's worth a watch, if not for the performances alone.

[CHAPEL END CHARLIE]

I've just seen 'The Girl' (BBC2 Boxing Day) a semi fictional account of blond bombshell Tippi Hedren's problematical relationship with Alfred Hitchcock while they made the classic suspense thriller The Birds together. I'm a enormous fan of this movie, and of Hitchcock in general, so as you can imagine I settled down to watch this programme with some sense of anticipation.

 

But truth to tell I found it something of a disappointment. It's not that I object to seeing Hitchcock exposed as the odd, rather perverted and obsessive man he undoubtedly was, because that side of his nature is well known to me. Neither is there anything at all wrong with the casting - Sienna Miller and Toby Jones both deliver remarkably good performances here - the problem lay perhaps with a script that just couldn't carry the full feature length 90 minutes the BBC had given it.

 

One of the key lessons that the real Hitchcock left us is that pacing is nearly everything in film making - a lesson the director of this programme has yet to learn it would seem.

Edited 29 December, 2012 by CHAPEL END CHARLIE

[Bearsy]

Jack Reacher

 

Tom Cruise walks into a crowded bar. He's the tallest man there. What is the chances! I'm wondering if it's some kind of freaky dwarf bar cos Tom Cruise can use the urinals without standing tippy-toe.

 

A normal size babe comes up and starts hitting on him. You can see why. She probably ain't seen someone so tall as Tom Cruise before. Dwarf bar is probably slim pickings, she would do better at Weatherspoons.

 

He blows her out cos he thinks she is hooker, so babe has 5 of her brothers drag him outside to duff him up. Fortunately they is only little dudes so Tom Cruise duffs them up easily.

 

He hunts down the bird from the bar. She is startled to see him. Tom Cruise shakes his head sadly. "B!tch, sit down," he says. He don't like it when other people is stood up. He steals her car and then goes to duff up her brothers some more.

 

Then Tom Cruise is having to work with Hot Lawyer bout to investigate some dumb murders or whatever. I think she has spinal injury. She is always sitting down. Tom Cruise like this about her. You can tell he wants to bone her. He is constantly taking his shirt off for no reason.

 

Then there is this bad guy. You can tell he's bad cos he has one blue eye and one not blue eye and he has German accent and when one of his henchman done bad he makes the henchman bite off his own thumb.

 

I sort of stopped paying attention bout now. I went back out to lobby and bought some pick and mix. I like to get jazzies and snowies and fizzy cola bottles and teeth and I also like to get bananas and white mice. I like to get lot of pick and mix. I only eat some of it tho and then I like to take it home with me so I can eat more pick and mix at my leisure. I'm eating some now. I'm eating jazzies and snowies and fizzy cola bottles and teeth and I'm also eating bananas and white mice.

 

Spoilers!: Some other dumb stuff happened. I think it all turned out alright in the end.

Edited 29 December, 2012 by Bearsy

[dubai_phil]

Bearsy. You are my hero for walking out of Jack Reacher.

 

Anyone who has ever read a book simply knows that it is an error of monumental proportions to cast Cruise as Reacher

 

(ooh see what I did there)

 

Here's a good one for Satellite watchers - The Debt - was on Sat here tonight. Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson Sam Worthington. Mossad hit squad sent to "render" The Surgeon of Birkenau from East Berlin in 1965.

 

Great story, twists and acting - an old fashioned 60's "spy" thriller

[PhilippineSaint]

Jack Reacher

 

Tom Cruise walks into a crowded bar. He's the tallest man there. What is the chances! I'm wondering if it's some kind of freaky dwarf bar cos Tom Cruise can use the urinals without standing tippy-toe.

 

A normal size babe comes up and starts hitting on him. You can see why. She probably ain't seen someone so tall as Tom Cruise before. Dwarf bar is probably slim pickings, she would do better at Weatherspoons.

 

He blows her out cos he thinks she is hooker, so babe has 5 of her brothers drag him outside to duff him up. Fortunately they is only little dudes so Tom Cruise duffs them up easily.

 

He hunts down the bird from the bar. She is startled to see him. Tom Cruise shakes his head sadly. "B!tch, sit down," he says. He don't like it when other people is stood up. He steals her car and then goes to duff up her brothers some more.

