Film 2012

[Cheeky Monkey]

I can't believe what a short run Ill Manors got at the cinema down here - came in on a Wednesday and was gone the following Thursday - one weekend only! It just shows how contractually obligated these multiplexes (Odeon, Cineworld) are to put on bloody American rubbish all the time (unless it's something like The King's Speech). Sad state of affairs when British cinemas aren't doing anything to promote our own domestic industry and when dirge like Men in Black 3 or What to Expect When You're Expecting can run for weeks and weeks.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I can't believe what a short run Ill Manors got at the cinema down here - came in on a Wednesday and was gone the following Thursday - one weekend only! It just shows how contractually obligated these multiplexes (Odeon, Cineworld) are to put on bloody American rubbish all the time (unless it's something like The King's Speech). Sad state of affairs when British cinemas aren't doing anything to promote our own domestic industry and when dirge like Men in Black 3 or What to Expect When You're Expecting can run for weeks and weeks.

The problem with the British film industry is that it tends to be depressing, navel gazing, up it's arse, pretentious type films and why films like MIB 3 are successful and popular is that in these shit and austere times people just want to escape all that shit and have a couple of hours whooping and hollaring.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

The problem with the British film industry is that it tends to be depressing, navel gazing, up it's arse, pretentious type films and why films like MIB 3 are successful and popular is that in these shit and austere times people just want to escape all that shit and have a couple of hours whooping and hollaring.

There should be room for both Uncs. I may be wrong, but you seem to eschew European cinema as a whole (not just British film), whereas I have little time for the American 'disengage brain' genre and lean towards European and Latin American films.

 

[yuri]

the amzing spiderman is now showing right?

 

[Acker79]

the amzing spiderman is now showing right?

It starts on Tuesday 3rd July

 

[yuri]

It starts on Tuesday 3rd July

oh thank you

 

[Acker79]

Storage 24
This was a weird one. I felt like it was a bad film, and wouldn't recommend it, but still felt like I quite enjoyed it. The preposterous... erm... "weakness" of the alien was hilarious.

The Amazing Spider-Man
I really liked this. It wasn't perfect. It didn't have anything particularly original about it to justify the reboot so soon. It felt like they were going for a Batman Begins dark brooding realism, but the dark and brooding doesn't fit spider-man. For me, Spidey is lighter and more fun. There were sparks of quips here and there, but not enough, nor were they funny enough.

The acting was good, the look and feel was good. But the story was too dark and slow, and the film was a little long.

I didn't feel like I was missing much seeing it in 2D, the scenes that looked like they might benefit from 3D, looked a little too cartoonish, and potentially nauseating if watched in imax.

Definitely worth a watch, and I will probably watch it again, but not as good as batman begins or the Avengers.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

The Amazing Spider-Man
I didn't feel like I was missing much seeing it in 2D, the scenes that looked like the might benefit from 3D, looked a little too cartoonish, and potentially nauseating if watched in imax.

I'm seeing it at the iMax in London on saturday, so I shall let you know. Looks good to me, and I love the whole concept of Spiderman.

 

[Meade's Ball]

On Eastenders we'll normally find a character disappearing for about a year at least before they return in a completely new body, that of an actor they suddenly prefer after growing to hate the one before. It depends, however, on how embedded the look of a character is on our memories before they're brought back from the dead with facial surgery done but unmentioned. I can't imagine there being a new Phil Mitchell for about 15 years, and he'd have to return as a mummified version of himself, his face wrapped in bandages and his voice a rather easy to impersonate husky version of what it already is.
Spiderman, for me, is still Tobey Maguire, miniscule with a voice trapped half through puberty. I recall the pain he felt with the most broken of hearts at the death of his uncle, the motto of his ghost living for an eternity in its relevance to what we all deem as heroes, and the impossible love he'd feel with Mary Jane that should forever be but likely won't. Andrew Garfield, whilst a talented young man, has taken over before i've been allowed to forget, and all in the name of a franchise promised without depth or darkness. I'm aware of the general poorness of Spiderman 3, but that didn't mean it all had to begin again, in the hands of a teen-oriented director who'd bored me with 500 Days of Summer, just a few years later.
It had its momentary thrills, this playful ode to the original Spiderman comics in which were rather light-hearted, but it was largely a weak rehash of what was so recently observed and mentally recorded. The villain is feeble and his plots to ever be evil hatched without great reason. The heroism hit and miss and the narrative itself poorly weaved, making disbelief impossible to suspend, moreso thanks to this all being in the impressive wake of the recently deceased.
I emerged from 2 and a bit hours of unspectacularity with the wish that they'd tried something less directly formulaic. I'm sure Garfield is signed up for a trilogy, but this has the feel of some of Batmans that lost any power or weight by changing the men inhabiting the suit each time, and scraping the barrel desperately to find more ludicrous nemeses for a hero we barely recognise.
Not shit, but not a pleasure either. The not so Amazing Spiderman.

