# List the films you've seen at the cinema: 2012



## MellySingsDoom (Jan 2, 2012)

Hope no-one minds me starting this one off - this is the thread for all Urbanite's 2012 cinema viewing pleasures (or occasional nightmares!).

I'll start off with one I saw yesterday at a New Year's Day screening, and it's an oldie but goodie - Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (played at the Prince Charles) - it was the longest print of this film going, and it's in remarkably good nick. I guess everyone knows the story to this one, so essentially Lang's set pieces look amazing up on the big screen, there's some brillaint, way-ahead-of-their-time special effects, the whole ruling class/working class dynamic that the film hinges upon is still an effective and powerful one, and (thankfully) the score that accompanies this film is not that ghastly sub-pomp rock one that used to do the rounds, but a "proper" classical score.

Basically, if you ever get the chance to see "Metropolis" at the cinema, I'd highly recommend it.


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## moonsi til (Jan 2, 2012)

First film of 2012 was Mission Impossible with BF & his 10yr son. We all enjoyed it in a action film way. I'm tempted to go back tomorrow for Arthur Christmas and will aim to see Girl With A Dragon Tattoo this week. I'm off work and making good use of my Cineworld Unlimited card.


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## Pickman's model (Jan 2, 2012)

Sherlock

I quite enjoyed it and noted in passing that the moriarty character must have been in part based on zaharoff


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 2, 2012)

I went to see the left over turkey that was New Years Eve, my only consolation for my wasted journey was that my NYE was far more  interesting than that of any of the characters in this dreary rom com. I gave up on the plot about halfway through and amused myself by counting the famous names y'know - McDonalds, Philips, TGI Fridays, TDK, Nivea etc etc..


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## Sue (Jan 2, 2012)

Contagion. Interesting.


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## Lea (Jan 6, 2012)

First film I watched this year was Mission Impossible 4. I couldn't distinguish it for the previous 3 films in the franchise. So not very memorable but entertaining whilst it lasted.

Last night I went to watch a film called the Artist. A slient black and white film set in the Hollywood golden era. Really well made. Brilliant script. I didn't think that they could pull off a silent black and white film in this day and age but the director and cast did a really good job! Highly recommended.


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## moomoo (Jan 6, 2012)

I went to see Girl With A Dragon Tattoo last night. I enjoyed it but found some parts very disturbing.


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 6, 2012)

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
Missed the first one so was'nt sure what to expect but I  liked it,fight scenes were good  and it was quite funny and dark in places.


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## moonsi til (Jan 6, 2012)

I did not see Arthur Christmas but I have just returned from watching 'Girl With A Dragon Tattoo'. I liked it a lot and like moomoo I found some scenes difficult to watch. I have not read the book so I don't how the film differs.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 6, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
> Missed the first one so was'nt sure what to expect but I liked it,fight scenes were good and it was quite funny and dark in places.


Yes, went to watch this with my 18y/o son yesterday, he'd seen the first one and recommended it, i hadn't but was happy to go along with him.

Thought it was enjoyable, slightly confusing initially and probably a bit bombastic (alright, definitely)

But a laugh, like you say, fight scenes were good, enjoyed the final battle with the prof, and the relationship between shirley and watson was lovely


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## Sue (Jan 6, 2012)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Yes, went to watch this with my 18y/o son yesterday, he'd seen the first one and recommended it, i hadn't but was happy to go along with him.
> 
> Thought it was enjoyable, slightly confusing initially and probably a bit bombastic (alright, definitely)
> 
> But a laugh, like you say, fight scenes were good, enjoyed the final battle with the prof, and the relationship between shirley and watson was lovely



Seems I'm the only person on here who hated everything about it...


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## Gramsci (Jan 6, 2012)

MellySingsDoom said:


> Hope no-one minds me starting this one off - this is the thread for all Urbanite's 2012 cinema viewing pleasures (or occasional nightmares!).
> 
> I'll start off with one I saw yesterday at a New Year's Day screening, and it's an oldie but goodie - Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (played at the Prince Charles) - it was the longest print of this film going, and it's in remarkably good nick. I guess everyone knows the story to this one, so essentially Lang's set pieces look amazing up on the big screen, there's some brillaint, way-ahead-of-their-time special effects, the whole ruling class/working class dynamic that the film hinges upon is still an effective and powerful one, and (thankfully) the score that accompanies this film is not that ghastly sub-pomp rock one that used to do the rounds, but a "proper" classical score.
> 
> Basically, if you ever get the chance to see "Metropolis" at the cinema, I'd highly recommend it.



