Film 2013

[Norman Potting]

A quick "heads up" (wish I knew what that meant) that the Harry Hill Movie will be out on 20th December. I am sure from reading some of these threads and the types of film described that many of you will be eager to see the the wide collared medically qualified buffoon on the big screen. If you can't wait until the 20th here is a trailer:-

[video]http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a524447/the-harry-hill-movie-premieres-first-trailer-watch-video.html[/video]

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Captain Phillips
I really liked this. I didn't really know much about the true events it is based on, which probably heled, but it was also just generally very good. The tension was great, even just the boat pulling away from harbour at the beginning was intense and foreboding.

There were some flaws, such as the sense of drama that the navy captain who initially took control of rescue/negotiation attempts that was too much for a character we didn't know well enough, and a few moments where you wonder about the logic behind certain tactical decisions. But that really is just nitpicking. It was very good.

I also really liked something about the end but don't want to spoil it

The greatest 10 minutes of acting I have ever seen and I have already done a spoiler on it, not that it is.

 

[Austrian Gull]

I saw Liberace the other day - not sure if it's been released yet in the UK.

Amazing performance from Michael Douglas, some very funny lines, grim last part - on the whole, 7.2/10.

 

[Sergei's Celebration]

The greatest 10 minutes of acting I have ever seen and I have already done a spoiler on it, not that it is.

It was truly amazing.

 

[Acker79]

I saw Liberace the other day - not sure if it's been released yet in the UK.

Amazing performance from Michael Douglas, some very funny lines, grim last part - on the whole, 7.2/10.

It's now available on blu ray/dvd. It had a short theatrical release, too (was a TV movie in america).

 

[Austrian Gull]

It's now available on blu ray/dvd. It had a short theatrical release, too (was a TV movie in america).

Strange that a film about such a well-known celebrity in the UK gets a short release whereas it's got a proper big screen release here.

I've yet to meet an Austrian who's ever heard of Liberace the pianist!

 

[Djmiles]

First time I've posted on this thread, but I saw Captain Phillips the other evening. Fantastic film, and certainly the best film I've seen at the cinema since Skyfall. Plenty of suspense, and Tom Hanks, as usual, is brilliant.

Well worth a watch.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Strange that a film about such a well-known celebrity in the UK gets a short release whereas it's got a proper big screen release here.

I've yet to meet an Austrian who's ever heard of Liberace the pianist!

I went to see that in London. Twas a good film definitely. Behind the Candleabra. Steven Soderbergh has pledged to never make anything with the normal studios again as their wishes to standardise and have guaranteed big numbers invades his ability to create or be at all different. So this was through HBO.
If you saw Shame or Hunger by Steve McQueen, then when you see 12 Years a Slave, you'll witness that same studio influence that seems unshakeable in spite of all one's individual artistic clout. And perhaps you'll very very slightly despair, like i did, when the extraordinary is made just a little bit normal thanks to this businessmindedness of impact.

 

[Meade's Ball]

The Selfish Giant. A redoing of the Oscar Wilde fable, deep in the heart of struggling Bradford. It really is grim oop north for these 2 kids Arbor and Swifty who are clearly finding it hard to be accepted in school or by their families. They're a little like the warmly vast and the deviously minute characters of George and Lenny, but after being ejected from school go into the scrap metal market, scavenging and slyly robbing to help make ends meet. They're 13 or so and life hasn't fully started for them, but hardship has, and this tale throbs with the unrepentancy of chance never coming their way and of being with poverty under the level that permittance into society allows. Tough, playful on occasion, but thoroughly absorbing in amongst the grit, rain and squalour. A really good film.

 

[Acker79]

Thor: The Dark World
I thik I mostly agree with a couple of reviews I've seen. It has flaws (a bit messy to begin with, some conveniences, too much character stuff removed making Christopher Eccleston's bad guy a bit generic and forgettable), but overall is a strong addition to the Marvel movie universe, with some genuinely funny moments.

There are two additional scenes, one mid credits, one right at the end.

 

[shaolinpunk]

Thor: The Dark World
I thik I mostly agree with a couple of reviews I've seen. It has flaws (a bit messy to begin with, some conveniences, too much character stuff removed making Christopher Eccleston's bad guy a bit generic and forgettable), but overall is a strong addition to the Marvel movie universe, with some genuinely funny moments.

There are two additional scenes, one mid credits, one right at the end.

Question is, did you know what was going on in the mid-credits scene or where you just confused by it all?

 

[Acker79]

Question is, did you know what was going on in the mid-credits scene or where you just confused by it all?

Roughly. Because I'm familiar with the comics.

SPOILER - Analysis of end credits scene - Den of Geek

 

[shaolinpunk]

Roughly. Because I'm familiar with the comics.

