This is an espionage thiller centered around a fictious Mossad operation. In 1965 three Mossad agents (played ny Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas) are sent to East-Berlin to kidnap a nazi war crimminal named Vogel (Mr. White himself, Jesper Christensen). Vogel was called the Doctor of Birkenau and is obviously based on Mengele. The story continues in 1997, where the former agents are played by Hellen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. I think the film is plausible, inteligent and well acted. It is interesting to watch Worthington play an inteligence agent and imagine him as Bond. For the first time I really think it would have happen. His acting is better than before and he can do intense moments well. He is also good in the krav manga fighting scenes. He is still not as tall as Bond hould be and I think his Australian accents is not completely gone, but it might have worked. Casino Royale with Worthington as Bond, Chastain as Vesper and Wikinson as M is an interesting thought, and it might had worked.
I started this film in November, and didn't see the ending half until Feb. 2, which after looking up Gene Kelly today, I found out was the 16th anniversary of his death. Weird coincidence, but I am glad to say the movie was fantastic. I can completely see why it is a classic. Normally, I just am not a musicals guy. This one got me though. The old Hollywood story, the stars, the energy, the sets, all great, classic American cinema. It is definitely a fun and lighthearted movie to watch that just knows what its doing in a time when movies and musicals didn't need gimmicks of pop stars, CGI, and narcissistic storytellers.
Go see it for sure. It definitely deserves the spot it has at number 5 on the AFI Top 100 films.
I love this film. I play some AAA video games and Uncharted 3, which has some Lawrence of Arabia inspiration, is one of my favorites. This film had a similar setting to that, which is some great brown deserts and a few great European locales and I enjoyed it here as much as I did before. The atmosphere of the era was nailed here and I don't know exactly what did it. Perhaps it was that things were so comfortable for all these actors in these 30s wardrobes and cars. It all just clicked with the plot better than most period movies.
I thought the story was great and flowed along with the symphonic score. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted, exciting, sweet, and overall just a great tale.
1934 French film re-released and shown at Cine Lumiere in South Ken, which will be a good venue for The Artist when it comes round this month, so long as you get the first few rows.
'Charming' and 'magical' film, though I found the first hour a bit humdrum. It's about two newlyweds who live on a barge. The blonde wife wants to see Paris and the sights when they pass through, but is frustrated. So she flees and heads off. Marital strife and all that, but it's a whole hour before this narrative picks up and until then it's all a bit something of nothing, with some cute barge cats and an older, more working class ship mate, who looks like a cross between Margaret Rutherford and Bond's gurning caddie in Goldfinger, being eccentric.
Like many old movies in the cinema, they don't exactly crank the sound up.
Tell you what, Beech, why don't you review something really up to date like Birth of a Nation... )
I did watch that one! I just never posted about it. I found it to be pretty unlikable...
When I first saw your post it made me do a double take. I was thinking, 'Wait, have I been posting against the rules of this thread all along? Is this supposed to be about recent movies?'
GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra - To emulate the success of Michael Bay’s first Transformers, another 1980s toy franchises was rushed to the big screen and due to its mixed results, the making of the movie was literally rushed. Trashy CGI king, Stephen Sommers, was hired as the director and judging by the excessive visual effects and the casting of Arnold Vosloo as a villain, it shows, although GI Joe was better than Transformers 2 and Van Helsing. Rent-a-plank Channing Tantum and a tolerably comical Marlon Wayans team up and battle the forces of proto-Cobra, led by Christopher Eccleston with a variable accent, an alluring Sienna Millar, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, before he went off to bigger and better stuff. It doesn’t take itself seriously and has an appalling grasp of science (sinking ice?! Scarlett denying love - evolutionary behaviour that assists procreation - exists?!), but science always takes second place to overblown visuals and ‘splosions. Moderately entertaining drivel, it was good enough to spawn a sequel, but a sequel that will dial down the excessive cheese of its predecessor. 5/10
Steamboy - How did this splendidly animated movie, which includes highly imaginative steam punk designs, go under the radar? Directed and animated by Katsuhiro Otomo ( Akira ), Steamboy follows the exploits of 19th century pulp hero James Ray Steam (Anna Paquin) where his family invention (a strange orb that emits hyper-compressed steam) is being squabbled over by the mighty British Empire at its height and the mysterious O’Hara Foundation seeking economic global domination through weapons production. Supporting voice actors for the English dub include Patrick Stewart, Alfred Molina, Oliver Cotton, and Rick Zieff. As with Howl’s Moving Castle, the plotting is a bit plodding, muddled, and predictable underneath the splendid visuals and set pieces. The most ruinously expensive anime feature at the time (it was released in ‘04) it has sunk without a trace, which seems mildly sad. 7/10
'Alright guard, begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism...'
