Recently Viewed Films - Reviewed

Bruno

Not as funny as Borat, but fucking hysterical with mates and a cider or two in you. Great laugh.

3/5

Watching Frost/Nixon now, seems interesting so far.

Fellowship: 9
Two Towers: 9
Return of the King: 8

I don't see what's so fantastic about the final installment. The endings are so numerous that I was shifting in my seat half an hour before it actually ended. It lacks some of the soul of the first and second and the battle scenes, while huge, don't seem to match the small skirmishes in Fellowship or Helm's Deep in Two Towers. I might consider giving Fellowship a 10 though, best fantasy film ever made.

Fellowship: 7
Two Towers: 8
Return: 6

Frost/Nixon

Engaging documentary-style retelling of Nixon's tense encounter with TV host David Frost that culminated in a confession of involvement in Watergate. It's an easy way of learning about this pretty important historical event and entertains until the end. Frank Langella's human portrayal of the monster is top notch.

3/5

Rocky

Not what I thought it would be, but a charming and likable film nonetheless. You can really feel the tension building towards the end.

8/10

Got Watchmen: Director's Cut today on Blu-Ray, pretty excited to see what it's like compared to the theatrical release. 24 minutes extra is quite a bit! Shame I had to import it though.

Trainspotting ****

Not as good as the novel, obviously.

The Graduate

Wonderful soundtrack, great cinematography and very decent acting. The storyline occasionally fails to immerse, but very good on the whole. Simon and Garfunkel make great music.

7/10

Watchmen: Director's Cut

Significantly better than the theatrical release, lot's of great touches that improve upon the overall story. Still a love/hate film but re-watching it was a pleasure and cemented it firmly as a 9/10 experience. Oh the glorious capabilities of Blu-ray!

Jammer wrote:Trainspotting ****

Not as good as the novel, obviously.

Have you also read Porno, the sequel?

Got it on order from Amazon, any good?

Porno is not as "WOAH" as Trainspotting, but it does a better job than it gets credit for. Addictive book.

Barry Lyndon

A stunning, breathtaking and beautiful epic. A masterpiece in the cinemtography department, a revelation of production design as well as music and a delight in acting. Inspired moments of comedy, tragedy, feel-good and sorrow... this is Kubrick at his best. The slow, long zooms that reveal more than any other director fits into a single film in just one scene are numerous and brilliantly accomplished. Redmund evolves throughout, changing, becoming a victim of his own lust for greatness. A true epic, a wonderful cinematic achievement. Bravo.

But I preferred Part 1's tone to that of number 2.

10/10

Kaptain Kaviar wrote:Barry Lyndon

10/10

Sold

Killer Klowns from Outer Space - Do I need to talk about how awesome this is?

gdf wrote:Watching Frost/Nixon now, seems interesting so far.

Enjoyed that film, probably a 4/5.

Kaptain Kaviar wrote:Barry Lyndon

A stunning, breathtaking and beautiful epic. A masterpiece in the cinemtography department, a revelation of production design and music and a delight in acting. Inspiring moments of comedy, tragedy, feel-good and sorrow this is Kubrick at his best. The slow, long zooms that reveal more than any other director fits into a single film in just one scene are numerous are brilliantly accomplished. Redmund evolves throughout, changing, becoming a victim of his own lust for greatness. A true epic, a wonderful cinematic achievement. Bravo.

But I preferred Part 1's tone to that of number 2.

10/10

I can't decide between part 1 and part 2. His journey, venturing from his simple country life with a childlike innocence being ignorant to the world in part 1 is joyous to watch, I'm fond of the scene where the horse and gold is robbed a perfect example of his naivety to the darker sides of human nature. And watching his travels across Europe and the experiences he has are all gripping events, and watching his rise through society near the end is really involving. Part 2 starts as he peaks, the intermission splits the rise and the fall perfectly down the middle. Call me glum, but I prefer watching the world change him and corrupt him in to this tyrannical moocher. And I love Lord Bullington, he's such a little weasel. Either way, both those parts combine to make the nearest thing to the perfect film.

"It was in the reign of George III that the aforesaid personages lived and quarrelled; good or bad, handsome or ugly, rich or poor, they are all equal now."

For me Part 2 felt a bit too familiar on the whole. Not to say that I didn't enjoy it, and the final duel is absolutely nerve wracking, but Part 1 was simply such a delightful tale. High adventure, beautiful landscapes and epic confrontations. This is also Barry at his most likeable, not yet corrupted and still pure of heart. Part 1 has more "painting-esque scenes" too which made my heart skip a notch every time they occured. You know you're watching a good film when you have this crazy feeling throughout on the inside, as if your heart is going to burst any time. Some might call it slow, but I was surprised to have watched 45 minutes the first time I paused it to go get a drink. I thought I'd just sat down!

Finally got round to watching Primer again. Despite the over-long exposition, I enjoyed it and understood it more second time round. However, the last fifteen minutes still perplex me. Perhaps a third viewing will help with that.

I still don't feel I can score this film out of five. It's just totally different, unlike a film and more like a scientific experiment. Just give it a viewing if you enjoy original, challenging narratives.

City of God

Fast paced, clever and hyper kinetic, this film is like Slumdog's older, darker brooding brother. It's hard to find fault with it, but on the whole it simply wasn't my kind of film. Films that center around gangs and drugs don't really float my boat, and although the setting in Brazil was pretty cool, well... just didn't do it for me. And I'm not much of a fan of handheld camera scenes either. Give me a long, lingering scene filmed with Steadycam any day. Viva la Barry Lyndon!

8/10

City of God is my absolute favourite foreign language film. I remember watching it alone at about midnight, being riveted and shaken at several moments throughout.

City of God is top fucking notch!

I just bought Martyrs, is it really so good? My expectations are high, and i dont want to be dissapointed

I loved it, but I didn't have any expectations. On a second viewing, I stood by my original 5-star rating. Third viewing, I started noticing more flaws with the narrative, so I'd have probably taken it back to a 4-star. Which is still a fantastic score.

Just go into it expecting nothing other than an elastic plot, stunning performances, and some great cinematography. You'll enjoy it I'm sure.

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.