Second that, Lexi. I saw the humor, sense of adventure and the inventive action scenes and thought:"this is what Indiana Jones 4 should have felt like".
Directed by Jodi Foster and starring Mel Gibson, Anton Yeltsin, Jennifer Lawrence and herself. Gibson plays a man who suffers from depresion. Afer a night of drinking and suicide attempts he picks up a stuffed toy beaver and starts tallking through it. I found the film interesting, funny and moving. It is not a cute messege-movie or a silly comedy. It is quite dark and complex at times. I also think this is the best acting Mel Gibson has done for many years. Now, can someone give him the money and trust to film the first good high budget viking movie ever made? Also, notice Jennifer Lawrence. She must be a comming movie star. Beautiful and a very talented young actress. If you haven`t seen her in anything, rent this movie and/or "Winter`s bone" and be convinced.
Five young teenagers spending summer filming a Super 8 movie get caught up in the adventure of a lifetime when they accidently film a mysterious train crash. The film produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams has some of the same qualities as E.T., young innocent kids, evil military, and a mysterious creature. The young actors get most of the screen time and they are all good, especially Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning (Dakota's younger sister). Credit should also go to the writers as the dialogue in the film is very accurate, especially the good natured ribbing the kids exchange.
I really enjoyed the film, it is one of those films that is a lot of fun to watch, sure some of what occurs is a little over the top, but that is overcome by the charisma of the young actors. If I had one complaint it would be that I think the last 15 minutes could have been better. Like too many movies today, the CGI takes over and the audience is left to watch computers graphics when what we really cared about was the kids and their relationships. Still, the film was fun and I enjoyed watching it, recommend.
West Side Story. Yep, THE West Side Story--"Maria," "Tonight, Tonight," "When You're a Jet You're a Jet All the Way," Natalie Wood with a tan--that film. I hadn't seen it in some 20 years and seeing it now on Blu-Ray and on a widescreen high-definition TV was a revelation. . .it's stunningly beautiful and as entertaining as ever. Sure, you can carp that today those bad street gangs look like clean-cut Boy Scouts and that it's hard to take seriously a knife fight executed with balletic pirouettes, but it's supposed to work on a symbolic level. . .and New York photographed as a series of mazes and lit with eye-burning reds and purples is less a real location than another planet where people fall in love in a minute and an entire life is lived within 24 hours.
There's been a lot lately on a new investigation into Natalie Wood's death, and I find it fishy (ow--no pun intended) that this comes about just as WSS is released on Blu-Ray to commemorate the movie's 50th anniversary. I mean, people are talking again. . .
Well, I decided to take up Love Films offer of free trial for a month - and a £20 Amazon voucher.... well, my first DVD arrived yesterday.
Anyway, this movie picks off where the last one left off... and you're hurled straight into the brutality of this series. We follow the two protagonists’ - Lisbeth and Mikael - the formers history of her continued abuse at the hands of a nasty and brutal Dr. Peter Teleborian and the complex cover up of why Lisbeth had to be institutionalised. Justice is indeed served - including the last minute showdown between her and her psychotic half-brother.
The only problem I have with this movie, (and in fact, the two that proceeded it) is that if you hadn't read the books, you would have no clue as to who half the people were.... in fact, even with this movie, you had to just go along with the various characters that appeared.... and trusted that it wasn't too integral to the plot as they weren’t introduced with any names. Also great chunks of the novels were left out - most interestingly, Mikael’s various affairs with key characters, this happens in this movie, as well as the other 2.
This is why I am looking forward to the re-makes. (The fact Daniel is the lead, does of course help :x) But more importantly to see if they portray the books in a more complete and in-depth fashion. Hope so...
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
Lovely movie, perhaps my favorite from George Clooney. It captures the Hawaii vibe well, while conveying the adult emotions faced by the main family. It was much sweeter than I expected and managed plenty of smiles despite it being about quite a raincloud over their heads. I thought the acting was good, especially the chemistry between Clooney and Shailene Woodley, the older daughter.
The movie managed to have an air of paradise that kept the pace and interest up. I really liked the style and story. At the end of it all, I just thought it was heartfelt and peaceful and dealt well with the feelings of life.
I have been a big fan of Pixar and have seen all previous 11 Pixar films at the cinema, but Cars 2 just didn't interest me enough to draw me to the theatre. So this weekend I checked it out on DVD and like all Pixar movies I found the story compelling, but unlike the other Pixar films, found some of the other qualities missing.
The films open with a scene right from a James Bond film, a British spy represented by an Aston Martin and voiced by Michael Caine sneaks aboard an oil platform to discover what secret some old cars are concealing. He is discovered and has to make a fantastic escape. Later we discover the old cars are "lemons" represented by Gremlins, Pacers, Yugos, etc. They are tired of being made fun of, so they join an evil capitalist and attempt to disrupt an international car race where a new "green" bio-fuel will be used. I won't give any more away, but you can probably guess the film has a "green" message and dirty oil/gasoline isn't part of the green message.