Brazil - A darkly comical satire of 1984 and a great visual example to anybody who wants to do a proper movie adaptation of BioShock. Brazil is a tale set “somewhere in the 20th century” and a Art Deco Dieselpunk dystopian society which is ruled over by an overly complex, overly mighty bureaucratic regime that is as cruel as it is incompetent. A regime that tries to run things more smoothly by drowning everything in mountains of paperwork, selling gaudy trinkets. and conducting tasks with needlessly convoluted gadgets that often break down. A brutal bureaucratic regime that all too often tortures and executes people through a mix up in the bloated admin department, that ignorantly drags innocent people to their doom and has stagnated as a system. Caught up in the confused proceedings is the put upon, initially self-serving minor functionary, Jonathan Pryce, who becomes fatally obsessed with a blue collar suspect, the sultry Kim Greist. Robert De Nero is a terrorist repair man, his oddest supporting role until Stardust. And there is a truly chilling turn from Michael Palin as the most mild mannered, amiable state sanctioned mass murderer in fiction. Terry Gilliam has a unique visual flare that is hard to described and emulated in the kinda mediocre movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker‘s Guide to the Galaxy. 10/10
Ponyo - After Studio Ghibli had some problems with the overly ambitious Howl’s Moving Castle (which halfway through production changed directors), Hayao Miyazaki brought things back to basics with Ponyo. Ponyo follows the well worn but trusted tale of an unlikely childhood friendship between two kids from different worlds, having a very similar premise to Disney’s Lilo and Stitch: instead of a pairing between a Hawaiian girl and a space alien, it is a pairing between a Japanese boy and the daughter of a sea god. Innocent fun and curiosity leading to crisis ensues. Simple but solid plotting does not let down the extremely well done animation and visual wonders, with one set piece having gigantic waves highly reminiscent of Hokusai’s Great Wave Off Kanagawa. And the simple tale has deeper themes of estrangement between family members and looking after the elderly. The localised English dub is decent (featuring big names such as Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, and Matt Damon) but the less said about American pop song at the end credits, the better. 9/10
'Alright guard, begin the unnecessarily slow moving dipping mechanism...'
shown at Cine Lumiere in South Ken, which will be a good venue for The Artist when it comes round this month, so long as you get the first few rows.
Been to Cine Lumiere a couple of times when I've been down in London. Nice place. Glad you liked 'The Artist' NP.
The Grey
Not quite the action packed Liam Neeson vehicle I was expecting, but all the better for it. Neeson is a hunter working for an oil-drilling company. He's messed up and suicidal. "Live and die on this day" he tells himself and he gets the chance to do one or the other when the plane he is travelling on crashes and he is among a group of survivors hunted down by wolves. From then on its a battle against the elements. Great ending too. Pity after directing something as haunting as this Joe Carnahan is planning to remake Death Wish.
In the 1970's Woody Allen made some films that I consider to be classic comedies, films like Bananas, Play It Again Sam and Sleeper had me constantly laughing. Then something happened, Woody decided he had to make more serious films and I started not enjoying them. Other than Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters, I didn't enjoy many of his films. But, I believe he has found a second wind, it started with Vicki Cristina Barcelona, which I enjoyed, and has hit full stride with Midnight in Paris.
