Films

Looking back through the list of past oscar winners, i was suprised at how good a list iit was. There are a couple of shockers (racist gibson's braveheart and titanic) but its certainly not a list of happy ending action brainless films

And if we are talking implausible all action, what better example than the (overrated) Prophet? :)
 
Saw The Social Network last night, and rather enjoyed it. Struggled with the dialogue [what I heard was very funny], because the soundtrack is rather overpowering albeit very good [Trent Reznor] and they talk very fast. One's hearing doesn't cope with such things with age. May find it easier to follow on dvd, and actually can't wait to see it again. Enjoyed it far more than Black Swan. Soundtrack should win the Oscar imo.
 
clivex said:
Looking back through the list of past oscar winners, i was suprised at how good a list iit was. There are a couple of shockers (racist gibson's braveheart and titanic) but its certainly not a list of happy ending action brainless films

And if we are talking implausible all action, what better example than the (overrated) Prophet? :)
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Wouldn't argue A Prophet is overrated but still a good film in parts, albeit not as a whole. Watch The beat that my heart skipped from the same Director if you want to see a really, really great film, and a performance that is miles superior to any if those that won an Oscar fir best actor in the last 10 years..
 
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Read My Lips is even better than A Beat That My Heart Skipped. Two great films, neither a patch on A Prophet though. For me it is a baffling underrated film. The best gangster film since the Godfather, possibly even approaching the rarefied heights of Rififi or even Le Cercle Rouge.
 
Since the Godfather? Not a patch on Goodfellas or Casino IMO. Thats just two

Too little real character development. Difficult to empaphise. Unbelievable sequences (which almost made me laugh) and silly fantasy scenes. It was certainly a good film but barely stayed in the memory, which is always a good indicator
 
Would have Casino ever so slightly above Goodfellas and both I prefered to the godfather. Casino is Scorceses best I often feel. As it happens, the oscar laden Departed arguably one of his worst.

Read my lips is another fine film but prefer beat etc. if there is one criticism of whatsinames films it is that the characters and performances are just a bit samey in so far as they all seem a little po faced. Minor quibble maybe
 
Black Swan is a fine film with a riveting last half hour. Never quite knew how it wasgoing to develop, which is how i like it. Superbly directed.Wont see many better this year
 
Just seen The King's Speech, and I wasn't disappointed.I like a film that makes me laugh and cry in equal measures, although [spoiler alert] using Beethoven's 7th is cheating imo because that always makes me cry [think Zardoz...]. Guy Pearce has come a long way since Neighbours, hasn't he!
 
Saw the King's Speech tonight and thought it was good but that was it. Preferred both 127 Hours and Black Swan personally.
 
Recently seen:

Inception - Pretty awesome. Great plot, challenging, a superb director and Marion Cottilard. Doesn't get much better than that.

Woyzeck - Painfully boring. I actually fast forwarded through some scenes. Aguirre this was not.

Got a boxset of the Sherlock Holmes films where Basil Rathbone plays the great detective. Saw them all years ago but it was nice to wind the clock back. The War propaganda one was awful though.
 
Yeah, Inception was challenging all right - in staying awake. Far too much reliance on CGIs for me, and pretentious, oui?
 
Three films on release this weekend, all of which I am looking forward to seeing.

True Grit - cos it is made by my favourite film makers
Never Let Me Go - cos it was one of the best books I have read
Paul - cos Pegg and Frost crack me up
 
Just watched The Quiet Man on the telly; wanted to see this for years. When we used to venture forth to the west of Ireland I saw posters of it in Dingle; didn't realise it was quite so long; @2 1/2 hours [thought films were really short in those days], but it was great fun. John Wayne spent a lot of time galloping around on a Midnight Chase lookalike, and even Lassie seemed to make a guest appearance at the beginning. Not a film for womens' libbers; made at a time when men were men and women were doormats. I was named [like most of us in those days] after Maureen O'Hara who, I believe, still lives in the deep south of Ireland and is revered in the way that Brigitte Bardot is in France [although is probably less wrinkly due to the lack of uv rays in the vicinity].
 
