Film 2011

[Meade's Ball]

I have a few days off work so plan at least 2 films a day. Black Swan to re-see a bit later, but first up i dragged myself 9 miles by bike to John Carpenter's The Ward. I'm a fan of Halloween and The Thing and even the Prince of Darkness (a besuited man turning to maggots and the homeless starting to swarm demonically around a building that hosts the essence of the devil come to mind), so i thought: you never know, Carpenter might have come out of partial retirement with a well-put-together and bloody horror-thriller. Well, he hasn't. Much of it is senseless and lacks the adventure, both camp and straight-laced, that has touched his previous work.
It's all about a girl going into an asylum and other girls in that asylum, on the much unwatched and untreated ward, going missing. Not very violent and no seeds planted throughout to have any twist unexpected or cared about.

I think it says something when it takes someone's reputation to be thrown into the title in order for anyone to go and see it. The Ward, on its own without a mention of its director may have been a little less attractive a viewing, but would have been less a disappointment in the hands of someone with no history to sully.

Roll on Black Swan today and Neds and The Fighter tomorrow.

 

[Easy 10]

I think John Carpenter is VERY hit and miss. For every Halloween there is a Vampires. For every Escape from New York there is a Ghosts of Mars. Anything that is entitled "John Carpenters The xxxxx" deserves to be treated with caution, I'd have taken an awful lot of persuading to embark on a 9 mile bike ride to see a John Carpenter film.

I'd probably have considered it if it was on a tandem with your goodself though MB. I'm sure we could amuse ourselves on the journy there with light musings and jocular observations of our favourite prosthetic creatures and stop-motion animation sequences from obscure 80's horror films. I may not fully pull my weight on the peddling stakes, but I would endeavour to be a jovial companian.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

The King's Speech - nothing to add to other comments other than I'm not sure I liked it as much as everyone else on here. Was good - very good. But 7.5/10 for me.

Has anyone seen Morning Glory? Utter cack or passable evening out?

 

[Meade's Ball]

It's been a busy couple of days at the cinema, so i've decided to take today off work and outdoor excursions, and just stay in and work films here instead.
Yesterday was something of a bonanza though. I had much time to kill betwixt a visit to a neurophysiotherapist and an early screening of The Fighter at 7pm. 6 hours, that meant, hanging around in London centre. Checking the guides i was told that could get from Conviction to NEDs and then have a 45 minute recovery spell before The Fighter.
So Conviction was first. I'd groaned having read of it and couldn't see it really going anywhere beyond a Channel 5 afternoon film but with a higher-calibre acting level. And it was pretty much that. The story was of course of Hilary (S)wank going through law-school in order to prove her much-loved brother's innocence for a murder he's been convicted of. I suppose the story had a little heart to it and Sam Rockwell is always cheekily watchable, but the film is so averagely conducted that i was mostly unmoved throughout. They very briefly highlight the victims of this travesty of justice, from the sister putting all her efforts in to the woman barbarically murdered in the first place, but they obviously try and throw 16 years into around 100 minutes so the horror of the moments of truth in the tale aren't really peered into. I'd give it a Channel 5 out of 10.

Then NEDs. C*nt is said about a thousand times in this film of 70s Glasgow and the virulent gang culture that one boy can't help but find himself in. It's laid out as a coming-of-age drama, but is bloodily ad foul-mouthily told. A very clever lad around 16 years old with a brother leading the Car-Ds gets pulled in by that sibling association. I don't think it's the sort of film where you leave and say BY JINGO I LOVED IT. It was rough to watch, but keenly assembled and suitably yellowed and grainy in look like most photos of that time seem. I'd give it a 7, which could have been an 8 if it had subtitles. Peter Mullan, the director, made it from memories of his own youth. Glasgow, i learn, seems really different to the Brighton i grew up in in the 80s.