 

[Acker79]

Friends With Kids
This is the story of two friends who, after noting the change in their friends' marriages, decide to have a kid without the nuisance of a relationship. It didn't seem raucously funny to me, while it had the tone and feel of a regular romcom, the comedy wasn't particularly overbearing. Nothing particularly special, but decent enough to pass a couple of hours.

 

[Oscar]

Could anyone who's seen the new Spidey let me know if it's suitable for a nine-year-old? My son's been looking forward to it but I'm concerned it might be too long/dark/violent - even though it on every ad break on kids' TV.

 

[Nibble]

I watched melancholia and although it was quite an interesting idea I wanted to kill myself by the end.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Could anyone who's seen the new Spidey let me know if it's suitable for a nine-year-old? My son's been looking forward to it but I'm concerned it might be too long/dark/violent - even though it on every ad break on kids' TV.

It is perfect for a 9 year old, i felt. Unless he's a scoliodentosaurophobe.

 

[Acker79]

Could anyone who's seen the new Spidey let me know if it's suitable for a nine-year-old? My son's been looking forward to it but I'm concerned it might be too long/dark/violent - even though it on every ad break on kids' TV.

It is a little long, and not action packed for the full run time, so may get a bit boring. The lizard is quite monstrous and could be frightening for a 9 year old, depending on what he's like. Generally the violence isn't worse than most comic book action films (and a lot of it is spidey reacting and moving quickly so it can be a little difficult to see), though there is one moment that had the screening I saw wincing, when you saw the result of the lizard scratching across spidey's chest, but I don't think that was too bad.

 

[Acker79]

The Five-Year Engagement
I like Jason Segel, and he as his usual regular guy self. I really like Emily Blunt. She was her usual beautiful self. They seemed like a good couple, the film had plenty of laughs. It wasn't a constant stream of laughs, and there seemed to be an effort to make it a reality based romcom rather than a fantasy romcom where things are so story book, which was handled well enough. But I would say it was a little on the long side for the story they were telling, and while they made a good couple, it wasn't an amazing couple. Alison Brie's english accent seemed to stray a fair bit, especially when she had so many shot lines.

Overall it was a decent enough film, a good amount of laughs, likeable stars, but wasn't anything especially unique or original.


Killer Joe
Good film. A great dark performance from Matthew McConaughey. The film is quite slow paced at first, but towards the end becomes much more intense and rather extreme. There's an infamous chicken scene towards the end of the film that I found quite awkward and intense, but apparently has had people laughing at it. Some very uncomfortable moments, and also some quite funny moments, the highlight being a loose thread (literally, a thread in someone's jacket is the source of the film's biggest laugh).

 

[Meade's Ball]

Anyone tossed into the Australian wild immediately has the endless weighty murmur of a didgeridoo rumbling through their every thought and circumstance. They're in the mystical land in which humans have yet to tamper hugely or map the every inch of, and it's overwhelming, it seems. In The Hunter, Willem Dafoe is the man partly possessed by his uncannily beautiful surroundings, some so perfect it seems that God was a most decent set designer. He's been sent to capture the last living Tasmanian Devil in the mountains of a similar name, in spite of the likely fact they've been classed as extinct for 70 years or more. His mission is clear, but is potentially interrupted by those he shares a cabin with at the foot of the hills: a mother trapped in sleep and a son and daughter asking Dafoe to keep an eye out for their father who's not returned from a similar task a year or so ago. Will he find the devilish dingo and what the bloody hell is going on around here?
I'd say, in a world without a decent film at the cinema for an age, it's just about worth finding out. Dafoe has a face of innumerous contours, emotions hidden in each weathered fold. He's fascinating to watch. The film itself is ok. Nothing super-special, but intriguing enough to have one wonder all through, and when humans are near deleted from the stage, we're left with stunning chunks of nature for the camera to drift over eerily.
I'd give it a 6 out of something.

 

[Acker79]

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World
So much of this film relies on Steve Carell and/or Keira Knightley, your enjoyment of it will mostly come down to how you feel about them. The world is about to end, and Steve Carell meets neighbour Keira Knightly and after an initial getting to know each other and forced into moving by a riot she agrees to take him to the girl that got away, and he promises to put take her to a man he knew who had a plane so that she could be with her family at the end, and the film follows them on their road trip as they get to know each other, and themselves better.

