Film 2012

[Acker79]

The Darkest Hour (2D)
I had high hopes when I first saw the trailer, but reviews on its release dampened them.

For the first hour it just seemed to be dull and poorly acted and a let down of what could have been. For the last half hour or so it got nonsensical - like so many scenes were cut, people who were stood next to each other would end up miles apart without any explanation. I can't imagine there would be much about it that would be improved in 3D.

 

[Pevenseagull]

2012 is all about this for me

[yt]sftuxbvGwiU[/yt]

hell yeah

 

[Pevenseagull]

I'm looking forwards to that more than the Olympic bitch volleyball on Horseguard's Parade with me in a dirty overcoat with LUBE

 

[Meade's Ball]

Haywire.
There's obviously something about Steven Soderbergh that causes a high line of acting talent to want to work with and for him. In Haywire, the stylised but generally a bit bland betrayed spy action adventure, there are Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Ewan Macgregor, Channing Tatum and Michael Fassbender looking to fire on all cylinders. Of course no matter what accoutrements the lead might carry and wear to glisten and compliment, it is down to that central star to really give a film any impact. Sadly, Gina Carano, a knuckledusting streetfighter who apparently impressed Soderbergh by coming into an audition or two with an actual black-eye, has the acting talent of a young Jean Claude Van Damme and too much dialogue throughout to expose those cringeworthy ineptitudes.
I'd read that Haywire was a high-octane action-packed Bourne-esque thriller, but i was disappointed in the lack of blood and explosion and spinetingling thrills. I was largely meh all the way through and it kind of showed once more how Soderbergh has a reputation a thousand times larger than his actual ability to direct. Decidedly average at best. Douglas, i thought, the one that showed his class whilst the rest just there for show.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Shame - left us feeling cock-a-hoop

The Artist - I yawned throughout (not great in an almost silent cinema), but it was a decent enough flick.

 

[blue and white army]

Shame - What a fantastic film! 9.3

 

[Barry Izbak]

I wasn't looking forward to THE ARTIST but went along with another's choice. I don't really like arty films, nor ones that are weighed down with the expectation of multiple Oscar nominations, hence my lack of enthusiasm. And I've heard tales of people getting up and walking out after ten minutes in horror that the film was going to be silent and in black & white.

When two people in front of us got up and walked out as soon as the title of the film came up, I put this down to the likelihood they had gone in the wrong screen.

But my cynicism was largely defused by this film. I liked the story, the main performances, the soundtrack and the authentic setting in terms of it actually looking like a film made in the 20s and 30s. Downside was that it was too long and the story seemed stretched to make it feature length. Don't get me wrong I'd be moaning like hell if it was less than 90 minutes, which I don't consider a proper feature film length, but the story didn't fill the 100 minutes of this film.

My expectations of Warhorse were too high and disappointed. My expectations of The Artist were exceeded.

7/10

 

[Acker79]

February

1st
Chronicle (2012) - IMDb
A Landscape of Lies (2011) - IMDb

3rd
Carnage (2011) - IMDb
Jack and Jill (2011) - IMDb
Like Crazy (2011) - IMDb
Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) - IMDb
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012) - IMDb
Man on a Ledge (2012) - IMDb
Young Adult (2011) - IMDb

9th
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) - IMDb (3D re-release)

10th
Young Adult (2011) - IMDb
The Muppets (2011) - IMDb
A Dangerous Method (2011) - IMDb
Rampart (2011) - IMDb
IMDb - The Vow (2012)
The Woman in Black (2012) - IMDb
Big Miracle (2012) - IMDb

14th
This Means War (2012) - IMDb

17th
Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) - IMDb
Extremely Loud Incredibly Close (2011) - IMDb
This Means War (2012) - IMDb
The Woman in the Fifth (2011) - IMDb

24th
Red Dog (2011) - IMDb
One for the Money (2012) - IMDb
Safe House (2012) - IMDb
Black Gold (2011) - IMDb
Deviation (2012) - IMDb
Blood Car (2007) - IMDb
Rampart (2011) - IMDb

 

[Meade's Ball]

Good to see Rampart coming out twice in February. It's a dirty beauty.
I saw the other day a doublebill of The Grey and Like Crazy. The Grey was high-quality Liam Neeson over-acting action manliness. Bits of it made me laugh - more than not when it pretended to have depth - and others parts gripped in the action. It's the tale of a plane full of grizzly, hard-livered workers in Alaska crashing in the deepest of snows, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, with only 7 survivors. Sadly, these survivors have landed in the territory of a pack of evil wolves large enough to tear a man apart. Freezing conditions, men leaking blood, bodies ripped by lupine teeth and the odd conversation about death and the sweetest memories of life all combine to make it a reasonably commendable piece of action-packed macho bloodlust. I enjoyed it and sometimes for the wrong reasons.

Like Crazy is a romantic story of a couple who meet at LA university, the female a snooty Englishwoman with the wish to poeticise at heart and the man a furniture designer with a heart. They come together, fall in love and then are forced apart by immigration policies and visa violations. It then tells of their togetherness in patches, sometimes enrapt in each other and sometimes separated. It's the ups and downs of first true love, really, and nowhere near as horrendously corny as something with Hugh Grant in it. It was ok. Worth a try.