And finally The Fighter. Another film based on a true story. The best thing about the screening was that i got a Grolsch for free. The film itself i didn't much like. There's talk of Mark Wahlberg maybe winning an Oscar for his portrayal of a warm-hearted boxer who might never make it due to his career being run by a madcap family. He was alright in it, which is glowing praise for him from me. He is a terrible actor and only passes without notice when not supposed to be paid attention to. In this it's all Christian Bale as his brother, who i respect as an actor less and less with every film. He is grotesquely unbelievable. Wahlberg just has to stand there really and sometimes workout. He can do that. Overall, though, it didn't all feel right. The music was out of place, the "comedy" thrown in at incorrect places and the whole thing an unsubtle and crass depiction of true-to-life people whose story could have been told so much better and more passionately. Another 5, if i have to score things.

So NEDs was the pick of the day. Eeek.

 

[keaton]

Black Swan - Really good, not the most original story line but done incredibly well with superb direction and acting, Aronofsky'2 (sp) best film for me. 9

Sherlock Holmes- Passable for a while before descending into shite. Less of a film than any of the three BBC Sherlock episodes. 4

The Player - Dark Altman film about a Hollywood producer who kills someone. If it was by the Coens, great in parts but a bit dull in others and seems to want to a cross between Lynch and the Coens but ends up neither. 6

No Country For Old Men - Rewatched. Brilliant 9.6

A Bridge Too Far - Wants to The Longest Day, fails but watchable 6.5

Star Wars:Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith
They're both much better that The Phantom Menace but that's saying very little. Odd bit brings back your childhood, but then you start shouting at the telly that C3PO can't fly. 5.8 and 6.2

Sta

 

[Meade's Ball]

Black Swan is great isn't it. Saw it for the second time on Monday and the woman i was with cried at the end. That's not always the sign of a good film as it might mean she's just watched Beaches, but in this case it was spot on. I also really like the fact that it is filling a number of cinemas. I couldn't go to one place at 6pm on Monday as it was sold out. The other place i went to was replete also. Glad to see a quality film being much-watched.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Black Swan is great isn't it. Saw it for the second time on Monday and the woman i was with cried at the end. That's not always the sign of a good film as it might mean she's just watched Beaches, but in this case it was spot on. I also really like the fact that it is filling a number of cinemas. I couldn't go to one place at 6pm on Monday as it was sold out. The other place i went to was replete also. Glad to see a quality film being much-watched.

Saw it on sunday at a sold out Duke of Yorks and thought it was brilliant. Not what I was expecting at all. It was quite easy to figure out the plot twists but it was stunningly made and commanded your attention throughout. I agree it is good to see a film of this quality getting the blockbuster treatment from the public.

 

[spanish seagull92]

cannot wait for Paul to come out, I love Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

 

[CHAPPERS]

I watched Up in the Air last night. Nothing happens.

 

[brighton_girl87]

I watched Up in the Air last night. Nothing happens.

I remember thinking that when I watched it.

 

[¤DãŃn¥ §êãGüLL¤]

Parents Guide for
Black Swan (2010)

A woman masturbates in her nightshirt and panties, with heavy breathing and muscle movement, and later again in a bathtub. We see a glimpse of her vagina.

Two women undress each other to their underclothes. One performs oral sex on the other while the latter moans and eventually climaxes (we see the woman's head between the other's legs for some time). Graphic.



Was just thinking I hadn't been to the cinema in a while.

 

[Marc]

Hereafter

yeah...uuummm...not that great IMO, more of a story telling as apposed to a proper "speak to the dead" thriller like 6th Sense. The girl I went with cried and EVERYTHING, she said it was good, I said it was crap. VERY slow moving, half the time you just wanna shout "GET ON WITH IT!".
I was expecting more 6th Sense style filmage but left disappointed. The only saving grace is that Matt Damons in it............Matt Damon!

