So.... Seen Any Good Movies Lately?

[macdoc]

Magic & Bird: A Courtship Of Rivals

http://www.hbocanada.com/details/?id=51070

WOW!!!!

Another winner from HBO - this is really well done and extremely enjoyable

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

I'll give the film Barry Lyndon 7.5/10. A pretty good film despite it's age (1975) and a good yarn. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Lyndon

The Duellists - 9/10. Ridley Scott's first feature film. A cracking good story, beautifully shot and well worth the watch.
I was startled to find that this film has a lot of basis in actual events which took place between two French cavalry officers in Napoleon's army named Fournier and DuPont.
Their first duel took place in 1794 which Fournier lost and demanded a rematch. Together they fought at least 30 duels spanning a total of 19 years!
http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/art ... ry_history

This rematch lasted for no less than 19 years as the two officers fought at least 30 regular duels dismounted and on horse, with swords, rapiers, sabers and almost every other weapon imaginable.

The two officers so wanted to celebrate their aggression with each other by agreeing in a written contract to keep dueling until one of them died. Described by author Charles G. Shanks, in 1869, the terms were:

1. A fight shall be arranged whenever the parties are within thirty leagues (100 miles) of one another. ( )
2. There shall be no excuse from fighting except illness or military duty.
3. Pistols shall not be used except by mutual consent.
4. Death, surrender, or mutual agreement, shall alone terminate the fight.

...Not much love lost there, then.

[Animavore]

There is no God.





Saw this in the cinema yesterday. I loved it. It was a weird film about a bunch of religious crusaders who travel to a remote village that has not been affected by the black death which has ravaged the rest of the country. They believe that some sort of sorcery is afoot and go off in search of a necromancer. Guiding them on their journey is a monk who secretly goes out with a woman who he is to meet in a village not to far from the one they seek.
I liked the rational approach of this movie. The idea of superstition versus reality. I don't want to ruin it by saying much about it. It gets the thumbs-up any way.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

Cross of Iron. !977. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Iron
Good film in which the T34 tanks upstaged just about all the actors put together.
Corny and unconvincing machine gun sound effects.

The Godfather I, II, III and IV.
The series starts off great and then, by the fourth film, is crap.

[Animavore]

When the Daily Fail's Chris Tookey said this film was, "Jaw-droppingly unfunny and morally despicable, it doesn't work on any level"...



...I knew I was going to like it.
Jim Carrey plays Steven Jay Russell, an American con-artist, imposter and multiple prison escapist. Russell in his early life was married with kids but he was secretly a homosexual having affairs with men in the background until he survived a car crash one day and decides he's going to be open about his homosexuality so he tells his wife and starts going out with a man. He eventually realises that the life he was leading, has the King of Queens, was rather expensive due to flamboyant shopping and exquisite tastes so he starts getting extra money anyway he can be faking accidents and making claims. He moves on to forgery and identity theft and is caught and put in jail where he meets Phillip Morris, who he falls in love with.
The rest of the story has Russell, out of love for Morris, doing anything he can to make a cushy life for them including working as a lawyer and CEO for a medical company and in this regard the film is like Catch Me If You Can although they don't really follow this line focusing more on on his love for Morris.
Tookey complained, "Some people will flinch at the gay sex scenes, which are surprisingly explicit for a mainstream comedy. But you don't need to be homophobic to hate Carrey's character", the sex scenes are far from explicit and are no more than the heterosexual scenes in you average comedy. This is not Short Bus. I think Tookey, a Christian conservative, just can't disguise his hatred, he continues, "Amazingly, writer-directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa seem to think he's a lovable rogue, instead of a career-criminal with the charisma of a cockroach." Eh, no Took. The portrayed him in a non-judgemental way, as a human with all the flaws and vulnerabilities, and you hated it.