I saw a version a while back. This new longer one was discovered recently. Someone I know , who used to work in film, told me that early films did not have standard version. The length was quite often altered to suit the needs of the cinema owners. Also the musical scores were not all the same. Depended on where in the world it was shown. I agree its best seen in a cinema. It has great large scale set pieces.


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## Reno (Jan 7, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I saw a version a while back. This new longer one was discovered recently. Someone I know , who used to work in film, told me that early films did not have standard version. The length was quite often altered to suit the needs of the cinema owners. Also the musical scores were not all the same. Depended on where in the world it was shown. I agree its best seen in a cinema. It has great large scale set pieces.



That's not just for silent films, but has been going on all though film history and it's still going on, especially for foreign language films. Metropolis was cut down because at over 2.5 hours it was a very long film and then it got cut down further when this hugely expensive production flopped catastrophically.

I love silent movies and Fritz Lang but I've never been a fan of Metropolis apart from its art direction. Its laughable politics are down to Thea Von Harbou's screenplay who fell out with Lang and joined the Nazi party soon after. I find the film both emotionally and intellectually unengaging and the restored version does nothing to change that for me. I think many people make concessions for that because they think films that old would have to have been simplistic and naive with lots of histrionic acting, but that's not the case. This is the Star Wars of its day. It's not up there with truly great films of the late silent period like Sunrise, People on Sunday, Pandora's Box or The Last Laugh. I always found it a bit sad that this is the only non-comedy silent movie many people will ever watch.


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## Belushi (Jan 7, 2012)

Reno said:


> People on Sunday



Saw this for the first time recently, really great film.


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## Reno (Jan 7, 2012)

Belushi said:


> Saw this for the first time recently, really great film.



Because of its naturalism the film is like taking a time machine to Weimar Berlin, which still seems so modern now.


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## janeb (Jan 7, 2012)

Saw The Artist yesterday.  Was a little anxious given the huge amount of hype and I'm a massive fan of silent moves, but I loved it.  Thought the style was exceptionally well done, cried a little, laughed a lot and though the ending was totally joyous.


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## Gramsci (Jan 7, 2012)

Belushi said:


> Saw this for the first time recently, really great film.



The film Reno mentions ( People on Sunday) is new to me. I will have to check it out:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020163/

I have seen Sunrise. Which is also a very good film


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## Callie (Jan 7, 2012)

Saw Sherlock on weds. Didn't really do anything for me. Was annoyed by the number if people getting up to go to the loo during the film, I'm sure that never usually happens!
Hoping to see rear window at the price Charles cinema on Tuesday. The friend that I'm going with also wants to see the artist so after what you lit have said we might go to that one too another time. Yay to another film filled year!


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## quimcunx (Jan 7, 2012)

Lea said:


> First film I watched this year was Mission Impossible 4. I couldn't distinguish it for the previous 3 films in the franchise. So not very memorable but entertaining whilst it lasted.
> 
> Last night I went to watch a film called the Artist. A slient black and white film set in the Hollywood golden era. Really well made. Brilliant script. I didn't think that they could pull off a silent black and white film in this day and age but the director and cast did a really good job! Highly recommended.






janeb said:


> Saw The Artist yesterday. Was a little anxious given the huge amount of hype and I'm a massive fan of silent moves, but I loved it. Thought the style was exceptionally well done, cried a little, laughed a lot and though the ending was totally joyous.



I was going to ask if anyone had seen this yet. Hoping to go see it, largely because I have a bit of a thing for Jean Dujardin


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## janeb (Jan 7, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> The film Reno mentions ( People on Sunday) is new to me. I will have to check it out:
> 
> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020163/
> 
> I have seen Sunrise. Which is also a very good film




Sunrise is a fabulous film


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## Badgers (Jan 7, 2012)

Sherlock tomorrow


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## Picadilly Commando (Jan 7, 2012)

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen


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## Picadilly Commando (Jan 7, 2012)

Sue said:


> Contagion. Interesting.