Midnight in Paris is an intelligent, intriguing story full of wit and romance. Owen Wilson (who I normally don't like) plays Gil a successful Hollywood screenwriter who wants to write a novel. He vacations in Paris with his future wife Rachel McAdams and her family. He has nothing in common with his fiancée and one night while she goes off dancing, he decides to walk the streets of Paris. While lost and sitting on some steps, an old car pulls up and he is invited to join the occupants. He gets in the car and is taken back to the Paris of the 1920's. So in love with this period, Gil finds reasons to go back to those steps every night at midnight and slip back to 1920's Paris. He meets F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and other famous artists of that period. He even begins a relationship with a smoldering beauty Adriana, played by Marion Cotillard. While going back in time Gil learns about himself, romance, life and following your heart.
I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris, i believe I spent most of the film grinning from ear to ear. It had clever dialogue, wonderful performances from the many players, Wilson, McAdams, Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrian Brody and Paris as a backdrop is beautiful. IMO, Midnight in Paris is deserving of its Best Picture nomination.
Atlas Shrugged--God help us--Part I. I've never read the novel, nor have I read a single word penned by Ayn Rand, so I have no idea if this film is slavishly faithful or a travesty. What I know for sure is that it's a lousy movie. A dull story (will bad-bad congressmen keep the dashing hero from developing his super metal?) inhabited by cold, wooden characters who spout platitudes instead of dialogue. Who is John Gault? Who gives a flyin' $#!&?
Atlas Shrugged--God help us--Part I. I've never read the novel, nor have I read a single word penned by Ayn Rand, so I have no idea if this film is slavishly faithful or a travesty. What I know for sure is that it's a lousy movie. A dull story (will bad-bad congressmen keep the dashing hero from developing his super metal?) inhabited by cold, wooden characters who spout platitudes instead of dialogue. Who is John Gault? Who gives a flyin' $#!&?
I imagine this could have been great if it had a budget. Unfortunately Hollywood is run by lefties who would never fund a movie championing the cause of freedom and other libertarian principles.
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.” - Carl Jung
Atlas Shrugged--God help us--Part I. I've never read the novel, nor have I read a single word penned by Ayn Rand, so I have no idea if this film is slavishly faithful or a travesty. What I know for sure is that it's a lousy movie. A dull story (will bad-bad congressmen keep the dashing hero from developing his super metal?) inhabited by cold, wooden characters who spout platitudes instead of dialogue. Who is John Gault? Who gives a flyin' $#!&?
I imagine this could have been great if it had a budget. Unfortunately Hollywood is run by lefties who would never fund a movie championing the cause of freedom and other libertarian principles.
) Good point. A film like that was never going to get a lot of Hollywood support to make it good.
Is that the recent version? I heard it was greenlit because of the publicity when Draper off Mad Men was seen reading it.
That's possible, but I hear the biggest reason was because the 20 or so year span that the owners of the film rights had was about to expire. If they didn't make the movie before 2011, whoever wanted the rights to make it would have to buy into a far more expensive rate as the material is more popular now then at the time the film rights were snagged.
Part II has just been greenlit, and is supposed to film in April and release just prior to the US Presidential elections. Here's hoping they can improve them. As a huuuge fan of BioShock (a masterpiece of a video game from 2007 that won numerous Game of the Year awards), which is based largely on Atlas Shrugged, I was hoping this could have been done well. Based on the reviews, I've skipped the movie for now.
Just saw The Fighter last night. Mark Wahrlburg comes off ok. I don't think he ever truly shines on screen, but he plays his part well and got into fantastic shape to play the part. Basically, he's in his thirties, hasn't really shone in the boxing ring, comes from a fairly poor background, his mum and his brother both manage and train him, and his seven or eight comically tacky sisters just seem to hang onto his career. His Dad and stepdad support his training and act as balance, along with his new girlfriend. They see what he needs, and that is to break away from his loser brother and clueless mother. This is where the real talent is in the film. Chritian Bale is truly brilliant as the small town success story turned crack addict lune. He had his glimpse of fame twenty years previous having knocked down the legendary Sugar Ray Leonard. Although as the story goes on, it would seem more likely that Sugar Ray tripped... The evolution of Bale's character is brilliant, surprising, sad and uplifting. The film has some great scenes and dialogue and is well worth a look.
Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:
Well, watched Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy last night. I know people will find it brilliant. I however found it the complete antithesis of James Bond. It wasn't even intriguing. Just plain boring. I know that espionage is nothing like Bond or Bourne etc. And I know that Fleming was a wartime ( albeit deskbound) spook at best, so his take on his "experince" was down to training exercise for assaults and insurgency, so different to La Carre's take on the trade, but at least he had the good sense to throw in vast amounts of pure fantasy.
If indeed the "Circus" as they called SIS headquarters was like this, and the men and women within are like this, then the acting is top notch and Oldman is very good in his role. But the story couldn't hold me or pull me in. I had guessed the mole in the early scenes - I found that obvious by the absence of false trails laid on for the viewer, as opposed to the other players. They were all too obvious. I could also see how the Russians were playing the game. It was obvious to guess their intentions and see what their real objective was. So much so, that after hanging on through one of the most desperately boring films of my life, there was not even a great surprise at the end. Merely 130 minutes of my life that I won't get back...
Amazon #1 Bestselling Author. If you enjoy crime, espionage, action and fast-moving thrillers follow this link:
I think it's a Marmite film. I loved the look of it, just terrific cinematography and camera shots, but I think those who love it go for some kind of subtext, which aint there if you can't see it. I got into a bitchy face-off on an imdb thread about the significence or lack of it in the scene where the bird flies down the chimney in the classroom. I just couldn't see that it seemed to signify anything.
I knew who the mole was, due to a spoiler in a v short review on imdb. X-(
Netflix seems to be delivering Oscar-nominated films just in time for the Oscar ceremony itself. I got to see Christopher Plummer's nominated performance in Beginners, and it is indeed good--as are all the performances, really; and the movie has an offbeat premise: after the death of his wife of 44 years, Plummer's character at the age of 75 comes out of the closet and starts living an openly gay lifestyle. There's good stuff in the film and I really really wanted to like it. . .but I had to conclude it's an overlong bore. Blame writer/director Mike Mills (apparently working from his own real-life experiences), who walks a too-safe line. He apparently didn't want the movie to be a comedy, so he settles just for chuckles; doesn't want it to be a tragedy, so he gets the lump in the throat; doesn't want to alienate the straight community, so other than some kisses (and Plummer kissing ANYONE is kind of gross now) there's nothing that's too "fabulous;" doesn't want the movie to look biased against gays, so the heterosexual romance is bland. . . The result is a movie that tries to please everyone and doesn't please anyone. Or maybe just me. The reviews on RottenTomatoes are glowing. . .
I just saw Act of Valor featuring real U.S. Navy Seals. Was a little concerned before I went that bad acting would kill it. However, the movie came off almost like a documentry with real operators. It's the kind of movie that will make even a hard man misty.
DG
So, what sharp little eyes you've got...wait till you get to my teeth.
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,707MI6 Agent
I just saw Act of Valor featuring real U.S. Navy Seals. Was a little concerned before I went that bad acting would kill it. However, the movie came off almost like a documentry with real operators. It's the kind of movie that will make even a hard man misty.
DG
I need to check this out. I've seen it advertised a lot the past couple of weeks. Do you remember how long of a movie it is?
Some people would complain even if you hang them with a new rope
I just saw Act of Valor featuring real U.S. Navy Seals. Was a little concerned before I went that bad acting would kill it. However, the movie came off almost like a documentry with real operators. It's the kind of movie that will make even a hard man misty.
DG
I need to check this out. I've seen it advertised a lot the past couple of weeks. Do you remember how long of a movie it is?
I didn't recall, so I looked it up. It runs 1 hour and 41 minutes. So with trailers, you're looking at 2 hours easy. Also saw the trailer for the new Bourne movie, the Bourne Legacy. It looks good!
DG
So, what sharp little eyes you've got...wait till you get to my teeth.
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Congratulation to Jean Dujardin and "The Artist" at the Oscars! Many of us know Dujardin from his two briiliant OSS 177-movies, proably the best spoofs of 60`s spy movies. I would also like to mention "A Seperation", the Iranian winners of Best Foreign Movie. A low-key story, but interesting story with interesting people. A rare and very timely look into life in "the axis of evll". I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago at the local cinema in the small mountain village I live in. I wonder if there are any other countries where an Iranian movie about a divorce gets shown in a village cinema?