Although I found the film amusing at times, I didn't find it funny, although the story was compelling, it was somewhat predictable, although the characters were interesting, we don't really learn much about them with the exception of Toe Mater the tow truck. So as you can see, I didn't think the film was bad, I also don't think it lived up to the Pixar standard. It wasn't a complete miss, but for what I expect from Pixar, it was a miss.
I have been a big fan of Pixar and have seen all previous 11 Pixar films at the cinema, but Cars 2 just didn't interest me enough to draw me to the theatre. So this weekend I checked it out on DVD and like all Pixar movies I found the story compelling, but unlike the other Pixar films, found some of the other qualities missing.
The films open with a scene right from a James Bond film, a British spy represented by an Aston Martin and voiced by Michael Caine sneaks aboard an oil platform to discover what secret some old cars are concealing. He is discovered and has to make a fantastic escape. Later we discover the old cars are "lemons" represented by Gremlins, Pacers, Yugos, etc. They are tired of being made fun of, so they join an evil capitalist and attempt to disrupt an international car race where a new "green" bio-fuel will be used. I won't give any more away, but you can probably guess the film has a "green" message and dirty oil/gasoline isn't part of the green message.
Although I found the film amusing at times, I didn't find it funny, although the story was compelling, it was somewhat predictable, although the characters were interesting, we don't really learn much about them with the exception of Toe Mater the tow truck. So as you can see, I didn't think the film was bad, I also don't think it lived up to the Pixar standard. It wasn't a complete miss, but for what I expect from Pixar, it was a miss.
I totally agree...Cars 2 was clearly missing that Pixar magic. For me, it almost seemed like it should have been a straight-to-DVD release. I had to laugh about the big 'mystery' as to who was behind the sinister plot behind the new bio-fuel, since there was esentially only one new character introduced in the story 8-)
speaking of kid's movies...I took in "Transformers 3.: Revenge of the Moon" (or whatever it was called) over the weekend. Like the others, you have to check your brain at the door. I'm not sure why they keep making these movies...and just when you think the world is safe, Optimus Prime delivers some grandiose epilogue that warns you that there may be another stupid movie on the horizon.
Lovely movie, perhaps my favorite from George Clooney. It captures the Hawaii vibe well, while conveying the adult emotions faced by the main family. It was much sweeter than I expected and managed plenty of smiles despite it being about quite a raincloud over their heads. I thought the acting was good, especially the chemistry between Clooney and Shailene Woodley, the older daughter.
The movie managed to have an air of paradise that kept the pace and interest up. I really liked the style and story. At the end of it all, I just thought it was heartfelt and peaceful and dealt well with the feelings of life.
Could not agree more. Wonderful film from the director of About Schmidt and Sideways, with a funny/poignant vibe similar to those fims. Clooney is fantastic playing the vulnerable man -- no matinee idol thing going on here. I had never even heard of Shailene Woodley, but she is amazing. Interesting how the character we learn most about as the film progresses is the one who cannot speak for herself -- we learn about her only threw the recollections of others. Excellent movie, which will be in the conversation come Oscar time.
And as a trivial bonus, when I went to IMDb and looked up the actor who plays the "other man", I learned that we went to the same high school.
Lovely movie, perhaps my favorite from George Clooney. It captures the Hawaii vibe well, while conveying the adult emotions faced by the main family. It was much sweeter than I expected and managed plenty of smiles despite it being about quite a raincloud over their heads. I thought the acting was good, especially the chemistry between Clooney and Shailene Woodley, the older daughter.
The movie managed to have an air of paradise that kept the pace and interest up. I really liked the style and story. At the end of it all, I just thought it was heartfelt and peaceful and dealt well with the feelings of life.
Could not agree more. Wonderful film from the director of About Schmidt and Sideways, with a funny/poignant vibe similar to those fims. Clooney is fantastic playing the vulnerable man -- no matinee idol thing going on here. I had never even heard of Shailene Woodley, but she is amazing. Interesting how the character we learn most about as the film progresses is the one who cannot speak for herself -- we learn about her only threw the recollections of others. Excellent movie, which will be in the conversation come Oscar time.
And as a trivial bonus, when I went to IMDb and looked up the actor who plays "other man", I learned that we went to the same high school.
That's neat!
I hope this gets a bit of award buzz somewhere. I really liked it. It's list of flaws is remarkably short and I agree that Woodley was great. I had seen her years ago as a guest on CSI and remember reading that the producers had loved her and saw a future for her. After just a conversation or two of her's on screen, she definitely had my attention. I like Clooney playing someone much less extraordinary. I was getting tired of most of his films being built to exploit his name. Definitely renewed respect after this pleasant surprise.
Woody Allen has really changed as a film maker lately. Earlier he used to play himself in some mildly diverting story set in New York. Now he hires actors to play him in a mildly diverting story set in large European cities. He has also discovered that making films is a great way to hang around hot, young women. This time Owen Wilson has the Woody Allan role, he even sounds a bit like him.
