Looper. I'm a bit behind the curve on this one, so I decided to watch it the other night. First half was brilliant and I genuinely thought I was watching one of the best movies I've ever seen for about an hour. There's a brilliant scene near the beginning where, in order to kill a man from the future, a criminal organization hooks a younger version up to IVs and surgically dismembers him, limb by limb, starting with his fingers. Every time the young man loses a body part, it also disappears from his future self. After about an hour, though, the movie got really bogged down and wasn't nearly as strong in the second half. Still probably a strong 7 because the acting is (generally) fantastic, there's some great action and the depiction of the story's sci-fi elements is quite visually appealing. If you can get over a few silly plot holes and a movie that starts stronger than it ends, I'd recommend it. 

I finally watched the 2010 documentary about Ayrton Senna. I've never been interested in F1 racing, but it was a pretty decent documentary. Not as good as the reviews led me to believe, but a pretty solid documentary none the less. I'm sure fans of F1 would enjoy it.

I finally watched the 2010 documentary about Ayrton Senna. I've never been interested in F1 racing, but it was a pretty decent documentary. Not as good as the reviews led me to believe, but a pretty solid documentary none the less. I'm sure fans of F1 would enjoy it.

 

I don't usually watch many documentaries but I loved this. I didn't develop an interest in F1 until my mid-teens and by then Senna had been dead a couple of years. I was aware of how highly regarded he was (and still is, and probably always will be) by other drivers but it wasn't until I watched Senna that I really understood why. This was the kind of super-humanly talented, charismatic and controversial figure that comes along once in a generation. Also, seeing how important he was to the people of Brazil at a time when the country was crawling out from under the boot of a long-standing military regime was something of an eye-opener.

 

The guy is a legend in his sport and I don't think the people behind the documentary were ever looking to dispute that, so it didn't surprise me that it's not very impartial (especially with regards to his various run-ins with Prost where Prost invariably ends up looking like the bad guy - he often was but Senna was no angel either). I agree that as a documentary it has some flaws, but as a tribute to Senna it pretty much nails it.

...various run-ins with Prost where Prost invariably ends up looking like the bad guy - he often was but Senna was no angel either...

I thought the rivalry was the most interesting part of the "plot". We saw how he was in and around the F1 circus, but I don't think the movie revealed all that much about Senna as a person. Then again, it was a movie about Senna the driver.

I suppose this one is the most appropriate place for this:

The place where Shed End movie fans might see it.

Against all my better instincts I agreed to go with a friend to see this film today. What a load of crap!

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241691/

Against all my better instincts I agreed to go with a friend to see this film today. What a load of crap!

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241691/

Doesn't sound very interesting. Why did you choose that one? Is it popular over there or have the reviews been favourable?

Doesn't sound very interesting. Why did you choose that one? Is it popular over there or have the reviews been favourable?

 

 

No, I didn't choose it at all.  I told my friend she could choose what we went to see - and that's what she chose!

Rather belatedly, just seen Lincoln - what an awful, tedious, self-indulgent, boring film!  Now, I like all types of films from serious, to light, musical, thriller, etc but this was just awful.  It consisted of two hours of talking, with no real explanation of the characters involved, a long voting scene - but as the characters hadn't been properly explored, the tension was lost as you didn't really know why they were voting against expectation - if indeed you could work out what the expectation was!  Maybe if I'd understood more about American politics I would've appreciated it more.  But I'm not stupid and my friend is a history teacher and found it hard going too.  

 

Came out feeling thoroughly pissed off - couldn't leave as I'd travelled with friends and I was in the middle of a row and, ever the optimist, I a ways expect things to get better.  

 

Seeing Life of Pi next week -  am expecting much better!

Se7en. Films like that are always a good watch

Saw Side Effects last night.

 

Brilliant film, very clever and gripping throughout. Rooney Mara and Jude Law in particular were very impressive. Kept you guessing right to the end.

Want to see this - am waiting to see if they're going to show it at my local independent - we have a cineworld as well but I can't remember the last time I went there.  After all, the independent serve Shiraz and local beer, cineworld serve popcorn and such - no brainer.  And at the local independent, I am one of the "young ones" - not often I can say that.

Our local cinema in Penrith shows alternative films on Sunday afternoon - seen some good ones in last 12 months .

 

The Guard with Brendan Gleeson as the local cop on west coast of Ireland - pretty funny

The Hunt - Danish film about nursery school teacher wrongly accused of abusing pupil - very haunting

What Richard Did - slow moving Irish film about well off lads about to go off to Uni when all goes bad in big way at party

The Raid - Indonesian martial arts - not usually my thing but very well done - pretty brutal.