 

Then Tom Cruise is having to work with Hot Lawyer bout to investigate some dumb murders or whatever. I think she has spinal injury. She is always sitting down. Tom Cruise like this about her. You can tell he wants to bone her. He is constantly taking his shirt off for no reason.

 

Then there is this bad guy. You can tell he's bad cos he has one blue eye and one not blue eye and he has German accent and when one of his henchman done bad he makes the henchman bite off his own thumb.

 

I sort of stopped paying attention bout now. I went back out to lobby and bought some pick and mix. I like to get jazzies and snowies and fizzy cola bottles and teeth and I also like to get bananas and white mice. I like to get lot of pick and mix. I only eat some of it tho and then I like to take it home with me so I can eat more pick and mix at my leisure. I'm eating some now. I'm eating jazzies and snowies and fizzy cola bottles and teeth and I'm also eating bananas and white mice.

 

Spoilers!: Some other dumb stuff happened. I think it all turned out alright in the end.

 

This was set in Manila right ???

[pap]

Just watched The Adventures of Tintin.

 

I'd heard good things about it when it was released in the cinema. I had read a few of the books when I was a kid, but I wouldn't say I was a massive fan.

 

It's an adventure film in the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The motion capture 3D is superb, as is the whole look of the film. It's laden with the sort of invention you see in Spielberg's earlier stuff, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. They did an excellent job - the entire movie is strong and there are a lot of laugh out loud moments. The audacious action scenes had me chuckling at the sheer balls of it all.

 

Fantastic film, especially if you've got a young nipper ( or big kid ) living in your house.

[View From The Top]

Just watched The Adventures of Tintin.

 

I'd heard good things about it when it was released in the cinema. I had read a few of the books when I was a kid, but I wouldn't say I was a massive fan.

 

It's an adventure film in the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The motion capture 3D is superb, as is the whole look of the film. It's laden with the sort of invention you see in Spielberg's earlier stuff, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. They did an excellent job - the entire movie is strong and there are a lot of laugh out loud moments. The audacious action scenes had me chuckling at the sheer balls of it all.

 

Fantastic film, especially if you've got a young nipper ( or big kid ) living in your house.

 

Watched it with my nipper. He loved it, I thought it clever.

[Nexstar]

Taken 2 - Absolute crap.

 

End of Watch - Different and definitely worth seeing.

 

Zero Dark Thirty - Lengthy but certainly worth the time, good production.

[SuperMikey]

Watched Catch Me If You Can earlier. S'alright. My favourite conman movie is still Matchstick Men though.

[saintbletch]

Just watched The Adventures of Tintin.

 

I'd heard good things about it when it was released in the cinema. I had read a few of the books when I was a kid, but I wouldn't say I was a massive fan.

 

It's an adventure film in the style of Raiders of the Lost Ark. The motion capture 3D is superb, as is the whole look of the film. It's laden with the sort of invention you see in Spielberg's earlier stuff, and written by Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish. They did an excellent job - the entire movie is strong and there are a lot of laugh out loud moments. The audacious action scenes had me chuckling at the sheer balls of it all.

 

Fantastic film, especially if you've got a young nipper ( or big kid ) living in your house.

 

Also enjoyed this pap. Found the motion capture disorienting at first but eventually found myself marvelling at the quality of the 'animation'.

 

I'm not quite sure the dialogue was up to Moffat's usual standard. He gave Haddock a good voice but the other parts fell into the background a little for me. Still very enjoyable though.

[Saint Luke]

Hugo - Very good

Moonrise Kingdom - Quirky but fun

[dubai_phil]

S Darko.

 

A sequel to Donny Darko made in 2009, set 7 years after the events of the first film.

 

His sister, Sam, is on a road trip with a buddy, their car breaks down, they end up in a small town.

 

Look, that's kinda how much I understood.

 

The film manages to keep a weirdness and feel to it similar to the original. But the weirdness and back to frontness and rewinds and well, whatever is certainly far more than the original.

 

Did I enjoy watching it? Hell yes weirdly.

 

But the damned thing leaves WAY more loose ends than one of my Old Nan's attempts at a knitted jumper when she hit her 90's. It does your head in big time I'm sitting here asking about the vicar, the kid or was it a ghost.....