The city is obviously Paris where Wilson and his fiance is visiting. Wilson is playing a Hollywood screenwriter who idolises Paris in the 1920`s. One night he is walking in the streets of Paris and a vntage car pulls up and literally transports him back to the 20`s. There he meets personalities like Hemningway, Picasso and Gertrute Stein. This happens again each night and he learns about art, life, love and Paris.
I`m no big Woody Allen fan ("Match point" was great, though), but this movie was fine, leasurely and nostalgic entertainment. Probably a good date movie. Wilson`s fiance is played by Rachel McAdams, who reportedly turned down the role of Vesper Lynd before Eva Green got it.
Casino Royale was wonderfull, but I like to imagine how it would have turned out with Michael Fassbender as a young Bond and Rachel MacAdams as Vesper.
I re-watched this 1973 classic on DVD tonight. And what a classic: a tight plot, grat cast and plenty of style and smarts! I have only two problems with it - dames and guns. The actresses playing love interests of sorts to Newman and Redford wouldn`t turn heads anywhere. Very plain-looking.
When it comes to guns, I reacted when they started using suppressors on revolvers. There is only one very rare model of revolver that can use suppressors, an old Mosin-Nagant, and The Sting uses only Colts and Smith & Wessons. Still, the film is well worth seing.
I re-watched this 1973 classic on DVD tonight. And what a classic: a tight plot, grat cast and plenty of style and smarts! I have only two problems with it - dames and guns. The actresses playing love interests of sorts to Newman and Redford wouldn`t turn heads anywhere. Very plain-looking.
When it comes to guns, I reacted when they started using suppressors on revolvers. There is only one very rare model of revolver that can use suppressors, an old Mosin-Nagant, and The Sting uses only Colts and Smith & Wessons. Still, the film is well worth seing.
One of my all-time favorites. I know zero about guns so will take your word on that, but I beg to differ on the women. Eileen Brennan was a great 1970s actress and perfectly cast as Newman/Gondorf's gal pal. She was a middle-aged madame of a rundown brothel, and Gondorf was a drunken con man on the run from the Feds. How much of a head-turner would you expect her to be? As for Redford/Hooker's paramour (don't remember the actress; she was never a big star) she was a lonely diner waitress and played the part well. Of course, she was also...
...Seleno, Lonegan's top assassin, so she needed to be credibly tough-looking.
All in all, the women were fine IMO. This was a picture dominated by men anyway.
We agree that The Sting is an exellent movie. What I pointed out are just minor flaws in my opinion. About the women: Paul Newman and Robert Redford were considered very handsome men at the time. The Sting is a very stylized and beautifull movie, so it seemed strange that the ladies were IMO not attractive. I think they should hang on to the time-honoured custom of casting actresses that are better looking and younger than the male actors.
Although not strictly speaking a movie, I just finished the BBC miniseries Smiley's People. An excellent spy drama.
I really enjoyed the BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and found the follow up series, Smiley's People. equally compelling. Alec Guiness' performance as George Smiley is brilliant and the supporting cast is truly impressive as it was in Tinker Tailor. Of particular interest to me were the characters General Vladimir and Grigoriev. These two were both played by actors who had recently played Bond villains (Curt Jurgens and Michael Lonsdale). Considering how much the Le Carre spy world is unlike to the Fleming one, it is interesting that they chose to go with two recent Bond baddies.
Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People are two miniseries which I highly recommend.
Let me add my voice to the other AJB members who have reviewed The Descendants and found it terrific, I concur.
George Clooney is Matt King, a land baron, the trustee to a large parcel of land in Hawaii that has been handed down through several generations. A change in real estate laws is now forcing the family to consider selling the property to developers. While working with his extended family on how to sell the property, his wife suffers sever injuries in a boating accident. After learning his wife will not come out of her coma and only has weeks to live, Matt King sets out on a journey. He will inform friends and family of his wife circumstances including the father-in-law who clearly does not like him, he will attempt to reconnect with his two daughters who he has ignored while focusing on work and he will confront the man he recently learned his wife was having an affair with.
George Clooney is wonderful as Matt King, showing various emotions through facial expressions and body language, just watching Clooney's face on screen, the audience can share and feel his emotions. Shailene Woodley plays Clooney's rebellious daughter Alex, I am not familiar with any of her previous work, but she portrays the rebellious, yet maturing daughter perfectly, her emotions and actions never seems out of place. The entire cast is excellent, but Clooney and Woodley really stood out for me. The film is beautifully shot and has a simple yet memorable score.
What I liked about this film was the story, none of the characters are perfect, they are all flawed, and they all have lost touch with what is truly important. The film intersperses humor and comedy flawlessly, at times I would be laughing out loud and two minutes later have a tear in my eye. The Descendents is the best film I have seen in 2011.
