Films! good, bad, recomendations, and general film talk

[juansolo]

oooh the Batman films. I have a controversial opinion of those. I think the 2nd one was shiteeee. The one everyone thinks is awesome.

Why? Because it's not a Batman film. He hardly features. Indeed the only person given any real screen time is the Joker (who was brilliant). Dent has a sudden un-characteristic about-face (yeah, yeah) of attitude considering all that went before. Batman, well he just growled incomprehensively and did nothing...

Then there's the fact that it's just one action scene after another with f**k all plot inbetween. Ohh we can flip a truck over, let's do that and figure out a way of getting it into the script. etc.

It annoyed me greatly. It could have been a die hard film if they'd just swapped Willis into the lead role.

The first was bloody brilliant. Though I wasn't as happy with the dark knight not being a psycho. A facet of his character I always liked and something Keaton nailed in the first two. Indeed Batman Returns, to me is the most faithful of the lot being truly dark and twisted.

The last one I admit I enjoyed. More plot than 2 and the focus back on batman. Some serious contrivances and massively obvious/convenient set ups for the ending. The first is still the purest of this batch though.

FWIW Dredd is awesome. It finally does him justice (snigger). A character that DOES NOT evolve or get touchy feely. It's actually worth seeing in 3D too for the scenes from the junkies perspective where it all goes hyper-real and slo-mo.

It is however one of the most graphically violent films I've ever seen. As it should be. JD (and 2000AD as a whole) was full on and so is this. It betrays its budget when you see outside the single location in which the film is set, but that's not bad thing. They were forced to concentrate on moving the characters on. It's essentially a day in the life and it sets it up for great things to come. I hope it makes money and they get to do more.

FWIW, yes, it's *exactly* the same plot as The Raid (which I highly recommend for martial arts fans). There are arguments as to which came first and I honestly don't care. The guy who made the Raid as good as admits his film is a rip of Assault on Precinct 13 anyhow and he uses loads of JC ques in his style.

[Philly Q]

I've just been to see Beware of Mr Baker, a new documentary about the life and career of Ginger Baker.

As icing on the cake, the cantankerous old git even turned up for a standing ovation and rather awkward Q&A session after the film.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

I've just watched 'Barry Lyndon' by Kubrick tonight and though it was pretty damn good, especially for the time it was made. I usually hate the 18th century style but was surprised by how much I liked it : O

[psy]

I went to see Looper last night.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt really pulled off being a younger Bruce Willis.  I recommend it if you like your films a bit wibbily-wobbly-timey-wimey.

[_tom_]

I went to see Looper last night.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt really pulled off being a younger Bruce Willis.  I recommend it if you like your films a bit wibbily-wobbly-timey-wimey.

It was no Primer :P

I've been talked into going to see Sinister later, i predict i will poo myself at least a few times :lol:

[Philly Q]

I've been talked into going to see Sinister later, i predict i will poo myself at least a few times :lol:

For a mainstream Hollywood horror movie, Sinister is about as good as it gets (IMO, of course).

[Brow]

I went to see Looper last night.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt really pulled off being a younger Bruce Willis.  I recommend it if you like your films a bit wibbily-wobbly-timey-wimey.

It was no Primer :P

I've been talked into going to see Sinister later, i predict i will poo myself at least a few times :lol:

I've never seen Primer, only head the odd opinion here and there.

Sinister does look good, but it'll be a DVD purchase for me as my Mrs refuses to watch anything like that  :lol:

[_tom_]

I've been talked into going to see Sinister later, i predict i will poo myself at least a few times :lol:

For a mainstream Hollywood horror movie, Sinister is about as good as it gets (IMO, of course).

Good to know :) I hate jump scares so I dunno if I'm gonna like this film haha, much prefer the kind of horror that just has a generally creepy and unsettling tone throughout rather than loads of jumpiness that you forget about after seeing it once.

[Philly Q]

There are a couple of jump scares but not the type which make your heart stop for a moment.  :lol:  I generally think jump scares are cheap tactics but these were pretty appropriate.  It's not especially of the creepy/atmospheric variety either, although it does have some of those elements.

I thought the best thing about it was the script - usually by far the weakest point of Hollywood movies!  There's a good story which actually goes somewhere, likeable characters, some humour which doesn't seem out of place.  And like most horror movies it sets up its own "mythology"; unlike most horror movies it doesn't break the rules/logic of that mythology by the end of the film.

[_tom_]

Sounds good then :) We didn't see it in the end as the only 2 seats left were at opposite sides of the cinema. So we saw Taken 2 instead which was an awful sequel tbh. I was hoping for it to be good but it felt so rushed and anti-climactic. Oh well. We'll probably try Sinister next week!

[Philly Q]

I've heard Taken 2 is awful, and that's from people who really liked Taken.... personally I thought that was overrated!  :lol:  I will rent Taken 2 at some point, just to see how bad it is.

[_tom_]

Yeah I really enjoyed Taken, fun action film :) sequel was so disappointing though. I almost regretted not waiting the extra half hour to see Paranormal Activity 4 instead :lol:

[nfe]

Taken 2 is the same as the first. Total and utter rubbish but marvelous silly fun.

You can't not like a film with a teenage girl nonchalantly flinging grenades about a city centre.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

Taken 2 is the same as the first. Total and utter rubbish but marvelous silly fun.

You can't not like a film with a teenage girl nonchalantly flinging grenades about a city centre.

you'd like Troll 2 then

[Philly Q]

you'd like Troll 2 then

God, I've got that on Blu-ray somewhere..... never watched it.  :oops: