Movie Review Thread

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

For anyone in the UK who hasn't seen it already, I have to recommend Hot Fuzz. It's by far the funniest film I've seen in an extremely long time. If you've an appreciation for the fine tradition of Hollywood action/buddy films, and any kind of acquaintance with the British Police Force, you'll find it side-splitting.

[CountArach]

For anyone in the UK who hasn't seen it already, I have to recommend Hot Fuzz. It's by far the funniest film I've seen in an extremely long time. If you've an appreciation for the fine tradition of Hollywood action/buddy films, and any kind of acquaintance with the British Police Force, you'll find it side-splitting.

I can back that up. I live in Australia, and even though I may not have understood some of the social stereotypes it was portraying, it was brilliant! Some great one-liners and just generally awesome situations.

/

[Quintus Of Pompeii]

I am under the age of 15 therefore i can not see it.
Boohoo.
I have heard great things though. It seems British films are getting more popular.

I recently also watched a film called Pulse yeah, it was good it was jumpy not scary. Its a good film to watch if your bored. I would recommend it to those who have seen The Grudge and The Ring. Its a good movie.

-Q

[sapi]

You're under 15 and thus can't see Hot Fuzz...so you reccomend The Ring

I won't ask

[CountArach]

You're under 15 and thus can't see Hot Fuzz...so you reccomend The Ring

I won't ask

Yeah, that was pretty much my first thought as I read it.

[Blodrast]

Le Samourai
by Jean-Pierre Melville (France)
with Alain Delon and Nathalie Delon
100 Minutes
1967
Score 9.0 (0 to 10)

On that note, I'd fully recommend ALL (or as many as possible) of Melville's films... if you're into that genre. Great stuff indeed, although a tad hard to find.

[Beirut]

Tenacious D

A gloriously stupid, excellent movie. Great music. Lots of fun. Jack Black is fantastic.

Very beer and pizza.

[Puzz3D]

You're under 15 and thus can't see Hot Fuzz...so you reccomend The Ring

I won't ask

Pulse, The Grudge and The Ring are all PG-13 movies. All remakes of more restrictively rated Japanese movies.

[Soulforged]

On that note, I'd fully recommend ALL (or as many as possible) of Melville's films... if you're into that genre. Great stuff indeed, although a tad hard to find.

Oh yes, and it's also very hard to watch. The french directors are always looking for a way to challenge your mind without boring you to hell, when it works, it's a great escape from Hollywood. I'm yet to find a hitman movie as believable and intriguing as "Le Samurai", the best I've seen up to this day either fall in the bizarre category ("Hitman", with Jean Reno) wich of course lose the believable element, or fall in the cheap thrills category (as a very bad example: "Elektra") wich lose the intriguing element and the believable element.

[Fragony]

Last King of Scotland: Forrester is terrifying as a big kid, easily his best performance. Movie isn't half-bad either, a bit hard to believe that somebody can be so blind as the main character but it's entertaining allright.

[econ21]

... a bit hard to believe that somebody can be so blind as the main character but it's entertaining allright.

I'd be interested to see the film; I enjoyed the book. Amin blindsided a lot of people - for example, the British who promoted him and of course his predecessor. He had a certain charm. I've seen some striking magazine pictures of him giving a speech in front of Julius Nyerere, President of Tanzania - an intelligent and humane man who would later topple Amin. Nyerere is sat stoney faced as Amin begins, but ends up almost crying with laughter as Amin charms his audience. I imagine Forest Whitaker can do justice to the complex monster.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Borat
saw it a week ago?
hilarious and racist.

[Blodrast]

Oh yes, and it's also very hard to watch. The french directors are always looking for a way to challenge your mind without boring you to hell, when it works, it's a great escape from Hollywood. I'm yet to find a hitman movie as believable and intriguing as "Le Samurai", the best I've seen up to this day either fall in the bizarre category ("Hitman", with Jean Reno) wich of course lose the believable element, or fall in the cheap thrills category (as a very bad example: "Elektra") wich lose the intriguing element and the believable element.