 

The weird Rabbit thingy makes an appearance and if I am honest there are some new clues in there about the whole first movie but you have no idea if they are clues or just weirdness.

 

I really can't work out if it was sh1t or is an absolute classic.

 

All I do know - we ain't allowed to smoke anything down here that would have helped it make any sense.

 

I can't ask the BIG question as it would blow the SPOILER ALERT alarm into overdrive so it's just wtf?

 

Someone find it on a Sat channel or Download and try and explain it to me one day

[Joe Kirkup]

Had an afternoon of DVDs yesterday

Deja Vu then Premonition, boy am I confused.

[trousers]

Had an afternoon of DVDs yesterday

Deja Vu then Premonition, boy am I confused.

 

[pap]

Also enjoyed this pap. Found the motion capture disorienting at first but eventually found myself marvelling at the quality of the 'animation'.

 

I'm not quite sure the dialogue was up to Moffat's usual standard. He gave Haddock a good voice but the other parts fell into the background a little for me. Still very enjoyable though.

 

A lot of hardcore Tintin fans are pretty upset with this movie. They're unhappy that they stitched three Tintin books together to make the plot. Additionally, someone was very unhappy about Tintin's moment of weakness when all seems lost, citing something like "TINTIN WOULD NEVER GIVE UP! HADDOCK WOULD GIVE UP". Comparisons with Crystal Skull abound too.

 

Fans. Gotta love 'em.

[Hamilton Saint]

I don't get out to the movies much these days.

 

I went to Life of Pi in Toronto a couple a few weeks ago. The film was billed to begin at 7.05 The advertising began at 6.45 and ran until 7.12 With an average of 30 seconds per ad, that was about 50 ads. Then about 8 minutes of trailers. The film finally started at 7.20

 

That's how some of these mainstream "cineplexes" work these days. You pay an exorbitant amount to get in and then they bludgeon you with advertising for 25 minutes. That's f*ckin' appalling!

[LVSaint]

This was set in Manila right ???

 

No, that was Manila Sky.

 

Dark knight rises was quite a lot of fun if not as solid as the preceding two.

[Bearsy]

Django Unchained

 

I know this ain't really out yet but iv seen it For My Considerations. It's pretty sweet film! At least for the first couple hours then it sucked pretty bad for the last 30 minutes. It went off the rails bout the time that Tarantino decided to put himself in the movie again. He was doing a really terrible accent. It was so terrible I ain't even sure what it was sposed to be. Possibly australian.

 

The movie itself is very edgy. It takes very controversial moral stance that Slavery Is Bad. That's fair enough, but i wouldn't mind seeing a film one time where the Slavers are noble and the Slaves are dumb. Just to mix things up like.

 

Samuel L Jackson is really great in this movie. It's nice to see him play someone other than himself. Most the other actors was good too. It seemed good acting all round. Good music also.

 

I dunno when it's in cinema exactly but it's worth checkin out! I give it 4 bears!

[pap]

I like Tarantino, but not so much when he puts himself in the movie. I always get the impression that he isn't actually playing a character, just showing various sides of his own personality.

 

Pervy side in Dusk Til Dawn, racist side in Pulp Fiction, mysoganist side in Reservoir Dogs. Seems to having a bit too much fun.

 

Which side does he do in Django? Racist one again?

[pap]

No, that was Manila Sky.

 

Dark knight rises was quite a lot of fun if not as solid as the preceding two.

 

I was reading Den of Geek the other day. They reckon it holds up better after a rewatch. I think that is probably true. I don't think anyone had an expectation that Batman/Bruce Wayne would spend so much time off-screen, so it was a bit jarring first time round. I think I'll probably appreciate it for what it is second time around.

[pap]

I don't get out to the movies much these days.

 

I went to Life of Pi in Toronto a couple a few weeks ago. The film was billed to begin at 7.05 The advertising began at 6.45 and ran until 7.12 With an average of 30 seconds per ad, that was about 50 ads. Then about 8 minutes of trailers. The film finally started at 7.20

 

That's how some of these mainstream "cineplexes" work these days. You pay an exorbitant amount to get in and then they bludgeon you with advertising for 25 minutes. That's f*ckin' appalling!

 

A drinking pal of mine in Liverpool used to manage cinemas back in the 2000s. He got chewed out loads if they didn't sell enough popcorn, etc. That stuff is almost pure profit. A cinema's worst nightmare is your punter who buys nothing.

 

Despite knowing how much they're fleecing me, I don't actually mind. They've got to stay in business.

 

The commercials are annoying though; especially when you've got a bank of morons behind you involuntarily guffawing popcorn into your barnet after they've seen a particularly simplistic price comparison website advert.

[shurlock]

Django Unchained

 

I know this ain't really out yet but iv seen it For My Considerations. It's pretty sweet film! At least for the first couple hours then it sucked pretty bad for the last 30 minutes. It went off the rails bout the time that Tarantino decided to put himself in the movie again. He was doing a really terrible accent. It was so terrible I ain't even sure what it was sposed to be. Possibly australian.

 

The movie itself is very edgy. It takes very controversial moral stance that Slavery Is Bad. That's fair enough, but i wouldn't mind seeing a film one time where the Slavers are noble and the Slaves are dumb. Just to mix things up like.

 

Samuel L Jackson is really great in this movie. It's nice to see him play someone other than himself. Most the other actors was good too. It seemed good acting all round. Good music also.

 

I dunno when it's in cinema exactly but it's worth checkin out! I give it 4 bears!

 

Criminal if 'Stephen' doesn't win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor - amazing performance balancing the sinister and the subservient. Hard to know who's controlling who.

Di Caprio also deserves an honorable mention. Could have climbed back off the ledge and toned down his performance but he didn't bottle it. And the terror wasn't cartoonish either.

The KKK scene was hilarious - what Blazing Saddles would have looked like if it had been shot today.

[Thedelldays]

Criminal if 'Stephen' doesn't win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor - amazing performance balancing the sinister and the subservient. Hard to know who's controlling who.

Di Caprio also deserves an honorable mention. Could have climbed back off the ledge and toned down his performance but he didn't bottle it. And the terror wasn't cartoonish either.

The KKK scene was hilarious - what Blazing Saddles would have looked like if it had been shot today.

just seen it...very good

[miserableoldgit]

Saw "Les Mis" this afternoon. Absolutely stupendous! Apart from Russell Crowe and Anna Seyfriend, the singing is excellent. Anne Hathaways "I Dreamed a Dream" and Eddie Redmaynes "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" particularly outstanding. If you are a fan of the show you will be relieved like me that the film has kept to the spirt of the show and expanded it. As many people (men AND women) "blowing their noses" at the end as at the end of the stage version "Warhorse!" One of the very best British films for many years IMHO.

[dubai_phil]

OK so maybe you need to have spent a long time down this part of the world to get every subtle nuance and every OTT non PC gag.

 

But I have to say that The Dictator is absolutely a classic. Jeez so many nails hit on the head.

 

It was gross and bad taste without being cringeworthy like Bruno.

 

The Labnah joke, the I'm pregnant joke, so many of them, and so well observed even down to having Arabic versions of classic songs.

 

Many won't like it I am sure. But down here now it has come out on dodgy DVD, it is going to be a cult classic.

 

The Helicopter trip gag - didn't need subtitles...

 

Loved it and bet a lot of people hated it

[Ewell]

I have no idea if it has made this thread as I cannot be bothered to trawl back through it but a movie I saw at the cinema last summer is 'The Imposter' which is a a fantastic documentary style movie.

 

Whatever you do go in blind as the more you know about the story the less the effect of the film will have on you.

[pap]

OK so maybe you need to have spent a long time down this part of the world to get every subtle nuance and every OTT non PC gag.

 

But I have to say that The Dictator is absolutely a classic. Jeez so many nails hit on the head.

 

It was gross and bad taste without being cringeworthy like Bruno.

 

The Labnah joke, the I'm pregnant joke, so many of them, and so well observed even down to having Arabic versions of classic songs.

 

Many won't like it I am sure. But down here now it has come out on dodgy DVD, it is going to be a cult classic.

 

The Helicopter trip gag - didn't need subtitles...

 

Loved it and bet a lot of people hated it

 

It's really not hard to see the subtext in Baron Cohen's films. I look forward to his remake of "You Don't Mess With the Zohan".

[dubai_phil]

It's really not hard to see the subtext in Baron Cohen's films. I look forward to his remake of "You Don't Mess With the Zohan".

