Rate the last film you saw

[thischarmingman]

Have heard mixed reviews on Brothers. Think Jonathon Ross liked it but said it was missing a bit of something. Gosh I really dont know.

Best film reviewer on radio:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lvdrj

You can probably find his reviews of the films you were thinking of on Youtube also.

But go see Sherlock Holmes.

[Magicme]

Looks like its not happening now. :-( Guy I wanted to take is not able to go tonight and I am too busy during the week so mite be next weekend by the time I get near the cinema.

[Pauro 76]

Avatar - brilliant, a must-see if just for the 3D experience, 8.5/10.

But some corny lines in there, script wasn't the Mae West, but it's very rare you go to a film and end up cheering against the humans.

[elroy]

28 days later was on the film 4 sat night (which btw for a sat night in Jan, there was SFA on the tv). hadnt seen it before, decent show, definitely worth a look.

[thischarmingman]

...it's very rare you go to a film and end up cheering against the humans.

You obviously haven't seen Couples Retreat.

[thischarmingman]

Saw Avatar the other day and was pleasantly surprised. I'm a very fidgity person, who hates sitting in a cinema for long periods of time and thought I'd find a James Cameron 3 hour epic torture, so the best thing I can say about it is that the time flew. I don't think anyone expected the script to be any good; it was laughable at times, expecially the exposition in the first quarter- "In case you're forgetting Doctor, the reason we're here is..."

That said, the whole world of Pandora was wonderfully realised and totally immersive. I'm pretty sure it's not the savior of cinema, as I think the film would have looked equally impressive in 2D as it did in 3D, bar a few sporadic moments throught the film.

I had a little bit of a problem with all the mystical 'Mother Nature' stuff in that that the film appeared to be based on 'science' and then there was suddenly some apparently supernatural happenings, and I wanted some of the secondary characters to be more developed but to be honest they're minor concerns compared to the vast spectacle unfolding on the screen. It's no 'Best Picture' but it was far better than I thought it would be, and thoroughly entertaining. 4/5

Also saw Up in the Air (4/5) and The Road (5/5) on Saturday, although perhaps in the wrong order as we left the cinema contemplating the grim destruction of the earth, rather than laughing at George Clooney. Up in the Air was genuinely funny and had plenty of laugh out loud moments. The first two thirds in particular are terrific although it's let down a bit when the character softens a bit towards the end (I don't think that's giving too much away). Everyone says it's a great Clooney performance, and while it is a good performance, it's not exactly a massive leap for him to smile charmingly and look suave in a suit. That said, he does have surprisingly good comic timing. Vera Farmiga is brilliant, and reminded me a bit of Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey. It's not quite the film the critics are making it out to be, but it's very worthwhile two hours.

You will laugh a lot at Up in the Air, unlike The Road, where the funniest part of the evening is saying to the hapless cinema attendant, "Can I have one for The Road, please?" This will be the most entertaining part of your night so make sure you savour it. In fairness, it's a masterful work and a rewarding one. I thought the cannibalism was pretty explicit throughout with the basement scene mentioned above being absolutely terrifying. In fact, the whole film was terrifying, and suffused with a real sense of dread and foreboding. That said, I havent read the book and maybe cannibalism plays a bigger role in it but I found it a really strong piece of work and the best film I've seen so far this year.

[John83]

I can't entirely agree with your praise for The Road. The ending is a cop out: a sappy, happy, Hollywood ending in a dying, post-apocalypic wasteland. For most of the film, it's genuinely brilliant, the best film I'd seen since A Serious Man (which sounds like faint praise unless you know how highly I regard that), but it's really let down by a spineless piece of writing from an author I'd every reason to expect more from.

By the way, if you liked the film, I hear the book is also great, though I haven't gotten around to it yet myself.

[Razors left peg]

Read the book of the Road the other day so looking forward to the film, but my god it was depressing

[thischarmingman]

I can't entirely agree with your praise for The Road. The ending is a cop out: a sappy, happy, Hollywood ending in a dying, post-apocalypic wasteland. For most of the film, it's genuinely brilliant, the best film I'd seen since A Serious Man (which sounds like faint praise unless you know how highly I regard that), but it's really let down by a spineless piece of writing from an author I'd every reason to expect more from.

By the way, if you liked the film, I hear the book is also great, though I haven't gotten around to it yet myself.

Haven't read the book although I have heard that it's a very faithful adaption.

SPOILER: I can understand the criticism at the end of the film- in fact, my girlfriend felt it was a cop-out as well. I though the last scene would be the boy walking off into the darkness of this dying wasteland by himself. However, it's pretty obvious the little guy wouldn't be in much of a position to fend for himself having been looked after so much by his father so an ending like that would have suggested (to me anyway) that he would have eventually been killed.

The part with the children and the dog did jar a bit, and when I think back on it I do have conflicting emotions about the ending. If he'd just walked off with man and the film had ended I'm not sure how I'd have felt. I think I would have left thoroughly depressed and cynical, rather than uplifted that the pure love of the father had contributed to saving the child's life. And I felt that the boy's hope had to be rewarded in some way- in the bunker full of food they found, if the father had listened to the boy and waited to find out who was with the dog they heard, he might not have died and they would have found the family.

Plus I think I was relieved at the ending after the unremitting gloom of the preceding hour and a half!

By the way, I think I might be the only person who saw 'A Serious Man' and didn't love it. I found it a bit boring, and a bit baffling. I accept it's possible I need to watch it again as I appear to in the minority.