Agree, some of them have too much subtlety for "beer & pizza"-like moods. But when one is in an appropriate mood, and old enough (i.e., not 10 years old, like I was the first time I saw some of them) to appreciate their qualities (atmosphere, camera shooting style, attention to details), they're excellent :). I've watched a bunch of them when I was a kid; while I most certainly didn't "get" all the elements of the plot, and even more certainly wasn't able to appreciate (or even notice, for that matter) all the cinematographical goodness, I still enjoyed them. And I agree with you that they were more believable than a lot of the shoot 'em outs these days.

Also fully agree with you about Elektra - blech.

[econ21]

Just saw Amazing Grace, the film about William Wilberforce and his Parliamentary campaign for the abolition of the slave trade. It was very good - an inspirational film, it can actually make Parliamentary politics and evangelism interesting and attractive. The acting is top notch all round and the script is sophisticated and accomplished. The emphasis is very much on the Parliamentary politics and their toll on Wilberforce (and, incidentally, Pitt). The slave trade is presented in a rather "documentary" way, rather than being visually realised, but this is probably appropriate as Wilberforce's knowledge of it was through documentation rather than first hand observation. Anyway, the barbarity of the thing is so great, a low key presentation does not diminish it. Reading around the campaign afterwards, it seems the film is more or less accurate - but it is very much a drama rather than a dry recreation, so no doubt some liberties were taken. However, you leave the cinema informed and inspired (I'm not sure I've ever experienced that before).

[Decker]

Just saw Wild Hogs It was hilarious. It had me rolling in my seat laughin my butt off nearly every minute or so.
"Hey, I took my law enforcement course on the internet! For arms training they just told us to play Doom! "

[sapi]

Pulse, The Grudge and The Ring are all PG-13 movies. All remakes of more restrictively rated Japanese movies.

Are you being serious

It got way more than that here

[naut]

Are you being serious

It got way more than that here

In the US they don't have the M rating, so it goes straight from PG-13 to R.

[sapi]

Is that some kind of joke?

Seriously, I'm stunned.

I don't want to take this thread off topic, but I really don't see how that can hope to work...

[Puzz3D]

I don't want to take this thread off topic, but I really don't see how that can hope to work...

Pulse (2006) Certification:
Australia:M / Finland:K-15 / USA:R (original rating) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Vaud) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Geneva) / Singapore:NC-16 (DVD rating) / Ireland:16 / USA:PG-13 (Edited for re-rating) / Argentina:13 / Germany:16 / Taiwan:R-12 / Philippines:R-13 / Malaysia:18SG / Indonesia:Dewasa / Hong Kong:IIB / France:-12 / UK:15 / Singapore:PG / Malaysia:U (cut) / South Africa:16

The Grudge (2004) Certification:
Sweden:15 / USA:PG-13 (certificate #40750) / Malaysia:18SG / South Korea:15 / Iceland:16 / Argentina:16 / Australia:M / Brazil:14 / Canada:13+ (Quebec) / Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) / Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) / Canada:PG (Ontario) / Czech Republic:15 / Finland:K-15 / France:-12 / Germany:16 / Ireland:15PG (original rating) / Ireland:15 (video rating) / Italy:T / Norway:15 / Philippines:R-13 / Poland:18 / Portugal:M/16 / Singapore:PG / Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) / UK:15 / USA:Unrated (DVD rating) / Netherlands:16

The Ring (2002) Certification:
Malaysia:U / Canada:PA (Manitoba) / Canada:AA (Ontario) / Canada:14 (New Brunswick/Nova Scotia/Prince Edward Island) / Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) / Canada:13+ (Quebec) / Portugal:M/16 / Iceland:16 / Argentina:16 / Australia:MA / Brazil:14 / Chile:14 / Finland:K-15 / France:-12 / Germany:16 (bw) / Ireland:15PG (original rating) / Ireland:15 (video rating) / Israel:16 / Japan:R-15 / Mexico:B / Netherlands:16 / New Zealand:R16 / Norway:15 / Peru:14 / Philippines:PG-13 / Singapore:PG / Spain:18 / Sweden:15 / Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) / Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Bern) / Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) / Switzerland:16 (canton of the Grisons) / UK:15 / USA:PG-13 (certificate #39347) / Greece:K-17

[Martok]

Very much against my will, I was dragged to 300 this past Saturday by one of my best friends. He was insistent that I would enjoy it, historical inaccuracies and all. The guy knows me well enough that he's usually right about what movies I'll like. Unfortunately, this was one of the few times he was wrong.

