Film 2009

[Acker79]

Law Abiding Citizen
Decent action thriller, good performances, not too complicated, not too dumb. Don't know what else to say.

Nativity!
Started slowly, with Martin Freeman's character being a bit one-note. But it developed into something quite fun, with good music, and a lot of heart (perhaps overly sentimental, but it's a christmas film, they'r meant to be overly sentimental!)

 

[Meade's Ball]

I rememeber watching FF Coppola's The Conversation on a Sunday night on BBC2 when MOTD2 wasn't mirthlessly dominating the air. That must have been when i was 18 or so in the earlyish 90s, and i recall not feeling that taken by the film. I guess i didn't like its jazzy score and the occasional inaudibility of the dialogue, straining to hear. But then last night i watched it again and see it as a near-perfect film. Christ, what a beauty. All those things i saw as painstaking and asking me to work whilst watching were exactly what was so great. Alongside, of course, a conspiratorial plot for someone to perish thanks to the recording of conversations and new technology. Gene Hackman has never been bad, and in this he's pitch-perfect. They have him forever wearing the clothing of the anonymous, to keep unseen for a lifetime, and firmly closed off too; the tie tied tightly and an almost spectral mackintosh just about coating him in any weather, showing a vague outline of the man who plods solitudinally beneath when the sun shines blackly on him.
Makes me feel quite stupid to have not liked it that much in first place. If i had a Top 50 films list to bore people with it would lurk in there without question. f***ing brilliant.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Just back from seeing 2012 at the Marina.

It doesn't fill you with confidence when they warn you as you buy your ticket that there is something wrong with screen 6 because the whole film has got a wobble. Something wrong with the projector. You can have your money back if you can't stand it after 20 minutes. In fact such is the action in the film you don't notice it, but do yourself a favour and choose the Odeon if you have the choice.

As far as the film itself is concerned, I think the other reviews on here are pretty accurate. Too long and too silly, but impressive CGI and definately a film to see at the pictures on a big screen rather than waiting for the DVD (unless you have got a f*** off great flat screen and its securely bolted to your wall, in which case it could be a better option)

 

[keaton]

Big Sleep- Bogart and Bacall in one of the best Noir's; Superb cast, script and direction
9.5

Mega Shark v Giant Octopus - Utter shite, but enjoyable with it
6

A Serious Man - Coen Brothers' new piece, very depressing, very funny and very Jewish. The ending will piss off some, but it was a brilliant and very interesting film
9.2

 

[Guy Fawkes]

2012 - Typical Hollywood disaster movie nonsence where they just manage to escape death by the skin of their teeth every other scene. Good CGI effects and still enjoyable 6.5/10

Law Abiding Citizen - Enjoyable watch, recommend it - 8/10

Harry Brown - Reasonable film but not up to the hype. Good performance from Caine, the vigilanty action by Harry Brown it could have been escalated over a longer time frame in the film, building tension towards the conclusion 6.5 / 10

Paranormal activity - a bit of a let down but watchable, seen similar films before and this is pretty run of the mill. 5.5/10

 

[Acker79]

the box
Gah! Up until about 45mins in there's intrgiue, about 45mins in things start to happen that leave you thinking "There's no way this film can possibly make sense after this". And not in a mission impossible/total recall don't make sense kind of way. Not in a donnie darko time loop kind of way, but in a "We've got a motel, a nasa like hanger, and a house what story can we tell? Oh let's just start filming and see what happens" kind of don't make sense.

Cameron Diaz's accent was awful (kinda southern, but it seemed to flit between southern belle and cajun), it was dull and had few, if any redeeming features.

Twilight: New Moon
NOTHING HAPPENED! You get to the end of it and the only difference between this and the first is that now we know jacob is a werewolf, instead of it simply being heavily suggested. I think what these first two films have covered were covered in the first ten minutes of underworld

Every complaint about the first applies to this:
Cliche
Weak, weak, weak female as the heroine
Dull and uninteresting character that doesn't compensate for weak female.
Annoying music.
Annoying melodramatic
Annoyingly hackneyed.
Annoyingly annoying.

I needed the loo during it my friend told me that while I was gone jacob took off his shirt and the audience sighed loudly.

Why do people like this crap?!

 

[CHAPPERS]

Where The Wild Things Are - well good. The 'wild things' look really good and the story is light enough for the kids but with enough substance to have warrented a feature film made out of it. I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or owt but I did do a little cry during it. Really enjoyed it I did.

7.6/10

 

[Nibble]

Law Abiding Citizen...

Strange, nonsensical oddness. Even for a supposed no brainer thriller/action film this was dire. Some good actors involved. Except for Jamie Fox, who is a vastly overrated actor and never expect good things from so wasn't disappointed with his phone in, dogshit performance (mainly because that is what he normally does), all the actors are capable of far better things.

Remote control gun robots firing in the graveyard?!! Utter crap, not even watchable as a brainless actioner. Sort of twaddle you expect Vinnie Jones or Jason Statham to appear in.

SWERVE.

1.0

 

[herecomesaregular]

Law Abiding Citizen...

P.S for those thinking it's gonna be a really clever ending, he's tunneled into the prison and got out when he needs to, that's how he gets all his murders done from "inside" prison. It's shit.

not really the point of this thread to ruin films for others is it?

anyway, it was a pretty shit film i agree although still reasonably enjoyable in it's ridiculous "if he wants you dead, you're dead" way. 5/10

Serious Man was awful, worst film of the year for me. i really like a lot of the Coens bro films and make a point of always watching them as they are unusually refreshing. Raising Arizona was my favourite movie for years and No Country was brilliant. but S.M i found seriously dull. i think you have to be Jewish to get a lot of the in-jokes, so thanks for that. it never go going and it made The Most Serious Of Movie Errors... just boring. 3/10.

 

[Acker79]

Planet 51
Ok animation with some cute references to classic scifi films. There was a great idea here, but I'm not sure it was enough to carry a whole film.

Paranormal Activity
Up until the ouija bord scene I thought the film was bad. After that film I though it was silly. Neither of them were appealing characters, which made me have no sympathy for them.

A Christmas Carol 3D
I liked this. The animation varied from crappy to fantastic, but the film didn't hy away from the darker aspects of the story. It is my forth favourite version of the story (behind muppet christmas carol, scrooged, and the christmas carol episode of Quantum Leap).

 

[Acker79]

Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakual
Not great. The film itself was nothing original or particularly engaging, and there were no stand out music moments like the first film.

Where the Wild Things Are
If you ever wondered what an indie kids would be like, it's something like this.
It was quite low key, though had a few moments of greatness.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Avatar 3D: Abyss-mal!

Cameron and Sigourney should be ashamed, total cliched crud with some of the worst dialogue since the modern Star Wars. A waste of three hours. There's been some terrible films recently, hoping the new Lennon film will turn the tide.

 

[vegster]

Avatar 3D: Abyss-mal!

Cameron and Sigourney should be ashamed, total cliched crud with some of the worst dialogue since the modern Star Wars. A waste of three hours. There's been some terrible films recently, hoping the new Lennon film will turn the tide.

Oh, bitter ! I saw it friday and will post a more objective view in the next few days.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Where The Wild Things Are - well good. The 'wild things' look really good and the story is light enough for the kids but with enough substance to have warrented a feature film made out of it. I don't know if it was the lack of sleep or owt but I did do a little cry during it. Really enjoyed it I did.

7.6/10

It's a bit of a flimsy thing IMHO, really over-hyped. Just didn't hit the spot.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Oh, bitter ! I saw it friday and will post a more objective view in the next few days.

films (like music) are normally subjective, shirley

 

[Lokki 7]

Martyrs - Martyrs (2008)

Saw this French film on DVD recently on a whim. Had never heard of it and didn't really know what to expect although I had an idea that it would be a bit gorey. It starts as you would expect any French film to start, in the kitchen, a family eating and talking love life and politics like only the French can, then BANG! The 'horror' element of the film kicks in brutally. This continues for about an hour, brilliantly directed by Pascal Laugier. It is beautiful and horrific in eaqual measures but after an hour of it you are ready to slip the DVD back in the box and forget you ever saw it. I kept expecting it to end, but it didn't. What it did do was take a very disturbing and unexpected turn.

The film is really in two halves. The first is an elegantly shot but fairly standard violent horror fare. The second half.... well all I can say is be warned. I really couldn't turn it off but so wanted to. Truly shocking and disturbing. I have never seen a film like it. If you are of a nervous disposition, do not watch this film. If you are easily offended, do not watch this film. If you like Transformers 2, do not watch this film. However if you are a fan of foreign horror (I particularly like the Korean stuff) then this film is worth a look. It's the first film I've been moved to review on this thread so that says something in itself. If you do watch it (or have already seen it), please let me know what you think. It is not the sort of film you can give a number out of 10 to. It is a zero and a ten at the same time.

 

[CHAPPERS]

It's a bit of a flimsy thing IMHO, really over-hyped. Just didn't hit the spot.

Fair enough, I can see why you'd think that to be honest. I think opinions will differ becuse the book would have meant more to some people than others. Given I share my name with the child in the book, I was really into it.

