What Films Have You Watched This Week - The Sequel.

[bash]

Just seen Captain America 2, it was ok I guess. Most of you guys know I'm not a big fan of Marvel Studio movies. This was probably the best of the lot, its a close call with Ironman 1. The action is decent, some nice ideas in there lie the shield throwing and some good hand to hand stuff (in a hollywood movie shock horror!!).

The plot is not as intelligent as some reviews made out, its a more predictable Jason Bourne type movie for kids. And I still cant stand ScarJo with her stripper/pornstar dead eyes acting, she's a terrible Black Widow. This would've been a great vehicle for Jeremy Renners Hawkeye instead. Winter soldier was pretty badass but he's hardly in it, they should've built him up more and made him even more ruthless.

I reckon CA3 will be even better if they're gonna have the winter soldier AND a souped up Crossbones in it.

[k0pp0]

Currently watching Limitless. It's ok.

[buster_broon]

Watched the following over the weekend

amazing Spider-Man 2
It's got lovely effects and the 3D is alright but I was truly bored by it all, I hate how they continually use the green goblin, rhino was pish but electro was pretty decent in the last quarter if the movie - how Sony bigged this up as a billion dollar movie is beyond me,

->Open Spoiler<-

I was surprised to see Gwen die at the end

captain America the winter soldier
I really enjoyed this and even though I watched the shield TV show before this and Thor 2 it all makes sense, great action and a pretty good story and since I'm not the biggest comic book fan I had no idea who the winter soldier was, can somebody let me know if his arm is made from the same material as the destroyer in Thor, thought

->Open Spoiler<-

falcon

was excellent

Also liked the mid-credit scene that involved

->Open Spoiler<-

quicksilver and scarlet witch

and yes I googled them, already setting the scene for age of ultron and there is an end of credit scene Albeit short

Bash - apparently the actor who plays the winter soldier has signed up for 9 movies in total, so another 7 left

[bash]

Yeah, so no doubt he'll be in CA3, Thor 3 (in some capacity) Avengers 2 and 3. Probably a Nick Fury and or a Black Widow movie too.

[bash]

OK, so just seen The Amazing Spiderman 2, it was a bit of a mess. Whilst I'm happy they got the sarcy fun Spiderman taking the piss out of villans right, the rest of the movie is all over the shop. One minute its peter parkers parents death/background mystery movie, the next its Dawsons Creek tear jerking romance (admittafly Emma Stones and Garfields chemistry is very good in those scenes) and when it comes to the action its all very over the top and not very well choreographed because its too geared towards 3d. Also it goes way too campy at times and feels at odds with the rest of the movies tone. Doesnt help the editing is confused and theres also no decent villan or memorable soundtrack.

Its a shame as it did feel it had the basis of a good movie in somes parts but its gets far more wrong than it does right. Not bothered about any sinister 6/Venom or Spiderman sequel after this.

[QualityChimp]

I've had a week off so I've managed to watch a few films. I tried to select some lesser-known films amongst the big hitters.

Despicable Me 2
For the lad, mainly, but I watched it too. It's not quite as good as the original as I think it lacks the banter between Gru and the girls, but it's still good fun. I particularly like the character of Lucy who was enthusiastic, but not annoying. Obviously, they've upped the minion screen time as they're one of the best things about the first film and they're still great fun. I enjoyed it and the subsequent times I've had to re-watch it!


Last Days on Mars
The first manned Mars mission is 19 hours short of finishing and the crew are returning to earth empty-handed. One scientist thinks he's found fossilised life and under the pretence of collecting equipment, sneaks back to the site where he found it to get some more samples so the relief team don't get all the credit. He finds what he's looking for, but the ground collapses and the mission starts unravelling as the crew start to get infected by the biological discovery...
It's a weird one this. It's massively derivative and as you watch it, you think of loads of other films that you are reminded of. Alien, Ghosts of Mars, Day of the Dead, Moontrap, 2001, Solaris, Sunshine, Moon, Event Horizon and so on, however, that makes the film feel like you're in familiar territory and enjoyable to watch. Does that make sense?
It's relatively low-budget ($7 million?) but it doesn't look cheap with some great sets, effects and locations. the first time Irish director creates an eerie atmosphere and pulls together a decent cast including Liev Schreiber Olivia Williams and Romola Garai.
I guess it's a good effort on the limited resources, but it never clears the shadow of the better films that it cribs from.
Here are some other low-budget gems:

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/18683/top-50-modern-day-low-budget-movies

The Machine
Another low-budget sci-fi film with a first-time director. Mostly filmed in Wales for less than a million pounds, this is a broody exploration into artificial intelligence as the West enter a cold war with China in the near future. Toby Stephens (Gustav Graves in Die Another Day) plays a scientist, Vincent, working for the MoD to help soldiers with brain injuries to use implants to let them function again. After an accident in a test, he brings in an AI specialist, Ava, whose AI project manages to almost pass the test to convince people it's a person. Vincent wants to use the technology to help his brain-damaged daughter, but the MoD want to use the AI in an indestructible body to infiltrate China, assassinate the leaders and cause a coup and will use any nefarious means to get their way and corrupt The Machine into a tool for killing.
If you take the far-fetched premise with a pinch of salt, it's an interesting exploration of what makes something alive. I have to commend Caity Lotz (Arrow, Mad Men) who is convincing both as a scientist and a robot and also does her own stunts and martial arts!