I rented this animated movie mainly because it has been warmly recomended on this thread, and I wasn`t disapointed. In fact I think it is one of the best movies this year. It reminded me strangly of the first Pirates movie and at first I thought it was because Jonny Depp voices Rango. Then I discovered that the director was Gore Verbinsky who of cource directed the first Pirates. Rango had the curious characters, playfull language and inventive story I often missed in the later Pirates. Studying the credits I made one more welcome discovery: the script was written by John Logan who has also worked on Skyfall. A good sign, even if I hope Skyfall ill have a slightly different tone.
Quirky little ensemble film that takes place at the onset of the financial meltdown in 2008. With one notable exception (more on that later) character names are unimportant, so I will speak in terms of actors.
On the day he is unceremoniously downsized from his risk management job at a New York investment bank, Stanley Tucci hands a USB drive to a junior member of his staff (Zachary Quinto) and tells him he has been working on something and to "be careful". Quinto, being the motivated young banker that he is, stays late that night and fills in some missing pieces of Tucci's analysis, and in doing so he discovers that the bank's asset portfolio is about to implode. He calls Tucci's boss Paul Bettany, a chain-smoking, Maserati-driving Type-A. Despite the late hour, Bettany immediately calls in his boss Kevin Spacey, a jaded veteran and head of the entire trading floor. Spacey, sensing the seriousness, alerts (A) his peer and head of risk management Demi Moore, who is bumping up against a glass ceiling, and (B) Spacey's boss Simon Baker, a young star with ice water in his veins who runs all banking operations. Finally, Baker takes it all the way up to his boss, the CEO Jeremy Irons. At 4:00AM, the decision is made to unload the entire toxic portfolio by selling it the next day, as soon as the market opens, to unsuspecting customers unaware of the crap they are buying.
Not everyone is fully behind this strategy, so the hours between 4:00-9:00AM are spent arm-twisting reticent parties and determining who will be sacrificed in the wake of the inevitable s--tstorm that will happen once the market realizes what is going on.
The whole film takes place over about 36 hours, almost entirely in the bank's headquarters. It has a very documentary feel to it, both in the filming style and in the fact that it ends without any neat resolutions, epiphanies or moral messages (if you are looking for an angry polemic along the lines of Inside Job, this one is not for you). Also, while it is a work of fiction, it is clearly inspired by the fall of Lehman Brothers. Jeremy Irons's CEO is named John Tuld, whereas Lehman's was Dick Fuld. Surprised they did not get sued.
All in all, I would recommend it. The acting was uniformly good, and I would single out Spacey and Irons as especially strong (two Oscar-winners -- big surprise!). Watching the film felt like being a fly on the wall at a relatively precipitous time in recent history.
Wow, what a great movie. The acting by everyone was superb - and Firth's ability to really look convincing as someone who is crippled by a stammer was quite extraordinary.
Some real laugh out moments too.... as well as a poignant story of how unsympathetic parenting can really affect your children. Let alone the complete selfishness of King Edward VIII.
I believe this is playing on Sky Movies over Christmas... go check it out if you haven't - it really is worth all the hype it got. -{
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
Super, a low-budget flick that tackles essentially the same territory as Kick-Ass: Rainn Wilson, better known as Dwight from the US version of The Office, plays a loser who decides to put on a homemade costume and start fighting crime--by bashing wrong-doers on the head with a pipe wrench. There's a good cast here--Ellen Page, Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler--and there are some funny moments; but the violence is graphic and downright sickening, and ultimately the Wilson character comes across as a psychopath. I didn't know if I was supposed to laugh at it, be angered by it, or be horrified by it; in the end, I just didn't give a damn.
This is a comedy that is a satire of mega churches and the flock of belivers who attend them. This church is led by pastor Dan Day, played by no other than Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan has fun with the role and does a fine job. He also tries to spread his acting wings by going for an American accent, but to my ears it sounds like he lands somewhere mid-Atlantic. He also looks good. Actually good enough to still play Bond, if it wasn`t for his grey stubbl ................oh.
Greg Kinnear plays an ex-Evil Dead fan Carl who is now a born again christian, a supporter of pastor Dan and married. His true believer wife is played by Jennifer Connelly. I have never seen her being so relaxed and fun in a movie before. Neither has she looked this fine in years - it was a great mistake not to cast her as dr. Christmas Jones in TWINE. She looks amazing, could be convincing as a scientist and is an infinately better actress than Denise Richards.
Ed Harris plays a atheist who debates pastor Dan, and is later accidentally shot by the pastor with Carl as a witnes. I won`t give away more of the plot, let`s just say God moves in mysterious ways. This is a good comedy. Not laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, but the type of comedy you chuckle at and sometimes burst out laughing when watching.
I saw this on release day at the cinema and I was a trifle underwhelmed. I thought it was okay, but something seemed amiss. I think because I am a massive fan of the books, the changes to the story distracted me from what was actually happening; that is, I spent too much time focusing on what wasn't there, as opposed to enjoying what was happening.
I made no such mistake tonight watching the Blu-Ray. Maybe because I already knew of the changes and wasn't distracted by them I was able to enjoy the film for it for what it is. It is a great adaptation of the book. I was absolutely spellbound (pun intended) from start to finish and I will admit that I shed a few wet ones.