 

Yep.

 

Most surprising thing was he was allowed in here to perform (way before he became famous outside blighty) and caused everyone to duck for cover and make sure the local plod weren't in the building.

 

Subtle it ain't EVER going to be, but it is funny and this movie IMHO had more sustained moments in it.

 

Other great gags included Oh you have an education?

 

Don't think I'll download it and take it into the Magic Kingdom though

[pap]

I really liked a lot his Ali G stint on the 11 o clock show, but his basic schtick has been the same throughout. Disarm people through the prism of a character. That's fair enough when you're bamboozling an archaic politician with a modern definition of the word "caning", but his stuff got a little more mean-spirited and agenda-driven as it went on.

 

Enter Borat, which was the one that really raised my heckles. You can argue all you like about the depiction of Kazakhstan. The country itself wasn't too pleased at the way it was depicted. Most of are smart enough to know that Borat's Kazakhstan does not equal real life Kazakhstan. Bit later in the film, you see Borat attempting to lead a load of rednecks in an anti-semitic song of his own creation. Eventually, after they've heard a couple of choruses, some of them start singing along. Now to me, for this scene at least, Baron Cohen has gone out of his way to engineer a message; some rednecks might be anti-semitic.

 

Toward the end, Borat hitches a ride with some drunk college students, who confess to wanting to bring slavery back. Naturally, I don't condone their statement. Perhaps it's my age speaking, but young people talk a load of sh!t and have a load of hang-ups that are pretty much cured by time they're 30. I wouldn't want any extended footage of 22 year old pap doing the rounds, so I find myself questioning the editorial decision to include these life-damaging statements in an international movie.

 

Watched 10 minutes of The Dictator and was getting hints of post-funny Adam Sandler. It gets better, I presume?

[dubai_phil]

 

Watched 10 minutes of The Dictator and was getting hints of post-funny Adam Sandler. It gets better, I presume?

 

For us yes. It stayed funny. But we can also see why film goers or Ali G fans may not get it. It is really hard to try and describe this comparison without coming across as insanely insensitive but here we go.

IF you take away the bluster (some call it face) of a "Middle Eastern Despot" then you are left with Comical Ali (Saddam's "PR Manager")

Underneath all the pre-invasion toxic ruling of his country was a pumped up moron (who eventually cowered in a hole in the ground) The West misunderstood his Bluster for Reality and felt he was a threat. For those down here he was let's say a master of Bullpoo. (Now that is not ignoring his acts of terror on his own people)

SBC manages to take that to a very well observed level of p1ss take in his character & portrayal of the "Court" of Aladeen. Most will find laughing at a Genocidal maniac difficult or impossible (as many found Bruno & even Borat too much) however, he does it very well.

Perhaps the weakness in The Dictator is that he panders to "a happy ending" whereas the two previous films kept up the "offensiveness".

IMHO this film has more actual jokes in it. A conversation about the Yanks shooting Osama's body double and OBL moving in with him moves from toilet humour to very bad taste when talking in Arabic to him crashing his car. But it takes the p1ss out of Middle American paranoia perfectly.

Comparing a Hotel Chain to a ME War Criminal for their Internet charges is tasteless but funny.

But a lot of the jokes I guess you have to have lived and worked with "The mentality" of this region (and on this SBC maintains a balance of observing and taking the p1ss of ALL sides of men over here).

FMDP recommended the film to her boss last night (Jordanian) he replied back "wow no wonder it was not shown here" and "he was still p1ssing himself laughing"

(Oh and the Morgan Freeman/Megan Fox/Harvey Keitel gags....)

 

So perhaps there are two weakness to the film

1) I think is simply that SBC doesn't end it "offensively". Perhaps even he felt that US audiences wouldn't buy into it

2) Perhaps the fact that for large parts of the film SBC is not in "costume" but in character (and just imagine a reforming/finding himself Saddam walking around NY wearing clothing from the Lesbian Bathroom Charity Box....... as the only running gag)

 

So it has a paper thin plot, a lot of gags only nutters down here would get, uses real actors instead of dumb set up schmucks is only mildly gross and portrays Megan Fox (and Katy Perry) as women who would sh@g a Dictator for a Goodie Bag.

 

Still loved it and understand why many won't