I could think of another word


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## Belushi (Jan 8, 2012)

Caught the late screening of The Tree of Life at the Ritzy tonight. Classic Malick; ponderous, portentous but visually stunning. Incredible cinematography, breathtaking images and use of light.


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## Picadilly Commando (Jan 8, 2012)

Has anyone seen the Artist? I don't know if I fancy it or not. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to films


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## kittyP (Jan 8, 2012)

Lea said:


> Last night I went to watch a film called the Artist. A slient black and white film set in the Hollywood golden era. Really well made. Brilliant script. I didn't think that they could pull off a silent black and white film in this day and age but the director and cast did a really good job! Highly recommended.



Oooh I really want to see this


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## kittyP (Jan 8, 2012)

janeb said:


> Saw The Artist yesterday. Was a little anxious given the huge amount of hype and I'm a massive fan of silent moves, but I loved it. Thought the style was exceptionally well done, cried a little, laughed a lot and though the ending was totally joyous.



Is it silent?

I just watched the trailer and John Goodman's character says "perfect"


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## janeb (Jan 8, 2012)

It's silent apart from a couple of scenes use sound in particular ways. Makes total sense in terms of the film and the story.


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## Lea (Jan 8, 2012)

Picadilly Commando said:


> Has anyone seen the Artist? I don't know if I fancy it or not. I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to films



What do you mean you are a film snob? You like blockbusters, arthouse?

Anyway, the Artist is a very good film. Good script. Good acting. Go and see it!


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## Sue (Jan 8, 2012)

janeb said:


> Saw The Artist yesterday. Was a little anxious given the huge amount of hype and I'm a massive fan of silent moves, but I loved it. Thought the style was exceptionally well done, cried a little, laughed a lot and though the ending was totally joyous.



Saw it earlier. Certainly lived up to the hype -- the acting and the whole style of it were great.


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## Reno (Jan 8, 2012)

I enjoyed The Artist, many great gags, great cinematography and a fantastic central performance by the lead. It would have been even better had it been twenty minutes shorter and had they not used the music from Vertigo for the climax.


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## october_lost (Jan 8, 2012)

I thought I would see '...Kevin' and 'Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy,' before they leave the cinema for good. I thought ...Kevin was pretty poor, the characters relationship was a total parody and had a trouble feeling anything for Tilda, even though she was otherwise good in the role. And TTSS was stylish but not the final product I had anticipated.

Really deparate to see Dreams of a life at Prince Charles before its taken off the billing altogether. Can't see it having much of a shelf life.


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## Gramsci (Jan 8, 2012)

As the other posters have said The Artist is definitely worth seeing.

And im no great fan of B&W silent films. Nothing wrong with them its just that I dont go out of my to see them. And I liked The Artist.

Its not a profound story but like Scorceses "Hugo" it is made by someone who loves cinema. I was carried along by its good natured exuberance.

Several scenes show the audience in cinemas. It was a communal act to see a film then. More than now. I liked the way that this was done in the film. It was not just a love story or about a star down on his luck. It was also about the magic of seeing film. ( something it also shares with Hugo).

Posters have said it brought them to tears at some point. I wonder if having to read peoples body language rather than the words they say is more likely to grab an audience emotionally.

It looks like a hit. I saw in Screen One Ritzy and it was 90% full in afternoon. BTW Iron Lady in smaller screen was sold out for most of Sunday. So that looks like a hit as well.

Maybe I should check out some more silent movies.

The dog, as has been said elsewhere, is in line for an Oscar.


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## Gramsci (Jan 8, 2012)

october_lost said:


> I thought I would see '...Kevin' and 'Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy,' before they leave the cinema for good. I thought ...Kevin was pretty poor, the characters relationship was a total parody and had a trouble feeling anything for Tilda, even though she was otherwise good in the role. And TTSS was stylish but not the final product I had anticipated.
> 
> Really deparate to see Dreams of a life at Prince Charles before its taken off the billing altogether. Can't see it having much of a shelf life.



Dreams of Life is still on at Curzon Soho


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 9, 2012)

Goon,





more of a Friday night after the pub DVD sort of film. Not very original but entertaining enough, it passed the time..


