The last film you watched....

[Viventius]

Vindex,

Nearly got my hands on a DVD loan copy yesterday, but their computer had broken and they couldn't issue it to me, so no [strike]James Purefoy[/strike] Ironclad for me :evil:

[john roberts]

I think it's a rule in film for the last few years: in any film set in a pre-industrial era, no matter the period or locale, there must be at least one blue-painted Celt (or equivalent). Also, lots of tattoos.

[Vindex]

Vindex,

Nearly got my hands on a DVD loan copy yesterday, but their computer had broken and they couldn't issue it to me, so no [strike]James Purefoy[/strike] Ironclad for me :evil:

Well...I suppose the only consolation is it'll be worth the wait!

Not too many tattoos I seem to recall...(good excuse to peer at Vladimir Kulich again though!). And I suppose we should be thankful James Purefoy didn't have the Cross of St George tattooed on his chest :wink:

[Narukami]

Interesting, Ironclad just opened in the local cinema here in Burbank. Was going to pass, but might now check it out.

Just saw: Pirates 4 - On Stranger Tides: Not as bad as I had feared and certainly much better than the last one, but still not a very good film. (That said, the grandson enjoyed it and he is the target audience.) Yes, the cast is engaging and clearly having a good time but ... since it has already taken in over $1 Billion at the box office Pirates 5 will be sailing our way son enough.

More interesting is the same director's first foray into animation with the ILM animated feature Rango. This film I would recommend. Very imaginative. Very droll. Lots of fun.

Also, Woody Allen's new film Midnight In Paris. Certainly the funniest film he has done in recent years. It is, to my mind, Allen's version of Nolan's film Inception. Even has the same female lead. Though some have been less than impressed by it, I found it to be a gentle comedy that is happy to be simply that.

:wink:

Narukami

[Vindex]

Nopers - just watched Ironclad again to check for tattoos...delete my last.

Certainly a dvd movie as you can see a lot more second time round. The fight choreography is rather good with a vast array of weapons;lots of improvised weapons (a chopped off arm for example) fists and teeth too, so far more authentic I think.

Quite a lot of left handed bowmen too...McKenzie Crook in particular.

[Ghostmojo]

Green Lantern = very disappointing (I hope Captain America will be better).

[Marcus F.]

Yaroslav. Tysyachu let nazad, 2010



This film is one of the these über-patriotic historical movies from Russia that have been produced during the last ten years. The main character is the Russian prince Yaroslaw, who has to defend his territory against brigand bands, a pagan tribe and a traitor in his own ranks. Everything plays almost exactely 1,000 years ago in the Eastern part of the Kievan Rus Empire.

Visually it's quite okay and it has all in all better costumes and armour than the usual R. Scott film (not that difficult anyway). Acting is rather wooden most of the time, but at least the action is not that bad, although you won't see much what wasn't already shown in similar movies. The film was at least better than this recent one about Alexander Newski. It's something for people, who like this genre of historical movies (and Putin-propaganda )

[Jona Lendering]

The last episode of Harry Potter. After the show, I suddenly realized that the battle scenes were not made unnecessarily pathetic by doing them in slow motion. Nevertheless, it was a little bit over the top. On the other hand, all in all eight nice movies that kept the charm of the books intact, although they suffered from the fact that the latest books were off lesser quality.

[joeandmich]

I saw on DVD the following last week.

The Eagle: fair to middlen, centurion was better.
Splice: very exciting, kind of like a modern Frankensteins Monster.
Gullivers Travel: silly but passable due to Jack Black being the star

[Narukami]

At the Cinema: Captain America

Actually much better than I had feared. Amusing hokum that has a consistently good look and a surprisingly good cast doing yeoman work with this comic book material. Although I had read only one or two of the comic books as a kid, it seems the film has made a few changes that skillfully separate Red Skull (the villain) and his Hydra organization from Hitler and he Nazis, thus avoiding some tricky historical problems.

It was fun to see several German WWII weapon designs fully realized (flying wing, ram-jet helicopter) but the Hydra troops are pretty useless. Like the Storm Troopers in Star Wars, these guys couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat. Even so, the Red Skull himself is a lot of fun and the actor (Hugo Weaving) is clearly having a great time. His performance avoids the usual scenery chewing that is often part & parcel of these roles (remember Jack Nicholson as the Joker or Al Pacino as the Devil?)