SPOILER - Analysis of end credits scene - Den of Geek

I got the impression when leaving the cinema that a lot of people were confused, which made me feel a little bit smug. Personally, I can't wait for [film] and knew who [character] was - I'm loving how it all ties together across so many future films

 

[Meade's Ball]

When i look to buy in the dead near future, i'll very surely have CLOSEBY CINEMA as a must in the criteria list. Today i was off sick from work, but i knew that if i rested for the day then in the afternoon i could head off to my local screen just 200m or so away from. This granted me the right to see Philomena, a film i'd seen the trailer for and squirmed a little bit thanks to. Gladly, the trailer didn't give the film justice. As lightly and warmly comedic as it is in places, the tale itself is one of necessary mystery and heartbreak that has one swept along with it. Steve Coogan part-wrote it and produced it, so you can see where the humour in its process comes from, but also stars unextravagantly as unemployed and supposedly disgraced journalist Martin Sixsmith. He says from the start, in his first meeting with the offspring of Judi Dench, the films true powerhouse of a star, that from the brief synopsis of her mother's life and loss of a son thanks to the unforgiving acts of a nunnery that imprisoned her, that he doesn't really deal with sob stories. And when he says this he speaks for himself and Dench as actors and for a large chunk of the audience too. We're not mostly the sorts who go in for what's usually a tv one-off at best and more often a tv movie with actresses of a shockingly orange tanned gloss to them. This though, sweeps you along, as Coogan and Dench look for the latter's 50-year-lost son, their trip taking them to America as an odd couple, the idiosyncrasies of Dench's dipsy and mature Irish woman grating on Coogan's snooty and cynical journalistic character, and back again.
It was evenly-paced and funny in the right places, but shines brightly thanks mostly to Dench's startling and tearjerking performance. Her accent mightn't have been perfect in every place, but she's such a talent that it's hard not to forget who she is, a grandiose dame, in this story of when she's anything but. Moving, and a justified swipe at the Catholic church and it's horrible, punishing history. A true story too that deserves to be aired. Good stuff.

 

[Meade's Ball]

So i entered the world of Tom Hanks, a place i normally hate to step anywhere near, and did so with the aim to bury my pre-judgement of him and the sorts of films that decide to hire him. Captain Phillips. It had it's thrills and was a reasonably well-executed action thriller. Hanks acted ok, although his accent seemed to change a bit through the film. Paul Greengrass does his standard and now oft-seen shakey camerawork to suggest documentary footage shot by a man hiding in a barrel and terrified of his surroundings yet driven to record. The dialogue was sometimes poor and the characterisation of our Somali pirates was somewhat reminiscent of that of the "savages" Hollywood painted native Americans to be in the 1950s and before, but it was an action adventure and didn't seem to aim for any deep messages below the sort of tension you could get on a Jack Ryan thriller.
All in all, a fair old piece that gripped enough. I very much felt more watching http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2216240/?ref_=nv_sr_1 though.

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Saw Thor: The Dark World at the weekend in 2D

I thought it was a fine piece of work, and genuinely funny in places. There was a nice cameo of sorts from one of the other Avengers as well.

The Thor / Loki relationship is classic ying / yang and is the backbone of the film, which saldy does seem to sideline CE's bad guy.

Well worth the wait.

Not being that up to speed with the comic books, I was a little perplexed by the mid credits scene, but I too have read the Den of Geek stuff, and it does provide a way into the expanded universe and future films.

I'd give it 8.5/10

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Saw Thor: The Dark World at the weekend in 2D

I thought it was a fine piece of work, and genuinely funny in places. There was a nice cameo of sorts from one of the other Avengers as well.

The Thor / Loki relationship is classic ying / yang and is the backbone of the film, which saldy does seem to sideline CE's bad guy.

Well worth the wait.

Not being that up to speed with the comic books, I was a little perplexed by the mid credits scene, but I too have read the Den of Geek stuff, and it does provide a way into the expanded universe and future films.

I'd give it 8.5/10

Ths. See it in IMAX and its a 9 out of 10.

Gravity with the kids this weekend. IMAX 3D

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Ths. See it in IMAX and its a 9 out of 10.

Gravity with the kids this weekend. IMAX 3D

The Gravity trailer attached to Thor 2 was very impressive. That's 1 film I want to see in IMAX 3D.

 

[Acker79]

Ender's Game
I did not enjoy this at all. Asa Butterfield and Hailee Stanfield seem to have lost their early promise (I suspect poor direction played a major part, as Kingsley, Davis and Ford seemed to be goig throgh the motions. The passage of time was poorly shown, making characters seemingly change overnight in the way they may over the course of months. The final battle was anti-climactic (because of story decisions) and so much is made about our hero understanding his enemies, but we never really meet them. One of the worst films I've seen at the cinema this year.

 

[Acker79]

Gravity - 3D
When Alfonso Cuaron made Children of Men I missed it at the cinema, but because so many people were raving about how great it was, I bought the DVD. I wasn't that impressed with it, so hearing the buzz around Gravity, I was a little bit unsure of what to expect, part of me thinking it would disappoint.

Well, I didn't walk out feeling disappointed, but I'm not sure it blew me away either. It is rather good, but I'm not sure I'd say it was an instant classic as it seems to have been treated as so far. I think part of me is too cynical expecting every film to give the happy ending so my sense of 'oho, there's danger here' is met with more of an expectation of people getting out of the situation they're in so I don't always feel the tension of such scenes. Others in the cinema were talking about how tense they found it.

I really liked the score.