..Hadn't heard of 'Paul'; missed Hot Fuzz the other night, but think someone in the family has the dvd....by the way, Spaced is being shown on Sunday nights on More4; one of my favourite ever sitcoms; Simon Pegg is a national treasure imo. My cinema is having an informal discussion group about Never Let Me Go later in the month, so will try to get to that after I've seen the film. May try to read the book beforehand, or perhaps I'd enjoy the film more if I didn't; adaptations generally being a disappointment?
 
krizon said:
Yeah, Inception was challenging all right - in staying awake. Far too much reliance on CGIs for me, and pretentious, oui?
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The character's were sleeping when the CGI's were used so for me it wasn't an issue. And they weren't as heavy handed as in The Matrix for example, and that film was made in 1999.
 
Oh, Moehat, no, no, noooooo... ! I think Simon Pegg is a total waste of celluloid (if film is still printed on that?)! That zombie thingy he did - I wasted 20 minutes on it. Was it supposed to look like a very bad high school attempt at making a zombie movie? With amateurish everything? If it did, then it was a huge success. So not funny, so not scary, so OTT with the Kensington Gore, I thought he must have shares in the company.
 
...I admit it's a bit juvenile! At least it's a zombie film that I can actually watch [I get really scared by films like that].
 
I don't mind juvenile - I think my intellect's regressed to Toy Story for film, and Waybuloo on tv - but I couldn't find any fun in it, or any real horror. What would you say scared you the worst? For me, post-Psycho: I sat on the damn plug-end of the bath for months after that, very painfully too, because the back of the bath was nearest to the door, and God knows what would come through... I probably held the world record for speed-bathing after that screamer!
 
I couldn't go into the garden after dark once I'd seen The Omega Man; I was ok in streets and places, it was just the garden. The Orphanage; couldn't go into the loft after dark. Stayed at a remote famhouse in Wales soon after seeing The Exorcist. My then husband went off visiting friends until the early hours, and soon after he'd gone there was a tapping noise on one of the upstairs windows. I ended up sleeping in the living room with the dog [we were there to dog sit for a friend]. I'm still a wreck when the film is on the telly; even though it's switched off I'm scared. Once left the telly on in the kitchen when it was on and was scared to go into the room to turn it off.
 
Post-Psycho the best Horror films I've seen have been Jap ones. Ringu (or the American remake), The Grudge and Dark Water (but not the American remakes for the last two).
 
Is Ringu aka The Ring, Euro? I did try staying awake for that, but it was so late, even for me and my owl-like tendencies, that I snored off. It looked pretty creepy and well made, so I wouldn't mind trying again at a slightly more congenial hour.

Moehat: back in 1963 or 64, my mother and I were staying with two Cockney ladies who'd bought a rather remote cottage in North Devon. We went into Plymouth to see The Birds, which impressed us all. By the time we got back to the cottage it was dusk and Muriel, the older of the two, went out to the shed to haul in coal for the sitting-room fire. I was interested in the wildlife around the place, and had gone out to make owl calls (yes, I know - I also did bat calls!). There was a shout near me of "OMIGAWDDD!" and Mother and Muriel's friend were amazed to see her come crashing through the scullery door, minus the coal scuttle, yelling, "Gawdawmighty! There are bloody owls out there! We never have owls! You'll have to get the bloody coal yourselves!"
 
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Brighton Rock seems to be getting rather poor reviews. Some critics won't have it any other way but Dickie Attenborough's, others say the performances aren't balanced and the tone is very uneven.

The Fighter, with Mark Wahlberg as the eponymous fighter, is getting warmish reviews, but not as warm as the film it's being compared to: The Wrestler. Critics seem to feel that Wahlberg puts in a very good, understated performance, while others rather chew the scenery.
 
It's not Wahlberg's performance ( much as I like him as an actor) but Bale's which lifts THE FIGHTER into Oscar reckoning. Almost too good.
 
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