My problem with the Potter films has always been the deviations from the original material, there is so much great stuff left out. What I have come to appreciate over the course of watching the films is that they are just an adaptation of the story; they were never going to be a direct translation from page to screen as that would not work, at least not as 8 movies. I used to view the films as a kind of seperate entity altogether, a sort of visual scrap-book in which I could see some scenes from the books played out. I now view them as a great companion the books and that makes viewing them much more pleasurable.
The Harry Potter books mean as much to me as the Bond films and I am starting to enjoy the films more. I am sad to see them come to an end. What an end though, I think this last film stands as a truly fitting finale to what has been a great series, both paper and celluloid versions.
1- On Her Majesty's Secret Service 2- Casino Royale 3- Licence To Kill 4- Goldeneye 5- From Russia With Love
Okay, only saw a bit of it. Was sat with my dad in front of the telly for a tense, pre-Xmas home visit. Craig has the look he has near the end of CR with Vesper drowned, sort of hangdog, looking down, I don't find him that convincing as an actor really.
"He's not the good looking actor, is he?" said my Dad. Hmm, could this be a moment of bonding? To take the discussion away from his favourite talk about World War II and the number of bomber tailgunners killed during the conflict (his other favourite topic being the state of his feet), perhaps I could talk about the Craig Wars on ajb? On the other hand, maybe not.
Tripple Cross, caught it on TV hadn't seen it in years. A true story of an Agent during ww2 working as a German spy but also working for the British. C Plummer plays the lead Very Bond, and the cast includes Gert Frobe and Claudine Auger. Directed by Terrence Young.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Cute, feel good Christmas movie from the producers and makers of Wallace and Gromit. Very well timed, as Oliver came home from school the other day, saying, "how can Santa exist, how can he get round to all the places in one night" and of course this is the question which is the main premise of the movie.
My explanation was... wait till we see Arthur Christmas, and you will find out. He wasn't too impressed with my fob off, but well was more than happy with the explanation given in the movie. Lots of elves, and a high speed spaceship that uses a cloaking device - although interesting that it's the old fashioned way that saves the day in the end!
Great 3D effects too... and some lovely little nods to the earlier aardman characters...
She's worth whatever chaos she brings to the table and you know it. ~ Mark Anthony
Tripple Cross, caught it on TV hadn't seen it in years. A true story of an Agent during ww2 working as a German spy but also working for the British. C Plummer plays the lead Very Bond, and the cast includes Gert Frobe and Claudine Auger. Directed by Terrence Young.
Dunno why you haven't seen it, it's on every few months, like every other film on telly these days, be it Great Expecations or Singing in the Rain.
Of course, a relatively new book about the spy is out, by Ben McIntyre, a Times journalist and Bond scribe. It benefits from no longer being under the Official Secrets Act.
I don't find Plummer that appealing, he has a touch of Dalton's coldness about him, he needs other, warmer actors to play off I find. The film I've caught bits of, it never really grabs hold for me somehow, I don't care about the lead character much, I don't cheer him on.
I've got my fingers cross they show "The Great Escape" this year
After watching Sherlock Holmes 2, I went home and rewatched the
First Film. Great fun, popcorn Movies.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Comments
Directed by Jodi Foster and starring Mel Gibson, Anton Yeltsin, Jennifer Lawrence and herself. Gibson plays a man who suffers from depresion. Afer a night of drinking and suicide attempts he picks up a stuffed toy beaver and starts tallking through it. I found the film interesting, funny and moving. It is not a cute messege-movie or a silly comedy. It is quite dark and complex at times. I also think this is the best acting Mel Gibson has done for many years. Now, can someone give him the money and trust to film the first good high budget viking movie ever made? Also, notice Jennifer Lawrence. She must be a comming movie star. Beautiful and a very talented young actress. If you haven`t seen her in anything, rent this movie and/or "Winter`s bone" and be convinced.
Five young teenagers spending summer filming a Super 8 movie get caught up in the adventure of a lifetime when they accidently film a mysterious train crash. The film produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams has some of the same qualities as E.T., young innocent kids, evil military, and a mysterious creature. The young actors get most of the screen time and they are all good, especially Joel Courtney and Elle Fanning (Dakota's younger sister). Credit should also go to the writers as the dialogue in the film is very accurate, especially the good natured ribbing the kids exchange.
I really enjoyed the film, it is one of those films that is a lot of fun to watch, sure some of what occurs is a little over the top, but that is overcome by the charisma of the young actors. If I had one complaint it would be that I think the last 15 minutes could have been better. Like too many movies today, the CGI takes over and the audience is left to watch computers graphics when what we really cared about was the kids and their relationships. Still, the film was fun and I enjoyed watching it, recommend.
There's been a lot lately on a new investigation into Natalie Wood's death, and I find it fishy (ow--no pun intended) that this comes about just as WSS is released on Blu-Ray to commemorate the movie's 50th anniversary. I mean, people are talking again. . .