3/10

 

[murphy's law]

3 films I've seen recently -

Black Swan - 8.5 The best film I've seen recently, wonderfully intense and dramatic (like Shutter Island, the best film of last year IMHO and much better than Inception). Portman gives a brilliant and intense performance, Mila Kunis is gorgeous but a bit too American teen TV for this film if you know what I mean.

The King's Speech - 7 Meh, not sure what all the fuss is about, it's a good film but perhaps a bit too over hyped. The end is very good though and the doctor (or not) delivers the best performance. Could have been a BBC TV movie.

127 Hours - 7 Again it's good but not great, felt a bit padded out. The end is indeed pretty gruesome.

 

[Don Quixote]

Black Swan is amazing, his second best film after Requiem for a dream 5/5.

 

[Acker79]

Mila Kunis is gorgeous but a bit too American teen TV for this film if you know what I mean.

I don't think that was really her fault, I think it was an underdeveloped character - what exactly did we know about her? She isn't the 'dedicate my life to my art' sort, was sexual so able to play the black swan, but what else? She was just not a fully fleshed character so there wasn't a lot for Mila to do with the role.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Amazing to see the bloke from La Haine in Black Swan. At first I thought it was Tricky Dicky from Eastenders:

Vincent Cassel:

Tricky Dicky:

Black Swan was 'okaaay' but if I had my time again I probably wouldn't have bothered. Watching latecomers battling to find seats together at the sold out Duke of Yorks performance I'd give 9/10 for entertainment value. The actual film itself I'd give 7/10.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Big Nothing Big Nothing (2006) - IMDb

Some genuine laugh out loud moments and quite a fun plot. Pegg and Schwimmer worked well together.

7.2

 

[vegster]

Did the double in the last week and a bit,

The Kings Speech[8.5

The Black Swan [7

Just briefly, The Kings Speech, absolutely marvellous ! great characters and a film with some truly wonderful moments. Some of the intimate scenes between Rush and Firth are very moving and yet very funny. Top end, a must see.


The Black Swan Er, its o.k. but does get more than a tad confusing at times as The Virgin Nina loses her inhibitions and most of her marbles on the way to performing as the lead in Swan Lake. One would not normally associate, Self Harming,Psychosis,Bulimia,Masturbation,drug taking
and Lesbian Sex with the genteel world of Ballet but here, it appears in spades.

Nina's life, such as it is, is consisted of almost exclusively of catching a tube to the theatre,dancing,tube home, sleep and the same again.. and again and again...after a bit of prompting from the shows director Nina endeavours to become leaner, meaner,fitter and faster to such an extent I thought she was going to drill herself through the floor in the manner of The Mole from Thunderbirds.
Eventually she cracks the role,and along the way, the mirror and,just for good measure cracks up herself in her bid to be perfect.

disturbing but sort of watchable..

 

[Spider]

Hereafter Utterly turgid and completely forgettable load of guff about death and the afterlife. The plot is never interesting, despite some nice scenes, the attempt to weave the multiple plot strands together is laughable and the characters are largely unengaging. Worse still, I don't think I have ever seen a film in which not one, but TWO major disasters are treated in such a cursory fashion. On top of this the film contains two of the WORST child performances I have ever seen. No exaggeration to say that in one of the scenes contains literally the worst delivery of dialogue I have ever seen in a film.

 

[Acker79]

Tangled
I really enjoyed this, though it seemed... I don't want to say bland, but after a run of films like enchanted, the princes and the frog, wall e, toy story, cars, etc. to go back to such folklore seemed... I'm really fighting the urge to say 'vanilla'. It was good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it just seemed to lack a bit of an edge. Though the evil "witch" character was rather fun. And I now want a white horse and a pet chameleon.

Barney's Version
It was one of those story of a person's life films, or at least his adult life, with a slight mystery to it. It was bittersweet with some funny moments, and Paul Giamatti was his usual excellent self, though the film seemed to rush to a conclusion and wrapped everything up either too neatly for how quick it was or too quick for how neat it was depending on how you look at it.