 

[vegster]

Avatar
Well, where do you begin ? This film has an awesome sweep and it could be said to be a little over long. The thing is, sometimes, you don’t want a film like this to end !

Without ruining the film too much there are numerous nods to previous sci fi films, actioneers and genres. I picked up on touches of Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Aliens and it even seems a little Shrek-like in its early innocence.
Jake Scully is a paraplegic who is given a chance to join the Avatar programme , at short notice on the planet Pandora, when his brother is killed in a robbery. The Avatar programme is a “Hearts and Minds” operation wherein humans control test tube grown Pandorans who can be linked via a neural net. Jake becomes reborn when inhabiting his avatar and can live the life of a huntin’ shootin’ redneck as he learns the ways of Pandora and the Na’vi inhabitants.
The trouble is The Company, mining for a mineral unique to Pandora, has discovered the Na’vi people are living right on top of the equivalent of the Kimberly Diamond Mine. The Na’vi have the disarming form of being 10’ high super athletes with exceptional hand/eye coordination and a longbow which can frankly launch spears! So, we are set for an epic clash of cultures.

Its said that this film is a subtle critique of American expansionism and indeed, there are almost direct references to recent events such as “ Shock and Awe”. Avatar can be viewed as either a blockbuster or a veiled criticism of U.S. foreign policy.

Jake develops a deep conscience and finds himself caught between the factions with his loyalties deeply divided. I suppose looking at the film with an objective eye, there are some clichés and I know this story has been done before but, never before, with such an awesome sweep of visual images. Top advice is to try to remember to breathe for the last 20 minutes or so !


This film can’t be rated in mere numbers, I’d just have to say it’s like jumping from Vinyl to CD, Propeller to Jet engine, Harvey’s to Dark Star !

Awesome !

 

[herecomesaregular]

Avatar
Well, where do you begin ? This film has an awesome sweep and it could be said to be a little over long. The thing is, sometimes, you don’t want a film like this to end !

Without ruining the film too much there are numerous nods to previous sci fi films, actioneers and genres. I picked up on touches of Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Aliens and it even seems a little Shrek-like in its early innocence.
Jake Scully is a paraplegic who is given a chance to join the Avatar programme , at short notice on the planet Pandora, when his brother is killed in a robbery. The Avatar programme is a “Hearts and Minds” operation wherein humans control test tube grown Pandorans who can be linked via a neural net. Jake becomes reborn when inhabiting his avatar and can live the life of a huntin’ shootin’ redneck as he learns the ways of Pandora and the Na’vi inhabitants.
The trouble is The Company, mining for a mineral unique to Pandora, has discovered the Na’vi people are living right on top of the equivalent of the Kimberly Diamond Mine. The Na’vi have the disarming form of being 10’ high super athletes with exceptional hand/eye coordination and a longbow which can frankly launch spears! So, we are set for an epic clash of cultures.

Its said that this film is a subtle critique of American expansionism and indeed, there are almost direct references to recent events such as “ Shock and Awe”. Avatar can be viewed as either a blockbuster or a veiled criticism of U.S. foreign policy.

Jake develops a deep conscience and finds himself caught between the factions with his loyalties deeply divided. I suppose looking at the film with an objective eye, there are some clichés and I know this story has been done before but, never before, with such an awesome sweep of visual images. Top advice is to try to remember to breathe for the last 20 minutes or so !


This film can’t be rated in mere numbers, I’d just have to say it’s like jumping from Vinyl to CD, Propeller to Jet engine, Harvey’s to Dark Star !

Awesome !

the film is all flash and no substance and the flash is not up to much. no imagination in the creatures (a stegosauraus with a hammerhead shark head? a horse with four front legs? come on, try harder!). as for the plot, wholly predictable from beginning to end. it had a 12a rating and will only impress those under 12. to think that he made Aliens

however, if you liked the trailer (i was disappointed but then i have a cineworld pass so was happy to give it a try) you'll probably like the film.

also, as for "a subtle critique of American expansionism" - nothing subtle about it all, the point was made repeatedly.

 

[Nibble]

Inglourious Basterds.

Hmm. Not really sure what to make of this. Very sketchy in places with flashes of great writing and action here and there. Some scenes were just too long, building up the tension then letting it fizzle away to nothing as the scene goes on and on. The hype and trailers promised lots of Brad Pitt's Aldo Rain wreaking revenge and havoc on the Nazis. Apart from the odd scene there just isn't enough of what the film was sold on.
It advertises itself as one thing, presents itself as quite another and fails on both points.

May watch it again and judge then but for now I give it a poor to average 4.5