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jan 9, 2012)

I went to see The Artist this afternoon, absolutely loved it, a quite wonderful movie directed by someone with an obvious love for the subject, a thing of great beauty and wit, with some added pathos and lump-in-throat moments. i didn't even mind the extra 20 minutes that Reno wanted, out i thought it was gorgeous.


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## october_lost (Jan 12, 2012)

Finally got to see *Dreams of a Life *at Prince Charles. I had heard good things about it, though I was a little tepid about it because I thought it might be a little too macabre and having seen *Blitz *I wasn't all that wowed by Zawe Ashton. That said I enjoyed the documentary. It was more the kaleidoscope of her life has told through flat mates, lovers, old co-workers, good friends than anything else, but some, journos and MP imparticular did hint about what it said of society. This ran alongside a reconstruction with Zawe. The only limitation was no family was involved any of the interviews.


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## not-bono-ever (Jan 13, 2012)

teh artist

I really enjoyed it- a simple story of a silent movie actor falling out of favout when talkies come around, but filimg it as a silent movie really works...


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## Gramsci (Jan 14, 2012)

october_lost said:


> Finally got to see *Dreams of a Life *at Prince Charles. I had heard good things about it, though I was a little tepid about it because I thought it might be a little too macabre and having seen *Blitz *I wasn't all that wowed by Zawe Ashton. That said I enjoyed the documentary. It was more the kaleidoscope of her life has told through flat mates, lovers, old co-workers, good friends than anything else, but some, journos and MP imparticular did hint about what it said of society. This ran alongside a reconstruction with Zawe. The only limitation was no family was involved any of the interviews.



I was at a Q&A with director. She said that she has shown the film to the family. They did not want to be filmed in interview. She respected their decision. She did say ( this was not mentioned in film) that the family had hired a private dectective to find there sister at one point . He had failed.


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## Belushi (Jan 15, 2012)

*The Artist *a lovely tribute to the golden age of silent movies. Great cinematography and a superb performance from Jean Dujardin in the lead.


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## Reno (Jan 15, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I was at a Q&A with director. She said that she has shown the film to the family. They did not want to be filmed in interview. She respected their decision. She did say ( this was not mentioned in film) that the *family had hired a private dectective* to find there sister at one point . He had failed.


 
I find it quite troubling that this wasn't mentioned. It has put me off from watching the film.


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## october_lost (Jan 15, 2012)

Reno said:


> I find it quite troubling that this wasn't mentioned. It has put me off from watching the film.


Yeah, thanks Gramsci, but totally agree with this. The charm of the film more than anything was that people had clearly lost someone and that came through in the final product.


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## october_lost (Jan 15, 2012)

Saw the new Sherlock Holmes last night, didn't mind the first film, but the new one was rubbish almost from the start. Its like they lost what little charm there was in the first.


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 16, 2012)

The War House, lavish  epic about a horse  set in World War 1. I thought it was great, excellent cast and the story is really moving. Best Speilberg in years.


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## Gramsci (Jan 17, 2012)

I was going to see Shame but it had sold out at Ritzy.

Read this. Ha Ha . The Artist is amaaayzing.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...d-this-year’s-'amaaayzing'-film-201201164770/

"The art-house film has become a huge hit among people who know more about films than you do or who think their fondness for films you have not seen makes them more worthwhile than you are.

Amateur film critic Nathan Muir, 41, said: “I was told that The Artist was amaaayzing and I wasn't disappointed.

"The use of black and white was amaaayzing, as was the soundtrack and the set design. I also spotted several obscure references that I'm sure not many other people did and this momentarily boosted up my sense of self.

"Which was amaaayzing."


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 17, 2012)

They had to get the codes off the baddie before he sets off the  nuclear weapons and kills the whole world! Great silly fun, non stop action and Simon Pegg


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## Belushi (Jan 20, 2012)

*Hannah and her Sisters  *one of my favourite Woody Allen movies so I was pleased to finally catch it on the big screen at the BFI.  Funny, moving, great score, great ensemble cast, even Michael Cain gives a good performance.