[tetsujin1979]

Watched Aquirre, the Wrath of God last night as part of the 50 films to see before you die

It's about a group of conquistadors who trek along the Amazon in search of El Dorado, and are killed off by the natives, lack of proper food and clean water.

The lead soldier slowly goes insane, declares himself the Wrath of God and convinces the group they will found a new kingdom built on the wealth to be found in El Dorado, and will conquer Mexico and eventually Spain.

It's shot almost documentary style, very close up to the group as they move along the river on a makeshift raft that that they keep adding to.

[Aberdonian Stu]

I saw Aguirre last year. It's good but bonkers.

[bennocelt]

Watched Aquirre, the Wrath of God last night as part of the 50 films to see before you die

It's about a group of conquistadors who trek along the Amazon in search of El Dorado, and are killed off by the natives, lack of proper food and clean water.

The lead soldier slowly goes insane, declares himself the Wrath of God and convinces the group they will found a new kingdom built on the wealth to be found in El Dorado, and will conquer Mexico and eventually Spain.

It's shot almost documentary style, very close up to the group as they move along the river on a makeshift raft that that they keep adding to.

Keep the reports coming Tets,
Im going to do this top 50 thing myself after a while

[don ramo]

i looked at that top 50, its not that inpressive, they say it made that you get films off the beaten track i beg to differ,

1 Apocalypse Now
2 The Apartment
3 City of God
4 Chinatown
5 Sexy Beast
6 2001: A Space Odyssey
7 North by Northwest
8 A Bout de Souffle
9 Donnie Darko
10 Manhattan
11 Alien
12 Lost in Translation
13 The Shawshank Redemption
14 Lagaan: Once Upon A Time in India
15 Pulp Fiction
16 Touch of Evil
17 Walkabout
18 Black Narcissus
19 Boyz n the Hood
20 The Player
21 Come and See
22 Heavenly Creatures
23 A Night at the Opera
24 Erin Brockovich
25 Trainspotting
26 The Breakfast Club
27 Hero
28 Fanny and Alexander
29 Pink Flamingos
30 All About Eve
31 Scarface
32 Terminator 2
33 Three Colours: Blue
34 The Royal Tenen-baums
35 The Ladykillers (which one)
36 Fight Club
37 The Searchers
38 Mulholland Drive
39 The Ipcress File
40 The King of Comedy
41 Manhunter
42 Dawn of the Dead
43 Princess Mononoke
44 Raising Arizona
45 Cabaret
46 This Sporting Life
47 Brazil
48 Aguirre: The Wrath of God
49 Secrets and Lies
50 Badlands.

ive put films that are well know by 99% of people in bold, and underlined ones that would probably be known by 70%,

at the same time i havent seen the majority of these films, but at the same time this list was put together when film4 was going free to air and all these films were gonna be on it over the coming months,

it would make for an interesting experiment to have multiple universaties around the world that study film making make up a proper list, this list was probably made up of 5-6 critics from one country, the film world is so much bigger,

[don ramo]

seem the informant the other night, weird film and a bit all over the place, i was a bit dissapointed with matt damon on this one,

a generous 3/5

[tetsujin1979]

i looked at that top 50, its not that inpressive, they say it made that you get films off the beaten track i beg to differ,

<list snipped out>

ive put films that are well know by 99% of people in bold, and underlined ones that would probably be known by 70%,

at the same time i havent seen the majority of these films, but at the same time this list was put together when film4 was going free to air and all these films were gonna be on it over the coming months,

it would make for an interesting experiment to have multiple universaties around the world that study film making make up a proper list, this list was probably made up of 5-6 critics from one country, the film world is so much bigger,

the list, with release dates, is here: http://www.film4.com/features/articl...before-you-die
The Ladykillers is the original, 1955 version

From the wiki entry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Film...Before_You_Die

It consisted of a list of 50 films compiled by film critics, experts and personalities

also

Each film was "chosen as a paragon of a particular genre or style".

So it's not necessarily the top 50 films ever, more the top 50 examples of different styles of filmmaking

Next up is Brazil, which has been on my "yeah, I'll see that at some point" list for ages now

[John83]

Next up is Brazil, which has been on my "yeah, I'll see that at some point" list for ages now

It's an old favourite of mine. Not laugh-a-minute stuff, more of a black farce - the ******* child of 1984 and Dr Strangelove, with a little (okay, a lot) of English comedy's traditional hatred of bureaucracy thrown into the mix, all the while pretending to be a love story.

[Magicme]

Only seen 13 of those movies so have a long way to go.

[the 12 th man]

Bit dissapointed also with The Hurt Locker,same scene over and over again

[tiktok]

Had a bit of a catch up on some DVDs I wanted to see over the weekend.

District 9: Pleasantly surprised, had heard good things and it was entertaining enough [7/10]
The Hurt Locker: Kept my attention, but didn't live up to what I'd hoped/heard [5/10]
The Wrestler: Really liked it, would recommend it [8/10]

Sherlock Holmes: Great fun, highly entertaining, Jude Law didn't even bother me all that much, docking a couple of points because for soome reason I kept remembering 'League of Extraordinary Gentlemen' which I'd hoped to permanently block out[8/10]

I've zero intention of seeing The Road anytime soon, one of the better books I've read but it stayed with me for a long long time, I've no desire to put new images next to the ones stuck in my head.

Still stand by my assertion that Jimmy Cameron's Pocahontas in Space was terrible.

[Neish]

Just watched "Joyeux Noel" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424205. About the unoffical christmas truce between German, Scottish and French soldiers in 1914. Very good film and really enjoyed it. 8/10