Even setting aside all the ways in which the film was incorrect from a historical standpoint (and I'm sure I still caught less than half of the errors), it was still one of the worst films I've ever watched. There's so many things wrong about this movie I barely even know where to start.

Two-dimensional characters. Cheesy dialogue, dominated by bombastic rhetoric. The "Persians" are ridiculously gaudy, and portrayed as nothing more than evil pricks who are conquering everything because they can. And just an overall sense that everything in the movie was overdone and over the top. No subtlety, nothing fleshed out (unless you include the torsos of the 300!), everything extremely predictable.

Honestly, this is one of the crappiest films I've ever had the misfortune of seeing. I'm honestly dumbsquizzled (and dismayed) that so many people think this was such a great movie.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Define "great movie".

[seireikhaan]

Martok, thank you! 300 was an abomination to history. I suppose its a fitting title to the movie, as it completely ignores everything and everyone who had an important role in the battle other than Persia and the Spartans. It is completely biased towards the Spartans. It never shows any of the Spartans's slaves, it never mentions that Athens helped burn the Persian city of Sardis to the ground, it makes Xerxes look like a pompous, effeminate fool, the whole grounds for the movie are mistaken. Persia's first and biggest target was Athens, not Sparta.

It also gives no credit to the Athenian effort to the battle, if not for their navy, Leonidas would have been crushed on two sides. In fact, the only mention of Athens in the entire movie was Leonidas calling them petophiles. It also doesn't give Persia any credit at all during the whole film, other than having a large army. Persia's main land force didn't arrive via navy, they built a pontoon bridge ACROSS the one MILE bosphorus to carry their army across. Persia was smart, their army was just not designed for the mountain pass like Thermopylae. Also, Greek armor consisted of, well, actual armor, not just a cape, helmet, and leather bikini bottom. Lastly, limbs simply do not slice off that cleanly, the movie actually should have been bloodier than it was. Also, since I like to be a bit of a prick about historical movies, I would also like to point out that the Persian cavalry was using stirrups, which weren't invented yet. There were still more errors, but I'm trying to cut this short, and I also won't point out the obviously wrong aspects that nearly everyone else should be able to figure out.

Although, if you look at it without knowing much about the event, the movie is sort of entertaining, which is the whole point of the movie industry, I suppose. However, I was simply too furious with the biased and inaccurate representations made to enjoy it.

[ajaxfetish]

My most recent forays to the cinema:

Casino Royale
Quite possibly my favorite Bond movie to date. It's much grittier than the average Bond flick, and is a separate beginning rather than a continuation of the series, so could potentially upset some loyal fans. A free running chase scene early in the film is one of the most gripping and original chase scenes I've seen in a long time, and the shower scene is the single manliest moment I've ever seen in a Bond movie. That won my respect. My biggest gripe: the movie continues for about another half hour after the main story arc winds to a close. Throughout that portion it's uncertain how much longer it will go on. Somewhat anticlimactic and confusing from a literary perspective.

Stranger than Fiction
I'm not a big follower of Will Farrell, and generally avoid movies that include him, but here in his first fairly serious role he does a fantastic job. The characters are believable and invite empathy, the concept is fairly original, there are some very amusing lines (especially for a borderline literature geek like me), and the overall feeling of the movie is somewhat mournful, somewhat comic, and surprisingly satisfying.

Ajax

[seireikhaan]

Ajaxfetish, I would agree with most of what you said about Casino Royale. I thought it was very good up until about the last twenty or so minutes. I would also like to point out that it hurt just to watch that torture scene, that was brutal. If you haven't seen it yet, just let me say that it was probably one of the most painful things you could ever do to a man.

[CountArach]

V for Vendetta - I really like this film. A chilling look at a potential future. Very much for those who enjoy the whole dystopic view of humanity's future. What you would expect if you had Huxley or Well's movies turned into a movie.