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 21, 2012)

Saw 2 films this evening
J Edgar - don't know how accurate this  portrayal  is   but even at over 2 hours long it's still very watchable and Leo is brilliant in it.
and
The Sitter which is great fun, it's got Jonah Hill in it who  always makes me laugh whatever he's in.


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## Sue (Jan 22, 2012)

J Edgar. Not Clint's finest moment. Too long, too slow and some of the aging makeup was very dodgy indeed.

The Secret Files of J Edgar Hoover, which I saw a couple of weeks ago and didn't rate much at the time, is a better film.


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## not-bono-ever (Jan 22, 2012)

the war horse. supposed to be about a thouroughbred, but is an absolute donkey. Plods along , too much Spielberg Schamtlz.Then I saw that Richard Curtis co wrote it. All makes sense now. Read the book, see the show, dont bother with the film.


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## Gramsci (Jan 23, 2012)

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/shame/

Finally got around to see Steve McQueens "Shame" . Saw it at Ritzy Screen One this evening and it was 80% full. A good turnout for Sunday evening.

The video and installation artists second film after "Hunger" stars Fassbender as messed up guy in New York. Its another great performance by Fassbender. And for for the Ladies he is all there in the buff. Which apparently is going down well. Plenty of anonymous sex as well. This film is getting a big youngish audience. Which for an unrepentant art film is good. This film does not have a traditional narrative nor does it have the usual "finding oneself" bollox format of Hollywood films. Works as makes it more true to life.

It needs to be persisted with. I was not sure about it at the start but it builds up as a powerful film. Fassbender pulls it off as he is great in front of the camera. Not a pretty boy but has a certain vulnerable but rugged look that I can see is appealing.

Its a film about someone trying to make a connection with others but finding himself unable. Brendan ( Fassbender) is not a bad person but just does not make it. Two scenes are particularly excruciating as he really tries with one woman he meets in his office and its a disaster. You really feel for him

Also its interesting as Brendan ( Fassbender) is not a macho character. Unlike his boss. The sexual politics are interesting as it not a critique of masculinity as such. His sister is as just as much messed up as him. The Brendan character is actually sympathetic towards women. Despite the use of call girls and porn.It just that there is something missing in him. I may be wrong but there is a certain gay sensibility running through the film.


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## Reno (Jan 23, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I may be wrong but there is a certain gay sensibility running through the film.



Not really.


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## quimcunx (Jan 23, 2012)

enjoyed the artist even though everyone was bigging it up.   It was enjoyable.  Not sure it was amaaaaayzing.

Saw Attenberg the other night.  it was quirky and foreign.


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## Gramsci (Jan 23, 2012)

Reno said:


> Not really.



to the point Reno.

 It was really because the film was not the macho angst movie I thought it was going to be. It was more interesting than that imo.


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## Gramsci (Jan 23, 2012)

quimcunx said:


> enjoyed the artist even though everyone was bigging it up. It was enjoyable. Not sure it was amaaaaayzing.
> 
> Saw Attenberg the other night. it was quirky and foreign.



Missed Attenburg. U reminded me its one I want to see. Greek film is on the up at the moment. Hope the Greek film makers wont be held back by the economic crisis.


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## Reno (Jan 23, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> to the point Reno.
> 
> It was really because the film was not the macho angst movie I thought it was going to be. It was more interesting than that imo.



I wasn't a fan of the film and have been bickering over it at legth here, among other things why I found the gay sex club scene problematic:

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/steven-mcqueens-shame.287368/


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 24, 2012)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Got into this, but it took a while, I was nearly nodding off during the  first hour.
best bit was  when  when Enya's Orinico Flow came on in the serial killer's murder den

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/12/22/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo-enya/


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## twentythreedom (Jan 24, 2012)

Warhorse. Pretty good, a bit too Spielberg but worth watching nonetheless. Anyone else seen it?


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## redsquirrel (Jan 25, 2012)

The Muppets - not their best film but still really enjoyable, lots of very silly jokes. Chris Cooper is great as the evil oil man.


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## StraightOuttaQ (Jan 26, 2012)

Margin Call: The 'Heat' of financial movies. Easily the best movie about Wall St ever made. Almost immaculately cast (except Jeremy Irons, who is woeful) and short, snappy dialogue easily the equal of Mamet. Very very good. Didn't think much of the final scene, but otherwise...spot on. Spacey is at his peak in this, rather than his slumming it of late performances....


