Recently Viewed Films - Reviewed

Seany C wrote:I'd say it's a three star film. Some good cinematography here and there and on screen brutality hard matched by mainstream cinema but the message of the film is tacked on and under-developed like it was just there to make this anything other than torture porn.

The message is tacked on indeed, however I still don't believe it affects the film in any way. There's no denying it is simply torture porn gone art-house, like you say, but I love it.

It's still entertaining. I didn't love it but I liked it. Hence the 3/5

Im putting it on in half hour, il let you guys know what i think

Prepare to feel lightly traumatised for the rest of the evening.

with Seany here, 3/5 i think, though the score may go up in time...

Having just turned it off, im filled with a great sense of unease and the feeling of shock? But i dont feel like i've just watched a great film. I think the first half hour was fantastic, going rapidly down hill when Lucie's story ended (avoiding spoilers). Whilst the final act was good, it felt completely diasaparate from the spirit of the first.

Nevertheless, great performance, some lovely cinematography and a really fantastic 1st act. And whilst, at the very moment im left with this feeling, of slight dissapointment, do doubt the film will stay with me, which could well lead to me bumping up the score in future simply because of its impact.. maybe.

I think Martyrs probably had a larger effect on me as I was the first to see it before it had been raved to death about.

Nice and functional, gdf.

Public Enemies

A very dry film that suffers from a lack of depth. There's no real emotional investment with any of the characters and neither Depp nor Bale seem to be up to their usual high standards. Mann's use of HD was, in my opinion, ugly. Plenty of scenes looked disturbingly over exposed, with bleed out being a problem in many scenes with contrasting light. It honestly looked like the kind of raw material I could produce with my school camera... dissapointing. And while the gunfights look impressive, they are ultimately nothing but icing on a stale cake. For even though it has some great moments (Cinema scene, lady in the red dress, visiting the police station) it ultimately never delves deeper into who Dillinger really was. Just a rough sketch.

6/10

Sad to hear you didnt like it so much.

I saw Hunger. 9/10. Thought it was spectacular.

Mad Max

Cool low budget flick, fantastic pacing though some of the execution is flawed. But overall a very entertaining action flick, glad I didn't read the spoiler-ific tag line before watching it. Hope the sequels are equally enjoyable.

7/10

Night Watch

Funky russian fantasy film. Didn't know quite what to expect and don't quite know what to make of it! But on the whole I found it rather intriguing and entertaining. And considering I only plaid £8 for both it and the sequel on blu-ray I'm possibly delighted!

7/10

Black Sheep - Surprisingly it was enjoyable in a way where I knew it was a pretty bad film. Only watch it with mates, like I did. There were some funny bits in it though. Either a 5 or a 6 /10

Night Watch is my favourite Sci Fi/Fantasy Novel ever. The film was dissapointing tbh, and a little confusing. Sequel is better, but mor confusing if you havnt read it.

DanglyBrasco wrote:Sad to hear you didnt like it so much.

I saw Hunger. 9/10. Thought it was spectacular.

Same, one of my favourite films of 2008.

The Proposal

Even before you say anything
girlfriend alert


Anyway, I thought it would be funnier than what it is, cos I've seen Ryan Reynolds in a number of things now and I think he's pretty funny, but not as many laughs as I was hoping, still a pretty decent film

7/10

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

One of the better directed in the franchise, including an intriguingly muted palette and great use of focus. Does a good job of adapting the novel, but undoubtedly limited in its goals and achievements.

3/5

Just watched The Spirit. It was a terrible film. It had bad dialogue, a bad story, bad character, bad sound and fails in nearly every area except for style. However there was something I liked about the film, I don't know what it was though.

Overall it's a 5/10

The International

Ludicrous plot, literally hundreds of plot holes and a lack of both motivation and character involvement. Some guilty pleasure derived from the lovely cinematography and the absolutely epic Guggenheim shootout. Worth a rent for the Blu-ray reference quality picture. Clive Owen deserves better.

6/10

Orphan

One of the creepiest films I've seen for a while, not really scare as such just very very creepy.

Still a very good film, I'd suggest it to most people

8/10

Serenity

10/10

I love this film

Unlike myself, who pretends Serenity doesn't exist.

I've been passing the time downloading films hardly anyone has heard of, so I can give vague reviews about them.

Immortal.

A weirdly confusing film with too much unnecessary CGI about the Egyptian God Horus coming back to Earth searching for some blue haired woman to have a child with. It was okay, nothing special, but I can't see myself watching it again.

Avalon.

A mostly sepia-toned film about a woman who is one of the best players in a virtual reality war game. And, like the other films from the same director (Ghost in the Shell) it's mostly excessively slow pacing with the odd action sequence and a Basset Hound. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. I think it moved a bit too slowly and didn't really pull off the 'what is reality' theme it was trying to go for.

On the anime front, I've watched Ghost In The Shell: Innocence and Appleseed and both were absolutely gorgeous to look at, and rather good films too I must say.

... wow, I have even less to say when I actually like something.

Edit: Also, I have to award Appleseed a bonus point for using Basement Jaxx's "Good Luck" as the opening song, as opposed to some terrible Jpop.

Salo: Or the 120 Days of Sodom

8/10

Beautifully directed, yet horrific film. Had the intended effect of making me question the contents of the movie (extreme sadism, sexism, violence, disgust, perversion - you name it), but as I said, that was the intended effect - to disgust.

Still the most shocking film in cinema thirty-four years from release. Passolini clearly went out with a bang: a perverse, coprophagia filled one at that. An striking analysis of the degradation of the human body.

Surprised I've never heard of this, is it based on Sade's book?

01casey wrote:Salo: Or the 120 Days of Sodom

8/10

Beautifully directed, yet horrific film. Had the intended effect of making me question the contents of the movie (extreme sadism, sexism, violence, disgust, perversion - you name it), but as I said, that was the intended effect - to disgust.

Still the most shocking film in cinema thirty-four years from release. Passolini clearly went out with a bang: a perverse, coprophagia filled one at that. An striking analysis of the degradation of the human body.

I stopped watching at the point where shit eating started to get involved. Sick film.

I'm gonna watch 3:10 to Yuma later, looks like it will good.