Well, I decided to take up Love Films offer of free trial for a month - and a £20 Amazon voucher.... well, my first DVD arrived yesterday.
Anyway, this movie picks off where the last one left off... and you're hurled straight into the brutality of this series. We follow the two protagonists’ - Lisbeth and Mikael - the formers history of her continued abuse at the hands of a nasty and brutal Dr. Peter Teleborian and the complex cover up of why Lisbeth had to be institutionalised. Justice is indeed served - including the last minute showdown between her and her psychotic half-brother.
The only problem I have with this movie, (and in fact, the two that proceeded it) is that if you hadn't read the books, you would have no clue as to who half the people were.... in fact, even with this movie, you had to just go along with the various characters that appeared.... and trusted that it wasn't too integral to the plot as they weren’t introduced with any names. Also great chunks of the novels were left out - most interestingly, Mikael’s various affairs with key characters, this happens in this movie, as well as the other 2.
This is why I am looking forward to the re-makes. (The fact Daniel is the lead, does of course help :x) But more importantly to see if they portray the books in a more complete and in-depth fashion. Hope so...
Lovely movie, perhaps my favorite from George Clooney. It captures the Hawaii vibe well, while conveying the adult emotions faced by the main family. It was much sweeter than I expected and managed plenty of smiles despite it being about quite a raincloud over their heads. I thought the acting was good, especially the chemistry between Clooney and Shailene Woodley, the older daughter.
The movie managed to have an air of paradise that kept the pace and interest up. I really liked the style and story. At the end of it all, I just thought it was heartfelt and peaceful and dealt well with the feelings of life.
The films open with a scene right from a James Bond film, a British spy represented by an Aston Martin and voiced by Michael Caine sneaks aboard an oil platform to discover what secret some old cars are concealing. He is discovered and has to make a fantastic escape. Later we discover the old cars are "lemons" represented by Gremlins, Pacers, Yugos, etc. They are tired of being made fun of, so they join an evil capitalist and attempt to disrupt an international car race where a new "green" bio-fuel will be used. I won't give any more away, but you can probably guess the film has a "green" message and dirty oil/gasoline isn't part of the green message.
Although I found the film amusing at times, I didn't find it funny, although the story was compelling, it was somewhat predictable, although the characters were interesting, we don't really learn much about them with the exception of Toe Mater the tow truck. So as you can see, I didn't think the film was bad, I also don't think it lived up to the Pixar standard. It wasn't a complete miss, but for what I expect from Pixar, it was a miss.
I totally agree...Cars 2 was clearly missing that Pixar magic. For me, it almost seemed like it should have been a straight-to-DVD release. I had to laugh about the big 'mystery' as to who was behind the sinister plot behind the new bio-fuel, since there was esentially only one new character introduced in the story 8-)
speaking of kid's movies...I took in "Transformers 3.: Revenge of the Moon" (or whatever it was called) over the weekend. Like the others, you have to check your brain at the door. I'm not sure why they keep making these movies...and just when you think the world is safe, Optimus Prime delivers some grandiose epilogue that warns you that there may be another stupid movie on the horizon.
Could not agree more. Wonderful film from the director of About Schmidt and Sideways, with a funny/poignant vibe similar to those fims. Clooney is fantastic playing the vulnerable man -- no matinee idol thing going on here. I had never even heard of Shailene Woodley, but she is amazing. Interesting how the character we learn most about as the film progresses is the one who cannot speak for herself -- we learn about her only threw the recollections of others. Excellent movie, which will be in the conversation come Oscar time.
And as a trivial bonus, when I went to IMDb and looked up the actor who plays the "other man", I learned that we went to the same high school.
That's neat!
I hope this gets a bit of award buzz somewhere. I really liked it. It's list of flaws is remarkably short and I agree that Woodley was great. I had seen her years ago as a guest on CSI and remember reading that the producers had loved her and saw a future for her. After just a conversation or two of her's on screen, she definitely had my attention. I like Clooney playing someone much less extraordinary. I was getting tired of most of his films being built to exploit his name. Definitely renewed respect after this pleasant surprise.
Woody Allen has really changed as a film maker lately. Earlier he used to play himself in some mildly diverting story set in New York. Now he hires actors to play him in a mildly diverting story set in large European cities. He has also discovered that making films is a great way to hang around hot, young women. This time Owen Wilson has the Woody Allan role, he even sounds a bit like him.
The city is obviously Paris where Wilson and his fiance is visiting. Wilson is playing a Hollywood screenwriter who idolises Paris in the 1920`s. One night he is walking in the streets of Paris and a vntage car pulls up and literally transports him back to the 20`s. There he meets personalities like Hemningway, Picasso and Gertrute Stein. This happens again each night and he learns about art, life, love and Paris.
I`m no big Woody Allen fan ("Match point" was great, though), but this movie was fine, leasurely and nostalgic entertainment. Probably a good date movie. Wilson`s fiance is played by Rachel McAdams, who reportedly turned down the role of Vesper Lynd before Eva Green got it.