Well, A Separation is being shown at the Prince Charles in London so I may catch it there. Otherwise, I can't say that the Oscars has generated much buzz really. I like The Artist ,may see it again, but I never really got round to seeing The Help or The Iron Lady or Hugo and I guess Descendants is still out so I may catch that. Didn't care for Tinker Tailor, btw am I right in hearing that the dimbo interviewing stars on the red carpet outed the 'mole' of Tinker? (If so, please don't reveal who the mole is in replying to this post!)
Wednesday I`m going to see "Young adult" starring Charlize Theron. The scriptis written by the samewoman who wrot0e "Juno",one of the best movies about youth I have seen. I`m really looking forward to it!
Wednesday I`m going to see "Young adult" starring Charlize Theron. The scriptis written by the samewoman who wrot0e "Juno",one of the best movies about youth I have seen. I`m really looking forward to it!
I look forward to your thoughts. I hear the movie is good, but Theron specifically, is great in it.
Mr MartiniThat nice house in the sky.Posts: 2,707MI6 Agent
Had to work last night so I missed the Oscars. Jimmy Kimmel had a movie trailer though. It's 10 minutes long, it's funny, it's stupid, it has many of Hollywoods best actors and actresses, it's the trailer for Movie: The Movie:
Had to work last night so I missed the Oscars. Jimmy Kimmel had a movie trailer though. It's 10 minutes long, it's funny, it's stupid, it has many of Hollywoods best actors and actresses, it's the trailer for Movie: The Movie:
My wife, mother, father, sister and brother-in-law all read the book and raved about it. Based on that, I was expecting something heavy and substantial. Alas, Roger Ebert said it best -- this is a very safe movie about very unsafe times. Early 1960s Mississippi was a racist hell for black people, who were increasingly in danger of reprisals from whites angry that people like Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. were stirring things up. One way both race and class divisions were institutionalized is through the cycle of black women serving as maids for white families, cooking their meals and raising their children, even as their own children lived in squalor and as the white kids grew up to be nasty adults and the cycle renewed itself. Our very own American version of Downton Abbey -- the proverbial stairs are a barrier, not a passageway.
Viola Davis is wonderful as Aibileen, the maid whose story exemplifies that of so many others. She takes a big risk by telling it to Skeeter (Emma Stone), a freshly-minted white Ole Miss graduate whose liberal views and journalistic ambitions mark her as perhaps the biggest outcast in town. Aibileen is joined in her storytelling by Minnie (Octavia Spencer), full of piss and vinegar, tart lines and funny facial expressions in a role seemingly written to garner a Best Supporting Actress win (check). The good intentions of these characters battles with the malevolence of Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) who views black people as vermin and is determined to maintain the status quo. Guess who wins.
The acting in the film is quite good, although the young husbands of all these Southern belles are indistiguishable from one another (perhaps intentionally). The problem is, I kept waiting for some really bad things to happen, because it was early 1960s Mississippi and, well, really bad things did happen. But the doom never comes -- the closest we get are the framing of a minor character for thievery and television reports of the Evers and JFK assassinations.
All in all, this is worth a watch, but be prepared for something lighter than you might expect. About the only thing really scary in this film is the chocolate pie, which you will never want to eat again.
My wife, mother, father, sister and brother-in-law all read the book and raved about it. Based on that, I was expecting something heavy and substantial. Alas, Roger Ebert said it best -- this is a very safe movie about very unsafe times. Early 1960s Mississippi was a racist hell for black people, who were increasingly in danger of reprisals from whites angry that people like Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. were stirring things up. One way both race and class divisions were institutionalized is through the cycle of black women serving as maids for white families, cooking their meals and raising their children, even as their own children lived in squalor and as the white kids grew up to be nasty adults and the cycle renewed itself. Our very own American version of Downton Abbey -- the proverbial stairs are a barrier, not a passageway.