This film is perfect for a hot afternoon -- the air con was cold, the popcorn hot and the film in focus.

:wink:

Narukami

[Magnus]

Capt'n America is getting great reviews. I haven't seen it yet. Watched Horrible Bosses yesterday...it was pretty funny. Worth it to see Jennifer Aniston scantily clad. Man she is hot!

I was overall disappointed with the Harry Potter series. First, I don't think a book series that has that many distinct "episodes/books" translates that well to film. I found the series started to drag on after #4...The 1st part of the Deathly Hallows was just aweful, and I found the last instalment simply touched on the unanswered questions, instead of delving into them deeper. Even my g/f, who has read the books umpteen times and is a huge fan, agreed the last one was very superficial.

Have you seen the trailer for "Battleship"? First, it has battleships in it, which is an automatic interest for me. Second, it has Liam Neeson, one of my all time favorite actors, and it has aliens. What more is there? lol Looks like it could be a good popcorn muncher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDMXkPfxjOc

[Nathan Ross]

I only seem to watch movies on planes these days. While flying back from Canada yesterday I watched half of a Korean film called Detective K: Secret of Virtuous Widow (sic), in the mistaken belief that it was a Chinese film called Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame (I hope you can see how I made this mistake: it was also an overnight flight and I was verrry tired). Amazingly, it took me this long to work out that a) the film was in Korean not Chinese, b) the 'English' subtitles were virtually incomprehensible, c) it featured no lavish CGI reconstructions of the ancient world and d) it wasn't very good.

At that point I gave up and watched True Grit instead, which was much better.

[Narukami]

Actually ...

I just saw the tailer for Battleship today at the cinema (in front of Cowboys & Aliens, more on that momentarily) and it actually looks like a lot of fun. When Hasbro first announced a film based upon their game, but with aliens, I thought we had finally seen the Fall of Western Civilization. Battleship the movie -- are they kidding? However, the trailer looks pretty good, and it boasts a pretty good cast. A "B" film? Sure, but it could turn out to be better than I had feared.

And speaking of a film being better than feared, Cowboys And Aliens.

Yes, the title alone would could one pause, but in fact this is a "B" film with an "A" list cast and a script which is much better than a "B" film usually enjoys. There has been much carping by critics that this concept is too thin to support a 2-hour feature film, but I disagree. I think there is enough good work here to keep most people entertained. In fact, even before the aliens appear, the film works as a pretty good Western.

Of course, what the aliens do is stand in for the traditional villains -- the Native Americans. In post Dances With Wolves, Black Robe, Last Of The Mohicans, using Native Americans as villains just doesn't work. So aliens instead.

This is the same logic behind the films Skyline and Battle Los Angeles. You want a film featuring an invasion in modern America but who can you use as the invaders that won't upset a potential audience? (A very critical question considering most Hollywood films now make the lion's share of their box office haul outside of the US.)

Nazis used to be the villain de jour (and still are) and there are always Zombies (or better still Nazi Zombies). After all, how likely its it that the Nazis will boycott your film? And even if they did you could use that as good advertising to drive up your box office totals. The problem is, Nazis and Zombies have been used to death (so to speak). Besides, Cowboys And Nazis just doesn't have the same ring to it. But Cowboys And Aliens ... Like Dinosaurs And Cadillacs, you can't go wrong.

So, with Aliens stealing the gold and kidnapping town folk and Indians at will, the film is off to the races.

Although director (Jon Favreau) has said he does not favor the heavy use of CGI, preferring instead to use "practical" effects, he has never the less engaged the services of ILM and the quality shows.

All in all, a fun afternoon at the cinema -- the air con was cold, the popcorn was hot, and the film was fun. Who could ask for more.

:wink:

Narukami

[Gaius Colletti]

I too saw Cowboys and Aliens, which I agree is a "B" film, enjoys a great cast, and the plot isn't overly corny nor is it completely unpredictable. A movie worth seeing. I also saw Captain America, which like most "comic book" movies, was enjoyable, though it didn't compare to other "comic book movies" like Iron Man, The Dark Knight, Wolverine Origins... It too was worth seeing, though I would not pay a ridiculous ticket price that several movie chains are asking for, especially for the 3D crap

[taira1180]

Well, if one day aliens really appeared, Hollywood will have to invent new enemies to avoid offending them (extra-dimensions enemies?).