Casino Royale was wonderfull, but I like to imagine how it would have turned out with Michael Fassbender as a young Bond and Rachel MacAdams as Vesper.
I re-watched this 1973 classic on DVD tonight. And what a classic: a tight plot, grat cast and plenty of style and smarts! I have only two problems with it - dames and guns. The actresses playing love interests of sorts to Newman and Redford wouldn`t turn heads anywhere. Very plain-looking.
When it comes to guns, I reacted when they started using suppressors on revolvers. There is only one very rare model of revolver that can use suppressors, an old Mosin-Nagant, and The Sting uses only Colts and Smith & Wessons. Still, the film is well worth seing.
I really enjoyed the BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and found the follow up series, Smiley's People. equally compelling. Alec Guiness' performance as George Smiley is brilliant and the supporting cast is truly impressive as it was in Tinker Tailor. Of particular interest to me were the characters General Vladimir and Grigoriev. These two were both played by actors who had recently played Bond villains (Curt Jurgens and Michael Lonsdale). Considering how much the Le Carre spy world is unlike to the Fleming one, it is interesting that they chose to go with two recent Bond baddies.
Tinker Tailor and Smiley's People are two miniseries which I highly recommend.
Let me add my voice to the other AJB members who have reviewed The Descendants and found it terrific, I concur.
George Clooney is Matt King, a land baron, the trustee to a large parcel of land in Hawaii that has been handed down through several generations. A change in real estate laws is now forcing the family to consider selling the property to developers. While working with his extended family on how to sell the property, his wife suffers sever injuries in a boating accident. After learning his wife will not come out of her coma and only has weeks to live, Matt King sets out on a journey. He will inform friends and family of his wife circumstances including the father-in-law who clearly does not like him, he will attempt to reconnect with his two daughters who he has ignored while focusing on work and he will confront the man he recently learned his wife was having an affair with.
George Clooney is wonderful as Matt King, showing various emotions through facial expressions and body language, just watching Clooney's face on screen, the audience can share and feel his emotions. Shailene Woodley plays Clooney's rebellious daughter Alex, I am not familiar with any of her previous work, but she portrays the rebellious, yet maturing daughter perfectly, her emotions and actions never seems out of place. The entire cast is excellent, but Clooney and Woodley really stood out for me. The film is beautifully shot and has a simple yet memorable score.
What I liked about this film was the story, none of the characters are perfect, they are all flawed, and they all have lost touch with what is truly important. The film intersperses humor and comedy flawlessly, at times I would be laughing out loud and two minutes later have a tear in my eye. The Descendents is the best film I have seen in 2011.
Highly recommend
I rented this animated movie mainly because it has been warmly recomended on this thread, and I wasn`t disapointed. In fact I think it is one of the best movies this year. It reminded me strangly of the first Pirates movie and at first I thought it was because Jonny Depp voices Rango. Then I discovered that the director was Gore Verbinsky who of cource directed the first Pirates. Rango had the curious characters, playfull language and inventive story I often missed in the later Pirates. Studying the credits I made one more welcome discovery: the script was written by John Logan who has also worked on Skyfall. A good sign, even if I hope Skyfall ill have a slightly different tone.
Quirky little ensemble film that takes place at the onset of the financial meltdown in 2008. With one notable exception (more on that later) character names are unimportant, so I will speak in terms of actors.
On the day he is unceremoniously downsized from his risk management job at a New York investment bank, Stanley Tucci hands a USB drive to a junior member of his staff (Zachary Quinto) and tells him he has been working on something and to "be careful". Quinto, being the motivated young banker that he is, stays late that night and fills in some missing pieces of Tucci's analysis, and in doing so he discovers that the bank's asset portfolio is about to implode. He calls Tucci's boss Paul Bettany, a chain-smoking, Maserati-driving Type-A. Despite the late hour, Bettany immediately calls in his boss Kevin Spacey, a jaded veteran and head of the entire trading floor. Spacey, sensing the seriousness, alerts (A) his peer and head of risk management Demi Moore, who is bumping up against a glass ceiling, and (B) Spacey's boss Simon Baker, a young star with ice water in his veins who runs all banking operations. Finally, Baker takes it all the way up to his boss, the CEO Jeremy Irons. At 4:00AM, the decision is made to unload the entire toxic portfolio by selling it the next day, as soon as the market opens, to unsuspecting customers unaware of the crap they are buying.
Not everyone is fully behind this strategy, so the hours between 4:00-9:00AM are spent arm-twisting reticent parties and determining who will be sacrificed in the wake of the inevitable s--tstorm that will happen once the market realizes what is going on.
The whole film takes place over about 36 hours, almost entirely in the bank's headquarters. It has a very documentary feel to it, both in the filming style and in the fact that it ends without any neat resolutions, epiphanies or moral messages (if you are looking for an angry polemic along the lines of Inside Job, this one is not for you). Also, while it is a work of fiction, it is clearly inspired by the fall of Lehman Brothers. Jeremy Irons's CEO is named John Tuld, whereas Lehman's was Dick Fuld. Surprised they did not get sued.