 

[Acker79]

Good to see Rampart coming out twice in February. It's a dirty beauty.

Oops. I started compiling that list of links back in january, and just checked for updates last night, noticed it missing from one of the days, didn't realise it had been moved from earlier in the month.

Rampart is out on 24th Feb, not the tenth.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Oops. I started compiling that list of links back in january, and just checked for updates last night, noticed it missing from one of the days, didn't realise it had been moved from earlier in the month.

Rampart is out on 24th Feb, not the tenth.

See it when it comes out. It's nasty and cool.

 

[Acker79]

See it when it comes out. It's nasty and cool.

I shall, thanks for the recommendation.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

Looking forward to seeing this.

Thefilm | Connected

Namely because I starred in it as a wedding guest and latterly a mourner.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Just back from Brighton Odeon and MAN ON A LEDGE. There were two or three current releases I was interested to see and I picked this as it was recommended to me despite it having the least imaginative title since Snakes on a Plane.

Stupidly I overlooked that I am not very good at heights and watching people in such circumstances. I mean the trailer and the title should have been fairly obvious, but thankfully, it wasn't something that bothered me.
It must be difficult to come up with an original idea, but this achieved it with what was an unusual plot / story line. Yes it was a bit predictable and a bit unbelieveable, but I wasn't expecting a documentary, just an action movie. Its no surprise it didn't get much of a shout in the oscar nominations, but its worth a look in my opinion.

I must say I was shocked to see Ed Harris. I hope that was extraordinary make up, because otherwise he is seriously ill.

overall 6/10

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

The Descendants - usually avoid Clooney films like Glenn Murray avoids hitting the back of the ole onion bag these days, but this was a good show - great mix of humour and heartache and his daughter was mighty fine to look at.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Martha Marcy May Marlene. I think that's the order of the ladies names. I saw it at the Hackney Picturehouse. Haven't been there before and i considered it, for just £7 weekend entry, to be a bit grubby and the toilets to be filled with fagbutts. But by jingo what a fancydan place it was. And the screen was bemassive! I'll go back there for future fare. The film, overall, was a good one, but tough to stomach. Tells the tale of a young woman, played by the non-twin-one of the Olsens, seemingly on the run from a commune out in the sticks in the US. She phones her sister, who she hasn't seen for two years, who sort of comes to her rescue and takes her in. The rest of the film is the Olsen, a suitably reserved and haunted actress who reminded me more of a Gyllenhaal more than her sisters, staying with said sister and disappearing in and out of the memories of her time in the commune, run by a man who takes in young women to his dilapidated farmhouse, mostly, and performs Michael Jackson-like acts in and around them. The word "cult" is never mentioned, but it's clear something awry is going on here and it's our journey to find out why she ran. Really uncomfortable viewing, psychologically, on occasion, but a well-put-together film that keeps enough oomph and intrigue to it to keep you hanging on until the end. The Koresh-esque guy at the farm is played by John Hawkes. Winter's Bone fans like me will remember him as Teardrop and he has that same power and presence her, macabrely innocent with a hypnotic evil in his heart.
All in all, a good film and a good start to a career for at least one Olsen.

 

[big nuts]

Just watched carnage at the duke of yorks, excellent film. Story revolves around a petty school yard squabble which two sets of parents debate with humorous consequences. Great cast and really well acted with a sharp script. It won't be everyone's cup of tea as its basically 80 minutes with 4 actors talking in one room but it's engrossing with plenty of funny moments.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I haven't enjoyed many a comicbook-style film. I'm picky, you might say. Or old and remembering the good old days when it seemed impossible to make a successful one and the best stories and their telling remained in cartooned pages. But i saw Chronicle today and rather enjoyed it. I'll have to look up in a minute to find out if it's from a graphic novel or not. It wouldn't matter if it is or it isn't. It's just the tale of three teens, as ever in American films played by men approaching 30, the lines in their necks showing their age or that they were once really quite fat, who find themselves with some serious telekinetic powers. The trailer partly makes out that it's where they got the power that is the mystery, but in the film it's not that. One of the teens has had a tough upbringing and is generally disliked and bullied at school and unsurprisingly the power he now has can sort of exaggerate his psychological woes and how to act in reply to them.
It reminded me a little of both Christine and the Medusa Touch, of possession and the madness that power brings. It had the right mix of humour and action and disbelief is suspended enough despite the non-explained matter of all the footage being a combination of that shot by one of the superpowered and cctv footage and some film shot by another student and edited to turn it perfectly into what it is.
It's an enjoyable 90 minutes.

 

[Acker79]

I saw The Descendants today. I liked it. I don't think it really lends itself to being analysed a great deal, or maybe I'm just not in the mood to.

 

[BrickTamland]

Has anyone seen Chronicle yet? Have heard mixed reviews so far, and a few of you seem to know whatnyour talking about!