Viola Davis is wonderful as Aibileen, the maid whose story exemplifies that of so many others. She takes a big risk by telling it to Skeeter (Emma Stone), a freshly-minted white Ole Miss graduate whose liberal views and journalistic ambitions mark her as perhaps the biggest outcast in town. Aibileen is joined in her storytelling by Minnie (Octavia Spencer), full of piss and vinegar, tart lines and funny facial expressions in a role seemingly written to garner a Best Supporting Actress win (check). The good intentions of these characters battles with the malevolence of Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) who views black people as vermin and is determined to maintain the status quo. Guess who wins.
The acting in the film is quite good, although the young husbands of all these Southern belles are indistiguishable from one another (perhaps intentionally). The problem is, I kept waiting for some really bad things to happen, because it was early 1960s Mississippi and, well, really bad things did happen. But the doom never comes -- the closest we get are the framing of a minor character for thievery and television reports of the Evers and JFK assassinations.
All in all, this is worth a watch, but be prepared for something lighter than you might expect. About the only thing really scary in this film is the chocolate pie, which you will never want to eat again.
I'd like to see this one, but I heard it likened to this year's The Blindside. A sort of mainstream movie for the American masses that tries to be heartfelt and somehow gets a hefty count at the Academy Awards, perhaps due to having heavy commercial success. A sort of great, but not so-great-I-thought-it-would-get-all-those-nominations type of movie.
Comments
This is an espionage thiller centered around a fictious Mossad operation. In 1965 three Mossad agents (played ny Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas) are sent to East-Berlin to kidnap a nazi war crimminal named Vogel (Mr. White himself, Jesper Christensen). Vogel was called the Doctor of Birkenau and is obviously based on Mengele. The story continues in 1997, where the former agents are played by Hellen Mirren, Ciaran Hinds and Tom Wilkinson. I think the film is plausible, inteligent and well acted. It is interesting to watch Worthington play an inteligence agent and imagine him as Bond. For the first time I really think it would have happen. His acting is better than before and he can do intense moments well. He is also good in the krav manga fighting scenes. He is still not as tall as Bond hould be and I think his Australian accents is not completely gone, but it might have worked. Casino Royale with Worthington as Bond, Chastain as Vesper and Wikinson as M is an interesting thought, and it might had worked.
I started this film in November, and didn't see the ending half until Feb. 2, which after looking up Gene Kelly today, I found out was the 16th anniversary of his death. Weird coincidence, but I am glad to say the movie was fantastic. I can completely see why it is a classic. Normally, I just am not a musicals guy. This one got me though. The old Hollywood story, the stars, the energy, the sets, all great, classic American cinema. It is definitely a fun and lighthearted movie to watch that just knows what its doing in a time when movies and musicals didn't need gimmicks of pop stars, CGI, and narcissistic storytellers.
Go see it for sure. It definitely deserves the spot it has at number 5 on the AFI Top 100 films.
I love this film. I play some AAA video games and Uncharted 3, which has some Lawrence of Arabia inspiration, is one of my favorites. This film had a similar setting to that, which is some great brown deserts and a few great European locales and I enjoyed it here as much as I did before. The atmosphere of the era was nailed here and I don't know exactly what did it. Perhaps it was that things were so comfortable for all these actors in these 30s wardrobes and cars. It all just clicked with the plot better than most period movies.
I thought the story was great and flowed along with the symphonic score. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted, exciting, sweet, and overall just a great tale.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
L'Atalante
1934 French film re-released and shown at Cine Lumiere in South Ken, which will be a good venue for The Artist when it comes round this month, so long as you get the first few rows.
'Charming' and 'magical' film, though I found the first hour a bit humdrum. It's about two newlyweds who live on a barge. The blonde wife wants to see Paris and the sights when they pass through, but is frustrated. So she flees and heads off. Marital strife and all that, but it's a whole hour before this narrative picks up and until then it's all a bit something of nothing, with some cute barge cats and an older, more working class ship mate, who looks like a cross between Margaret Rutherford and Bond's gurning caddie in Goldfinger, being eccentric.
Like many old movies in the cinema, they don't exactly crank the sound up.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I did watch that one! I just never posted about it. I found it to be pretty unlikable...