All in all, I would recommend it. The acting was uniformly good, and I would single out Spacey and Irons as especially strong (two Oscar-winners -- big surprise!). Watching the film felt like being a fly on the wall at a relatively precipitous time in recent history.
Wow, what a great movie. The acting by everyone was superb - and Firth's ability to really look convincing as someone who is crippled by a stammer was quite extraordinary.
Some real laugh out moments too.... as well as a poignant story of how unsympathetic parenting can really affect your children. Let alone the complete selfishness of King Edward VIII.
I believe this is playing on Sky Movies over Christmas... go check it out if you haven't - it really is worth all the hype it got. -{
This is a comedy that is a satire of mega churches and the flock of belivers who attend them. This church is led by pastor Dan Day, played by no other than Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan has fun with the role and does a fine job. He also tries to spread his acting wings by going for an American accent, but to my ears it sounds like he lands somewhere mid-Atlantic. He also looks good. Actually good enough to still play Bond, if it wasn`t for his grey stubbl ................oh.
Greg Kinnear plays an ex-Evil Dead fan Carl who is now a born again christian, a supporter of pastor Dan and married. His true believer wife is played by Jennifer Connelly. I have never seen her being so relaxed and fun in a movie before. Neither has she looked this fine in years - it was a great mistake not to cast her as dr. Christmas Jones in TWINE. She looks amazing, could be convincing as a scientist and is an infinately better actress than Denise Richards.
Ed Harris plays a atheist who debates pastor Dan, and is later accidentally shot by the pastor with Carl as a witnes. I won`t give away more of the plot, let`s just say God moves in mysterious ways. This is a good comedy. Not laugh-out-loud funny most of the time, but the type of comedy you chuckle at and sometimes burst out laughing when watching.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
It is out on DVD.
I saw this on release day at the cinema and I was a trifle underwhelmed. I thought it was okay, but something seemed amiss. I think because I am a massive fan of the books, the changes to the story distracted me from what was actually happening; that is, I spent too much time focusing on what wasn't there, as opposed to enjoying what was happening.
I made no such mistake tonight watching the Blu-Ray. Maybe because I already knew of the changes and wasn't distracted by them I was able to enjoy the film for it for what it is. It is a great adaptation of the book. I was absolutely spellbound (pun intended) from start to finish and I will admit that I shed a few wet ones.
My problem with the Potter films has always been the deviations from the original material, there is so much great stuff left out. What I have come to appreciate over the course of watching the films is that they are just an adaptation of the story; they were never going to be a direct translation from page to screen as that would not work, at least not as 8 movies. I used to view the films as a kind of seperate entity altogether, a sort of visual scrap-book in which I could see some scenes from the books played out. I now view them as a great companion the books and that makes viewing them much more pleasurable.
The Harry Potter books mean as much to me as the Bond films and I am starting to enjoy the films more. I am sad to see them come to an end. What an end though, I think this last film stands as a truly fitting finale to what has been a great series, both paper and celluloid versions.
Was very interesting, and if that police footage was genuine it certainly makes you wonder ...
I recommend it.
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Okay, only saw a bit of it. Was sat with my dad in front of the telly for a tense, pre-Xmas home visit. Craig has the look he has near the end of CR with Vesper drowned, sort of hangdog, looking down, I don't find him that convincing as an actor really.
"He's not the good looking actor, is he?" said my Dad. Hmm, could this be a moment of bonding? To take the discussion away from his favourite talk about World War II and the number of bomber tailgunners killed during the conflict (his other favourite topic being the state of his feet), perhaps I could talk about the Craig Wars on ajb? On the other hand, maybe not.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Cute, feel good Christmas movie from the producers and makers of Wallace and Gromit. Very well timed, as Oliver came home from school the other day, saying, "how can Santa exist, how can he get round to all the places in one night" and of course this is the question which is the main premise of the movie.
My explanation was... wait till we see Arthur Christmas, and you will find out. He wasn't too impressed with my fob off, but well was more than happy with the explanation given in the movie. Lots of elves, and a high speed spaceship that uses a cloaking device - although interesting that it's the old fashioned way that saves the day in the end!
Great 3D effects too... and some lovely little nods to the earlier aardman characters...
Dunno why you haven't seen it, it's on every few months, like every other film on telly these days, be it Great Expecations or Singing in the Rain.
Of course, a relatively new book about the spy is out, by Ben McIntyre, a Times journalist and Bond scribe. It benefits from no longer being under the Official Secrets Act.
I don't find Plummer that appealing, he has a touch of Dalton's coldness about him, he needs other, warmer actors to play off I find. The film I've caught bits of, it never really grabs hold for me somehow, I don't care about the lead character much, I don't cheer him on.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
After watching Sherlock Holmes 2, I went home and rewatched the
First Film. Great fun, popcorn Movies.