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## Gramsci (Jan 29, 2012)

Margin Call - havent seen it yet as its not got wide release. To my surprise as it sounds like a good film


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## Gramsci (Jan 29, 2012)

http://www.coriolanusmovie.co.uk/

Coriolanus

Updated to the 90s Balkan wars this is little known Shakespeare play. Grim and brutal. Fiennes play Coriolanus a warlord who cannot adjust to peace and drags his country into another bloody war. I had never heard of this play. Its more relevant now as it deals with a society verging on the edge of chaos. Politics, violence, nationalism and class war are all covered. Also Coriolanus brought up in a world of violence cannot bend or relate to those around him. Vanessa Redgrave plays his mother - as hard minded as him. There relationship is poisonous. Vanessa is very very good. The scenes between Fiennes and her show what a great actress she still is.

Good cinematography as well by Ackroyd. Who did United 93 and "The Wind that shakes the Barley".

Im no expert on Shakespeare and I dont follow all the dialogue. Need to see it again when it comes out on DVD.

Still its a powerful film. Better at dealing with the issues of power and politics than the recent "Iron Lady". Had everything that film skated over.


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## petee (Jan 29, 2012)

tinker tailor is the only film we've seen in a theater so far. overall still much prefer the TV series, but the film had two or three plusses, the biggest of which is that smiley comes across as the cold fuck he'd have to be to reach that position; alec guinness was great to watch but too mild to be really convincing. other plusses are that it's bloodier, and esterhase is clearly mittleuropan, on TV he was an english as the next toff. but control, prideaux, and tarr were much better on TV.


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## Gingerman (Jan 29, 2012)

twentythreedom said:


> Warhorse. Pretty good, a bit too Spielberg but worth watching nonetheless. Anyone else seen it?


Went to see it yesterday,Spielberg really ladles on the schmaltz,didn't really move me like I thought it would tbh,action scenes are well done though,I liked the Calvary charge and the bit where the horse races along what seems to be half the length of the Western Front before getting caught  up it the barbwire.Not a bad film by any means but some of the rave reviews it got are a bit


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## Geri (Jan 29, 2012)

I thought War Horse was fab. I've watched it twice since Friday and it made me cry both times.


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## dynamicbaddog (Jan 29, 2012)

The Artist
  really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would.
   The dog was ace.


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## Strumpet (Jan 29, 2012)

Sherlock - enjoyed the relationships and the fight scenes and loveed the humour.
Haywire - very disappointed. Looked forward to a female toughie lead but the story was weak the fight scenes look too staged and didn't flow at all and the ending....wtf!?

Have got 2 free Vue tickets and after reviews on here I want to see The Artist and def. Girl with Dragon Tatt! Ohhgod and Underworld!!


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## twentythreedom (Jan 29, 2012)

Geri said:


> I thought War Horse was fab. I've watched it twice since Friday and it made me cry both times.



Ahh Geri you soppy mare! Shedding a little tear once I can accept, but watching it twice since friday and blubbing both times??  I bet you laughed when the krauts all chucked their wire-clippers over too 

Anyone seen the stage show and the film?


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## Gramsci (Jan 31, 2012)

"The House of Tolerance" / L'Apollonide (Souvenirs de la maison close)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1660379/

French film nominated for Palme d'Or on limited release here. Saw it at the Ciné Lumière.

Very French. 2 hours in an upmarket brothel at the turn of the 19th c. 

It is a historically researched look at the "tolerated" brothels of Paris for wealthy men. It could have been titillating but it is far from that. This is not a soft core costume drama. This is despite the way its shot. The scenes are sumptuous. In hindsight this makes it almost a surreal film. The house becomes claustrophobic after a while.

The actual scenes of sex ( or "commerce" as its called in the house) become unerotic . The woman "perform" for the men. Downstairs they talk and play games with the clientèle. They know and the men know this is all for money. Its a fantasy. The wealthy men can afford this luxury and escape.

The film show the commercial nature of the brothel and the larger society. This capitalist society is one where everything is bought and sold. The lower orders live a precarious life. Becoming a prostitute is perhaps better than working in some sweatshop to them.