When I first saw your post it made me do a double take. I was thinking, 'Wait, have I been posting against the rules of this thread all along? Is this supposed to be about recent movies?'
You had me worried!
Steamboy - How did this splendidly animated movie, which includes highly imaginative steam punk designs, go under the radar? Directed and animated by Katsuhiro Otomo ( Akira ), Steamboy follows the exploits of 19th century pulp hero James Ray Steam (Anna Paquin) where his family invention (a strange orb that emits hyper-compressed steam) is being squabbled over by the mighty British Empire at its height and the mysterious O’Hara Foundation seeking economic global domination through weapons production. Supporting voice actors for the English dub include Patrick Stewart, Alfred Molina, Oliver Cotton, and Rick Zieff. As with Howl’s Moving Castle, the plotting is a bit plodding, muddled, and predictable underneath the splendid visuals and set pieces. The most ruinously expensive anime feature at the time (it was released in ‘04) it has sunk without a trace, which seems mildly sad. 7/10
Ponyo - After Studio Ghibli had some problems with the overly ambitious Howl’s Moving Castle (which halfway through production changed directors), Hayao Miyazaki brought things back to basics with Ponyo. Ponyo follows the well worn but trusted tale of an unlikely childhood friendship between two kids from different worlds, having a very similar premise to Disney’s Lilo and Stitch: instead of a pairing between a Hawaiian girl and a space alien, it is a pairing between a Japanese boy and the daughter of a sea god. Innocent fun and curiosity leading to crisis ensues. Simple but solid plotting does not let down the extremely well done animation and visual wonders, with one set piece having gigantic waves highly reminiscent of Hokusai’s Great Wave Off Kanagawa. And the simple tale has deeper themes of estrangement between family members and looking after the elderly. The localised English dub is decent (featuring big names such as Liam Neeson, Cate Blanchett, and Matt Damon) but the less said about American pop song at the end credits, the better. 9/10
Been to Cine Lumiere a couple of times when I've been down in London. Nice place. Glad you liked 'The Artist' NP.
The Grey
Not quite the action packed Liam Neeson vehicle I was expecting, but all the better for it. Neeson is a hunter working for an oil-drilling company. He's messed up and suicidal. "Live and die on this day" he tells himself and he gets the chance to do one or the other when the plane he is travelling on crashes and he is among a group of survivors hunted down by wolves. From then on its a battle against the elements. Great ending too. Pity after directing something as haunting as this Joe Carnahan is planning to remake Death Wish.
In the 1970's Woody Allen made some films that I consider to be classic comedies, films like Bananas, Play It Again Sam and Sleeper had me constantly laughing. Then something happened, Woody decided he had to make more serious films and I started not enjoying them. Other than Annie Hall and Hannah and Her Sisters, I didn't enjoy many of his films. But, I believe he has found a second wind, it started with Vicki Cristina Barcelona, which I enjoyed, and has hit full stride with Midnight in Paris.
Midnight in Paris is an intelligent, intriguing story full of wit and romance. Owen Wilson (who I normally don't like) plays Gil a successful Hollywood screenwriter who wants to write a novel. He vacations in Paris with his future wife Rachel McAdams and her family. He has nothing in common with his fiancée and one night while she goes off dancing, he decides to walk the streets of Paris. While lost and sitting on some steps, an old car pulls up and he is invited to join the occupants. He gets in the car and is taken back to the Paris of the 1920's. So in love with this period, Gil finds reasons to go back to those steps every night at midnight and slip back to 1920's Paris. He meets F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and other famous artists of that period. He even begins a relationship with a smoldering beauty Adriana, played by Marion Cotillard. While going back in time Gil learns about himself, romance, life and following your heart.
I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris, i believe I spent most of the film grinning from ear to ear. It had clever dialogue, wonderful performances from the many players, Wilson, McAdams, Cotillard, Kathy Bates, Adrian Brody and Paris as a backdrop is beautiful. IMO, Midnight in Paris is deserving of its Best Picture nomination.
Highly recommend.