[sapi]

V for Vendetta isn't perfect but is a damn good movie

[Fragony]

V for Vendetta - I really like this film. A chilling look at a potential future. Very much for those who enjoy the whole dystopic view of humanity's future. What you would expect if you had Huxley or Well's movies turned into a movie.

A shame the main character was the least interesting character of the movie, that's a pretty big nono for this genre.

The good sheperd: kewl, more espionage goodness, with the obligitory Matt Damon who is once again excellent. But if I was the head of the CIA, and my son looked me in the eyes like that with that sad 'please hugsie time' he might just get an accident or a sex-change.

[pevergreen]

V for Vendetta was awsome!

Saw Thank you for Smoking. Very funny.

BTW if anyone wants a movie reviewed, its the holidays here, and i work in a video store.

[Soulforged]

A shame the main character was the least interesting character of the movie, that's a pretty big nono for this genre.

Agree there. I think that the main problem with the movie is that the main character doesn't play as an human, he plays as a force of reckoning stripped from all human weaknesses and desires, he is just that Revenge. This forces the scripters to face the story from the point of view of the woman who accidentally stumbles into his life, depraving the rest of the story of any real insight on the person of V.

Solyaris(Solaris)
Andrei Tarkovsky (Russian)
with Donatas Banionis and Natalya Bondarchuk
209 minutes
1972
Original language: Russian
Score 8.5 out of 10

You've probably seen the remake of this movie by now, directed by Soderbergh and starring George Clooney (on 2002). And if you're like me you also probably have been sucked in by the unpenetrable of the subject.

Kelvin has to make a travel to the Solaris space station, located on orbit around the planet called Solaris, after a long conversation with Burton who claims rare things are happening in the station, probably produced by the Solaristic sea wich is composed of a rare and unnamed matter. Once on the station he finds two scientists on the edge and one friend dead (who supposedly commited suicide). One of them tells him to not be afraid of the things he would see. After that we begin to see that the station is a mess, there's parts hanging and thrown all over the place, a lot of things out of place and then what we think, at first, are visions. Later we find that this are not visions, they are materializations of the memories of the inhabitants of the station, it seems that after bombarding the sea with X-Ray, the sea reacted (as a thinking substance) by probing the inhabitants with its own "tricks", and their memories became real.

Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986), persued and exiled by the communist regime, never attached himself to any rules of the material life, he tried to look deeper, tried to find meaning in simplier things wich are hard to understand, not because they're complex, but exactly because they seem to simple to be true. All of Trakovsky's movies are completely separated from anything resembling a good pace, and this is part of his method, he makes long shots of single scenes, analyzing the shadows, the lights and the forms with unforgivable meticulousity, but he isn't telling you anything with this, the insight is made refering to the previous scenes, he only gives you time to make it with incredible long scenes with no script, only the same image over and over. There's one scene that I found hard to believe because of its lenght, it covers almost 20 minutes of movie showing us the travel of a car through a highway, but what's important is what happened before it. Every scene, composed by image and conversation, is very important on its own. Everything needs to be contemplated and comprehended to enjoy the movie.

The special effects are nothing major today, but the director still gets a good image with a low budget, even when graphic quality is not what he's after. At the end of the movie the effects are used to show what's that truth that the director is trying to show us, insinuated all along the script. The main character, Chris Kelvin, is a psicologist, who's so attached to his scientifical convictions that, even if we don't feel bad for him, when he falls from reason to passion we fall with him.

In the end this movie will make you question a lot of things, not exactly reality, but it will make you doubt of how you see reality, even if it's in the most basics of aspects: What's an human relationship? But still it doesn't get a full score because it could have used a little more pace, and some things could have been cut out. This is a mistake that Soderbergh tries to overcome, and finally achieves, unfortunatelly it loses a part of its ambition too.

[doc_bean]

A shame the main character was the least interesting character of the movie, that's a pretty big nono for this genre.

I liked that the main character was barely human, it made the movie 'stand out' imo.

As for 300, I could barely contain my laughter when I saw a small preview clip or the movie posters that are all over my train station. It looks like either an adolescent fantasy or homosexual subtext gone horribly wrong, possibly both. I might rent it for a laugh.