It sounded like Carell's character said he is 35 (Carell is almost 50), Keira's character is 28 (she is 27) so the romantic part of their friendship was a little awkward, that can be a little off-putting, but they had decent chemistry as friends, and I found them likeable (if you don't, if they are the sort of people you dislike for no reason, you may not enjoy the film).

Still, if you like the enough, it's a good film.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift
The continents are splitting leading to the ice breaking, an this time, Manny, Sid and Diego are washed away on one block of ice and drift out to sea, and have to get back to land to their herd. The formula is getting a little tired. New caracters seem to travel paths already explored with the series (there's only so many times this franchise can tell the story of an outcast coming to love being part of an odd family) the established characters are going no where really. There's an occasional laugh, but generally this would be better served as a straight to dvd film than a cinematic release.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Magic f***ing Mike. And the f***ing is in there deliberately, this film being about manslags and their lust for flange and cash. A former stripper produces a film about strippers and the main stripper, played by himself, is the world's most beautiful man in the eyes of cheap women, but has almost found a new layer to his character and may not want to just strip forever. Wait a minute! A young guy needs to be taught the trade of pulling his cowboy chaps off to reveal an elephantine penis to dangle in front of female eyes. There's only one man who can really pull this off, and i don't mean the penis just mentioned - although he would if he was paid more than $50 to do it. Oh the thrills of it all.
I went to see it thanks to my manager, a lady, insisting that i choose that over a 50's Japanese emotional relationship drama that was my other option. And also because a colleague, male, then said he'd have less respect for me if i went to it. I was a fool. But then so were both of them too. Soderbergh, a directly i have no trust in, produces another emotionless piece of not very exciting tripe. Channing Tatum can certainly shake his booty, but for chunks of this drab Cocktail-style cock-opera he's talking out of his arse, and it only seems to have about 7 words in its dictionary alongside a lot of heavy breathing. It tended to have more character than his face though, so well-played to it. Matthew McConnaughy was oddly believable as the leader of the Cock-rockers, but still laughable in his performance, ideally deliberately.
Next time, i'll listen to the tiny bit of intellect inside me to decide where i'm to go of an evening.

 

[Brightonfan1983]

Magic f***ing Mike. And the f***ing is in there deliberately, this film being about manslags and their lust for flange and cash. A former stripper produces a film about strippers and the main stripper, played by himself, is the world's most beautiful man in the eyes of cheap women, but has almost found a new layer to his character and may not want to just strip forever. Wait a minute! A young guy needs to be taught the trade of pulling his cowboy chaps off to reveal an elephantine penis to dangle in front of female eyes. There's only one man who can really pull this off, and i don't mean the penis just mentioned - although he would if he was paid more than $50 to do it. Oh the thrills of it all.
I went to see it thanks to my manager, a lady, insisting that i choose that over a 50's Japanese emotional relationship drama that was my other option. And also because a colleague, male, then said he'd have less respect for me if i went to it. I was a fool. But then so were both of them too. Soderbergh, a directly i have no trust in, produces another emotionless piece of not very exciting tripe. Channing Tatum can certainly shake his booty, but for chunks of this drab Cocktail-style cock-opera he's talking out of his arse, and it only seems to have about 7 words in its dictionary alongside a lot of heavy breathing. It tended to have more character than his face though, so well-played to it. Matthew McConnaughy was oddly believable as the leader of the Cock-rockers, but still laughable in his performance, ideally deliberately.
Next time, i'll listen to the tiny bit of intellect inside me to decide where i'm to go of an evening.

Ha ha brilliant review!!

 

[Acker79]

The Dark Knight
Ok, let’s start off with the obvious, no joker, no big joker like villain, tom hardy was good as bane, but the character is not colourful enough to allow for a ledger like memorable performance. Anne Hathaway as Catwoman/selina kyle wasn’t as believably seductive as past catwomen, but was decent enough.

The film itself is very good. It continues in the same quality o the previous films, and while some things happen or are mentioned I thought “That’s going to be important in the end”, but come the end, I had pretty much forgotten them until they were just about to happen and then I realised.

I don’t think I was blown away by the bulk of the film as it was happening, but it drew together both the previous films, and used that to build well to what I thought was a strong ending.

I was a little disappointed by the design of the batcave. With the re-imaginings of the batmobile and the bat plane/copter I was looking forward to the new batcave, but it was very minimalist.

I would say it was a better film than avengers, but ‘the avengers’ was more fun.