 

Just ordered Cool Hand Luke and The Natural from amazon

Our local cinema in Penrith shows alternative films on Sunday afternoon - seen some good ones in last 12 months .

 

The Guard with Brendan Gleeson as the local cop on west coast of Ireland - pretty funny

The Hunt - Danish film about nursery school teacher wrongly accused of abusing pupil - very haunting

What Richard Did - slow moving Irish film about well off lads about to go off to Uni when all goes bad in big way at party

The Raid - Indonesian martial arts - not usually my thing but very well done - pretty brutal.

 

Just ordered Cool Hand Luke and The Natural from amazon

 

I really enjoyed The Guard and The Raid, I wasn't lucky enough to see them on the big screen though as we only have multiplexes around here.

 

Speaking of multiplexes, I was at the local one to watch Danny Boyle's new film Trance yesterday and thought it was very good. The story involves an art robbery and the subsequent amnesia-induced misplacement of the £20 million painting, which the robbers resort to hypnosis in an attempt to locate.

 

The closest film I can think of to compare it to is Inception with its blurring of the lines between the mental and real landscapes, but apart from that it's a very different sort of film. It has a exciting twisty-turny plot that doesn't reveal its hand until the very end, good performances by the main actors (Vincent Cassel, Rosario Dawson, and especially James McAvoy), and is beautifully directed by Boyle. Something that stood out for me that I wouldn't usually notice is the lighting; every scene is beautifully lit whether it's the rich sunlight seeping through the window of the clinic's window, or the different coloured lights illuminated the characters' faces as they drive through London at night.

 

You also get to see Rosario Dawson's front-bottom (which is actually crucial to the plot), and for that reason alone it's worth the price of admission.

Here comes the boom...thought it would be the usual unfunny American comedy sh*t but it was not bad actually...bas rutten LOL

Our local cinema in Penrith shows alternative films on Sunday afternoon - seen some good ones in last 12 months .

 

The Guard with Brendan Gleeson as the local cop on west coast of Ireland - pretty funny

The Hunt - Danish film about nursery school teacher wrongly accused of abusing pupil - very haunting

What Richard Did - slow moving Irish film about well off lads about to go off to Uni when all goes bad in big way at party

The Raid - Indonesian martial arts - not usually my thing but very well done - pretty brutal.

 

Just ordered Cool Hand Luke and The Natural from amazon

 

Loved The Guard. Gleeson, Cunningham and Strong are fantastic - some of my favorite actors. 

 

The Raid was alright. Was highly let down by the lack of brutality, actually. The fight choreography was pretty good, but I expected more from the trailers and word of mouth.

 

Haven't seen the other two.

Bit late to the party on this one seen a few have posted, finally got round to watching Argo over the holiday weekend. thought it was excellent. At first I thought "here we go another Oscar winning flag waver" but by the end I just wanted them to get out I was gripped, not many films have got me like that :-)

 

Thought what made it and was credit to Ben Affleck as director was the hatred/anger in the various Iranians faces. Very powerful.

Last movie I watched was Stan Kubricks ''Eyes wide shut'' not a new movie but an absolute classic

I saw "Wadjda" last week and yesterday  "Dans la maison"

I saw "Wadjda" last week and yesterday  "Dans la maison"

 

Dans La Maison took me completely by surprise, I wasn't expecting much but I thought it was really good

I've finally reached the end of Brideshead, part 11, now I must watch the whole thing in one go as opposed to bit by bit after reading the chapter of the book concerned beforehand.

 

Funnily enough, one of the footmen is the spitting image of Branislav Ivanovic.

 

L:aurence Olivier's performance was, predictably, impeccable.

 

edit: Why on earth is La(u)rence censored to Loz?

Edited April 2, 201313 yr by Lofty 1905

Why on earth is La(u)rence censored to Loz?

Because of Loz, obviously!

Yes yes, I know that, but why, precisely?

Just watched a Finnish documentary about Jari Litmanen.

 

Style-wise it's a fairly traditional career spanning documentary, but they did seem have had access to a lot of archive material and interviews from many players that he'd played with. For some reason Gerrard had been interviewed, but they did have some top players like Xavi and Bergkamp as well.

This evening I watched the second Matrix film and the Sixth Sense....

 

Knowing the ending does somewhat spoil it lol...when you know the result, it's impossible to miss all the signs.

...the second Matrix film...

I've seen just the first one as I've heard the sequels are just about the worst movies ever made(I doubt they actually are, but that's the impression I get when my mates have talked about them). I thought the first one was just about worth watching once, but nothing special.