I imagine this could have been great if it had a budget. Unfortunately Hollywood is run by lefties who would never fund a movie championing the cause of freedom and other libertarian principles.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That's possible, but I hear the biggest reason was because the 20 or so year span that the owners of the film rights had was about to expire. If they didn't make the movie before 2011, whoever wanted the rights to make it would have to buy into a far more expensive rate as the material is more popular now then at the time the film rights were snagged.
Part II has just been greenlit, and is supposed to film in April and release just prior to the US Presidential elections. Here's hoping they can improve them. As a huuuge fan of BioShock (a masterpiece of a video game from 2007 that won numerous Game of the Year awards), which is based largely on Atlas Shrugged, I was hoping this could have been done well. Based on the reviews, I've skipped the movie for now.
http://apbateman.com
If indeed the "Circus" as they called SIS headquarters was like this, and the men and women within are like this, then the acting is top notch and Oldman is very good in his role. But the story couldn't hold me or pull me in. I had guessed the mole in the early scenes - I found that obvious by the absence of false trails laid on for the viewer, as opposed to the other players. They were all too obvious. I could also see how the Russians were playing the game. It was obvious to guess their intentions and see what their real objective was. So much so, that after hanging on through one of the most desperately boring films of my life, there was not even a great surprise at the end. Merely 130 minutes of my life that I won't get back...
http://apbateman.com
I knew who the mole was, due to a spoiler in a v short review on imdb. X-(
Roger Moore 1927-2017
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
I need to check this out. I've seen it advertised a lot the past couple of weeks. Do you remember how long of a movie it is?
I didn't recall, so I looked it up. It runs 1 hour and 41 minutes. So with trailers, you're looking at 2 hours easy. Also saw the trailer for the new Bourne movie, the Bourne Legacy. It looks good!
DG
"People sleep peacefully in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." Richard Grenier after George Orwell, Washington Times 1993.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I look forward to your thoughts. I hear the movie is good, but Theron specifically, is great in it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3NwB9PLxss
I love his post-Oscars specials. Matt Damon is a good sport!
My wife, mother, father, sister and brother-in-law all read the book and raved about it. Based on that, I was expecting something heavy and substantial. Alas, Roger Ebert said it best -- this is a very safe movie about very unsafe times. Early 1960s Mississippi was a racist hell for black people, who were increasingly in danger of reprisals from whites angry that people like Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr. were stirring things up. One way both race and class divisions were institutionalized is through the cycle of black women serving as maids for white families, cooking their meals and raising their children, even as their own children lived in squalor and as the white kids grew up to be nasty adults and the cycle renewed itself. Our very own American version of Downton Abbey -- the proverbial stairs are a barrier, not a passageway.
Viola Davis is wonderful as Aibileen, the maid whose story exemplifies that of so many others. She takes a big risk by telling it to Skeeter (Emma Stone), a freshly-minted white Ole Miss graduate whose liberal views and journalistic ambitions mark her as perhaps the biggest outcast in town. Aibileen is joined in her storytelling by Minnie (Octavia Spencer), full of piss and vinegar, tart lines and funny facial expressions in a role seemingly written to garner a Best Supporting Actress win (check). The good intentions of these characters battles with the malevolence of Hilly Holbrook (Bryce Dallas Howard) who views black people as vermin and is determined to maintain the status quo. Guess who wins.
The acting in the film is quite good, although the young husbands of all these Southern belles are indistiguishable from one another (perhaps intentionally). The problem is, I kept waiting for some really bad things to happen, because it was early 1960s Mississippi and, well, really bad things did happen. But the doom never comes -- the closest we get are the framing of a minor character for thievery and television reports of the Evers and JFK assassinations.
All in all, this is worth a watch, but be prepared for something lighter than you might expect. About the only thing really scary in this film is the chocolate pie, which you will never want to eat again.
I'd like to see this one, but I heard it likened to this year's The Blindside. A sort of mainstream movie for the American masses that tries to be heartfelt and somehow gets a hefty count at the Academy Awards, perhaps due to having heavy commercial success. A sort of great, but not so-great-I-thought-it-would-get-all-those-nominations type of movie.
I look forward to it.