[tattuchu]

I've been meaning to pick that up, Ani

Just watched Ink. Interesting. My immediate impression was that it was a little pretentious, too artsy-fartsy, and that the artistic flourishes served to hide the less than professional acting and obvious low budget. But it wasn't long before the film won me over and, most importantly, I cried at the end

[The Curious Squid]

I've not watched it recently but Brick is a brilliant film. I got it from a mate so I'll watch it and write something more in depth when I get the chance.

[tattuchu]

Just watched Lo last night. Seemed like a low budget indie kind of film. I liked it. It was funny. The entire film consisted of dialogue between a dude searching for his lost girlfriend and the demon he's summoned to find here, all on one set- the dude sitting inside a pentagram surrounded by darkness. But it worked. It kept my interest and was fun.

[leo-rcc]

Troubled Water, by Erik Poppe from Norway.

The film is about Jan Thomas, that gets a friend of his in a accident and in panic disposes him in in a river where the boy drowns, gets convicted of murder, and serves 9 years in prison and gets released as a young adult. Once outside he is struggling to get his life going again and find a job as an organ player in a church.

As Jan tries to pick up the pieces, the mother of the boy he killed finds out he is released from prison, and fears for the life of her 2 daughters and the son of a single mother Anna who became friends with Jan who calls himself Thomas now as to not being easily identified as the boy killer form 9 years ago. Though understandable, Agnes (the dead boys mother) completely overreacts and kidnaps Anna's son to protect him from Jan/Thomas. What happens then I suggest go and see yourself.

I loved this movie. The beginning of the movie shows the story from the perspective of Jan, and the latter half of the perspective of Agnes about what happened, and though some unnecessary overlap is in the movie, I found it to be very compelling and a worth while watch.

[Animavore]

So I was in the cinema first thing this morning like a little fan boi with a luminous-green line of game-hunting alien jizm across my cheek...



I went in expecting it to be rather quiet but it was full of fan bois, all happily fapping away, awaiting the beginning of the movie. Not the dorky fan bois of Avatar, you understand? Or the twinkle-toed fan bois of Twilight. These were more the rugged types you'd enjoy a beer with, shoot some pool and maybe go paint-balling with.
Anyway, the film. It's a rather good and solid action flick. Worth going to see for the laugh. It has a fairly decent pace and some tense moments. They used the predators sparingly and it's a while before we see one. They took the clever move of letting the film built up rather than go for the over-kill which is all too common these days.
On the negative side. It had some scenes which were direct copies of the original. I can understand a reference or nod to the early film but this was a cut 'n' paste job. It's not that big a gripe and if you've never seen the original you won't even notice.
It was unconvincing in parts. Instead of coming across as what it was supposed to be, a bunch of soldiers caught in a hostile environment; it came across as what it is, a bunch of actors prancing around a studio. There were things they said and did which just didn't seem like the thing that type of person would do.
The thing that annoyed me the most was at one time there was an explosion and they used CGI instead of pyrotechnics. It doesn't look real, it looks like the explosion is over the object instead of in it and, quite frankly, it's just being cheap.
That aside it's worth seeing. It's the best Predator film besides, obviously, the original.

[The Curious Squid]

Good! I'm going to see it in a few hours, as long as it's not as bad as AVP I & II i'll be happy.

[Animavore]

Good! I'm going to see it in a few hours, as long as it's not as bad as AVP I & II i'll be happy.

Nothing's as bad as those movies. Now let's put them behind us and never speak of it again.

[Dasein]

sullivan entertainment's version of Anne of Green Gables. so sweet.

[charlou]

It's been years since I've watched a movie in a cinema ... Animal Kingdom .. gritty and brutal Australian film about a criminal family and their clash with the Victorian police force, and with each other .. Ben Mendelsohn is fucking brilliant as a psychotic who holds power over his brothers and nephew (some chilling mind games in there) ... I found it non-moralising and edgy as fuck.

[The Curious Squid]

Good! I'm going to see it in a few hours, as long as it's not as bad as AVP I & II i'll be happy.

Nothing's as bad as those movies. Now let's put them behind us and never speak of it again.

I wouldn't say Predators was a "good" movie, it was ok but still had way too many problems.