The Art of The Steal
Crunch Calhoun (Kurt Russell), a third rate motorcycle daredevil and semi-reformed art thief, agrees to get back into the con game and pull off one final lucrative art theft with his untrustworthy brother, Nicky. Reassembling the old team, Crunch comes up with a plan to steal a priceless historical book, but the successful heist leads to another far riskier plan devised by Nicky. They fail to realize each other's separate agendas when their plan goes awry in this con comedy about honour, revenge and the bonds of brotherhood.
We really enjoyed this humorous adventure. It's a lot like Ocean's Eleven with it's soundtrack, editing, dodgy accents and premise of a team of cons getting together for one last job, but there's an intriguing story, plenty of laughs along the way thanks to the funny script and copious ad-libbing and a decent cast including Snake Plisskin, Hiccup, General Zod, Windom Earle and Matt Dillon.
If you like the Ocean series, Now You See Me and stuff like that, you'll enjoy this.


Need For Speed
What a ridiculous film. I was pleased it wasn't trying to be just like the Fast & Furious series. If anything, it had a Smokey and the Bandit vibe, which I liked. However, if you stopped to think about the film at any moment, the whole thing makes no sense.
I tried to switch my brain off, I really did, but it was an endless barrage of ridiculous premises.
I think the bit that wound me up the most was after several scenes of high-speed driving through traffic, causing multiple crashes, when a character dies, they're all really cut up about it, as if it wasn't inevitable at some point and that any other road users are unimportant. They have no idea if any of those crashes they caused were fatal, crippling or mentally damaging to the other road users.
I really could go on, but I don't have time. Maybe if I could go back in time...


About Time
This is another romantic comedy from Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings), but with a slight sci-fi twist. Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson) is a young man from Cornwall, England. He grows up in a house by the sea with his father (Bill Nighy), his mother (Lindsay Duncan) his absent-minded uncle, and his free-spirited sister, Kit Kat (Lydia Wilson). At the age of 21, Tim is told by his father that the men of his family have a special gift: the ability to travel in time. This supernatural ability is subject to one constraint - they can only travel to places and times they have been before. After his father discourages Tim to use his gift to acquire money or fame, he decides that he will use it to improve his love life.
Well, you can either sit through a Richard Curtis movie with your missus or you can't, but I like his work and they always manage to make me laugh. He uses the premise of time travel to mainly make Tim assess what it most important to him and realise, even with time travel, you can't be everywhere at the same time and you have to make decisions.
I found this to be really enjoyable and loved watching how Tim fixes the various events that go wrong in his life and sometimes how he fixes the results of the previous fixes!

[QualityChimp]

Oh and I saw Don Jon too. It's a pretty funny drama starring and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a lothario who loves bedding the laydeez, but gets frustrated that the sex is never as good as the copious amounts of porn he watches.

He meets and starts dating Scarlet Johnson, but she makes loads of demands before she'll give up the goods.

It's funny but filthy and well worth checking out.

[Dogg Thang]

Watched two favourites of mine. First up, The Lost Boys. Culture peaked with that oiled-up sax guy. I love this movie. It's tons of fun and has a great atmosphere and loads of great lines and moments.

And then Blade Runner. Funny that after only about 100 watches it starts to strike me as odd that they can create artificial humans and yet not a simple scanner for artificial humans. The strength and imperviousness to hot and cold means they're clearly not the same. Anyway, an amazing movie and one of my all-time favourites. It will always be in any of my top ten movie lists.

[prinnysquad]

No random kung fus?

Get out.

[BaronSqwelch]

I have a laptop for the week so have joined the cool kids and stolen loads of films from the internet!!

My results are...

Capt America 2- 4/5
Oculus - 2/5
Starred Up - 3/5
Transformers 4 - 2.5/5
All Cheerleaders Die - 2/5
Sabotage - 0/5
Expendables 3 - 3/5

I also bought Showgirls and Snowpiercer on blu...and saw Guardians of the Galaxy at the cinema.

5 - 2.5 - 5 ratings for those 3!

Computer being returned soon so its True Detective and Orphan Black to watch. Off to the TV thread...

[randombs]

don't copy that floppy!

[darkangel]

I have a laptop for the week so have joined the cool kids and stolen loads of films from the internet!!

My results are...

Capt America 2- 4/5
Oculus - 2/5
Starred Up - 3/5
Transformers 4 - 2.5/5
All Cheerleaders Die - 2/5
Sabotage - 0/5
Expendables 3 - 3/5

I also bought Showgirls and Snowpiercer on blu...and saw Guardians of the Galaxy at the cinema.

5 - 2.5 - 5 ratings for those 3!

Computer being returned soon so its True Detective and Orphan Black to watch. Off to the TV thread...

What was it about Oculus that you didn't like, out of interest mate?

[QualityChimp]

No random kung fus?

Get out.

Oh, if it isn't Mr. World of Tanks, piping up?

I haven't seen you updating The Chivalrous Inn for over a year, so hush your noise.

I'm currently putting most of my spare time into EDF 2025, what's your excuse?

[prinnysquad]

Painting and decorating, marra.
Gaming: Wolfenstein, Diablo 3 and WoT.
Watched Tiger on the Beat, Hand of Death and Last Hurrah for Chivalry recently. Woo-tastic.

[QualityChimp]

Smooth.

I've got Tiger on the beat to watch. Is that the one with the chainsaw fight?