Films

krizon said:
Paid for RED on tv last night. With a cast of Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Brian Cox and Helen Mirren, I expected something fairly good. Well, even very good. What a waste of talent. I can hardly remember the silly plot - something about the CIA trying to assassinate them all because of info they had - but really, even for a daft 'action' film, there ought to be a reason how they find huge weapons stashed everywhere, and how they all miraculously appear out of thin air, even when previously left for dead, to rescue each other. It ends happily ever after for all of them, in case you were wondering. Which I doubt you were.
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THANKYOU for saying that - I was considering it,then had to go back to work - now I wont bother and save the money !!!

moehat said:
Brighton Rock; dire..last 2 minutes were good but not worth sitting through the rest of the film for. Imagine the original is quite good; why bother to make another. Uncle Boonmee was better, and I never thought I'd ever say that about a film.
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The original is out on DVD this week apparently - and its meant to be WAY superior to the remake...

Just to bring the thread down to my level - I went to see Gnomeo and Juliet last week - it was very good and very funny,though its one of those films that you dont see all the little things in first time round !!!
 
Sometimes I like to see a rubbish film a la Brighton Rock, because I then realise how good the good films are. Don't know much about the Danish film that won best foreign language film, but, if it beat Biutiful and Of Gods and Men it must be pretty good.
 
Hoping to see Submarine this week before I go away, had rave reviews everywhere, love Ayoade's other work and has an excellent soundtrack.
 
Enjoyed Submarine, although probably didn't find it any better than a good episode of something like Skins. Adrian Mole meets the Curious Incident sort of film with perhaps a bit of Gavin and Stacey thrown in [but not so funny]. Very embryonic work by a director going places..was very impressive visually. Thanks for pointing it out to me, because it's one that I would have missed.
 
Just finished having a serious bawl after Waltz with Bashir, shown on More4 tonight. Two straight hours of award-winning docu-animation in the channel's True Stories strand, the story is of the film-maker Ari Folman's haunting by his combat experiences during the first Lebanese war of 1982, when the Lebanese Christian Phalangists were supported heavily by the Israeli army. Folman, in his own voice and those of other animated ex-comrades and friends, presents their collective memories in a bid for redemption. In Hebrew and German with excellent English subtitling, it's a harrowing film which explores the issues of memory (both real, imagined, and suppressed), and guilt collective and individual.

The only non-animated frames right at the end are the raison d'etre for the film: camera footage of the massacred Palestinians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila - it's also the moment when Folman's suppressed memory suddenly focusses and the film ends.

It's a film made all the more remarkable because it is by an Israeli and made through the Israeli film corporation. It's worth Googling 'Bashir Gemayel' to see what sparked the slaughter (his assassination by a Syrian agent just after assuming presidency of Lebanon). The film implies that while the top brass in the Israeli military and government was aware and nonchalant about a brutal retribution, its grunts on the ground were seemingly not, and many, like Folman, were badly affected by what they came to see as their participation in a Nazi-like obedience to orders while innocents - mainly old men and women and children - were loaded into trucks to be shot down in the local football stadium, while unarmed young men were machine-gunned in their homes and alleys. For Folman, the parallel proved too grotesque, especially as so many of his battalion had lost grandparents to Auschwitz and other death camps, and here was the Israeli Army, of all militias, actively assisting in a similar 'purge'. Very powerful.
 
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Archipelago is outstanding. One of those quite but gripping dramas that we do not see enough of. Also very darkly funny but sympathetic too. The setting of the scilly isles is a excellet backdrop too

Could go on but i wouldnt be surprised if this ends up as my film of the year
 
Clivex's review of 'Archipelago' is outstanding. The setting of "Tit on Internet" provides an excellent backdrop.

I could go on, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up my favourite film review of the year. :cool:
 
I saw Submarine last week. It is saying something when the weakest component of a film is Paddy Considine.
 
Armadillo is as good a documentary on war and soldiering as you cope hope to see. Superbly produced and absolutely gripping. It avoids making judgements and what really struck me is how strong the camaradarie is within these military groups and also the superb man management

A must see
 
Saw Oranges and Sunshine last night. About the children [130,000 of them] that were sent to Australia [also South Africa, Canada and New Zealand] from childrens homes to have a 'better life'. Many were treated as slaves, raped and abused. This went on until the late 1960's. Based on a book called 'Empty Cradles'. A social worker from Nottingham has devoted her life to helping these people trace their families. Strangely enough, got talking to someone today who worked in a childrens home and can remember children being sent away to other countries; she said she can still picture them wallking away to their 'new life'. On a lighter note, seeing 'Round Ireland with a Fridge' next month. That should be fun! And 'Cave of Forgotten Dreams'. In 3D, but without the 3D.
 
Saw Little White lies today. Bit like the old Thirtysomething series but set in France. It has its moments (and one sequence is special) and is engaging enough but thats it really.

Dreadful soundtrack too
 
I saw Essential Killing and Scream 4 last night. Pretty different. The first was a bit of a non-event for me, nice idea, Gallo excellent but I don't think the director managed to say what he really wanted. The second was a good laugh, especially as we made an effort to watch the first three films back to back the day before so all of the in-jokes and back-references were fresh in my mind.
 
Looking forward to seeing Meeks Cutoff, although hope it doesn't turn into a fictionalised version of Ric Burn's 'The Donner Party'. From not having much that I want to see recently I think I'll be living at the cinema over the next few weeks. Showing a series of Wim Wenders films as well to coincide witht the release of Pina.
 
Meeks Cutoff was dire, but saw Adele Blanc-Sec and loved it; described as Amelie meets Indiana Jones. Going to see Water for Elephants because I love elephants and I'm getting tired of social realism type films [although I watched Fish Tank the other night and enjoyed it...if enjoyed is the right word].
 
betsmate said:
That looks really good. Slipped under my radar from the Toronto round-up.

Have you seen the Cannes line-up, looks pretty special? I really can't wait for the new Dardenne brothers film.
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Apologies, never saw this. What has taken your eye?
 
Mrs Grass read the book, moehat, and said she was it was harrowing or depressing (I can't recall - I wasnt really paying attention).

On that basis, my guess is Pixar probably aren't producing it.
 
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