Its not a simple morality tale. Whilst the women are trapped in there circumstances they have a sense of camaderie with each other. There is even a kind of relationship between some of the girls and there clients.

It has split critics. Bradshaw in Guardian hates it. I think he misses the point. Its not a straightforward polemical film. It is very odd. Only the French could make a film like this. And straight after seeing it I wasn't sure what to make of it. It comes across as cold. But then maybe I have become used to a lot of emotional angst portrayed on screen recently. So this film is also interesting in the way that it does not do this. It does not give one any answers or lead the viewer to make any. Most bizarre is the almost nostalgic end of an era in Paris feel to it. Which the ending undercuts.


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## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 1, 2012)

Shame.

I feel unclean, and need to scrub myself repeatedly. Its a very...uncompromising film, both graphically and very damning of its subjects.


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## Sue (Feb 1, 2012)

The Descendants. Wasn't convinced by the trailers but it was on locally so thought I'd give it a try. Quite good.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 2, 2012)

Shame: a handsome rich man with a nice flat has too much anonymous sex with beautiful women, can't handle it, is mean to his equally fucked up sister and cries in the rain. Poor man. Poor poor man.


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## dynamicbaddog (Feb 2, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> Shame.
> 
> I feel unclean, and need to scrub myself repeatedly. Its a very...uncompromising film, both graphically and very damning of its subjects.


after reading this I went to see to it. I was hoping to leave the cinema feeling dirty, but it just left me cold. Disappointment.


----------



## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 2, 2012)

But the whole film is about that emotional coldness, detachment, inability to connect. The one person he does have the possiblity of a relationship working with, he has to resort to charlie and still can't get it up. Hence the ending of the scene with a different woman. He can only get it up if its someone he cannot connect with, just someone he can use. hence its coldness is very fitting.

I cant say I particularly enjoyed it, but I appreciated it. Preferred Margin Call, tbh.


----------



## Reno (Feb 2, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> But the whole film is about that emotional coldness, detachment, inability to connect. The one person he does have the possiblity of a relationship working with, he has to resort to charlie and still can't get it up. Hence the ending of the scene with a different woman. He can only get it up if its someone he cannot connect with, just someone he can use. hence its coldness is very fitting.
> 
> I cant say I particularly enjoyed it, but I appreciated it. Preferred Margin Call, tbh.



Just because the film is about someone who is emotionally detached doesn't mean the film should make the audience feel detached from the plight of the characters.


----------



## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 2, 2012)

I agree with that Reno, but its the whole artistic aesthetic of the director McQueen. Fascinating interview with him on BBC's 'Hardtalk' programme as a podcast which pretty explains that, no spoilers though. How can we feel emotion for someone who doesn't even feel emotion for themselves though?


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 2, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> But the whole film is about that emotional coldness, detachment, inability to connect. The one person he does have the possiblity of a relationship working with, he has to resort to charlie and still can't get it up. Hence the ending of the scene with a different woman. He can only get it up if its someone he cannot connect with, just someone he can use. hence its coldness is very fitting.


Boo fucking hoo


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## Reno (Feb 2, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> I agree with that Reno, but its the whole artistic aesthetic of the director McQueen. Fascinating interview with him on BBC's 'Hardtalk' programme as a podcast which pretty explains that, no spoilers though. How can we feel emotion for someone who doesn't even feel emotion for themselves though?



He doesn't emotionally connect in a sexual or romantic way, but that doesn't mean he doesn't feel emotion. He certainly cries a few times during the film. I've seen plenty of films about emotionally remote characters which did make me feel something.


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## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 3, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Boo fucking hoo


is the correct response. I didn't feel any sympathy for him at all.


----------



## MrMPlymouth (Feb 4, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> Shame.
> 
> I feel unclean, and need to scrub myself repeatedly. Its a very...uncompromising film, both graphically and very damning of its subjects.


 
Seen it. Plus L'apollonide/House of Tolerance, at the Sheffield Showroom. Only 3 people in the screening, none of us were impressed. 
The Descendants was funny, the other major one I've seen this year is The Iron Lady (Streep was excellent, but perhaps the film could have shown a little more respect to Thatcher by not publicising her latter-day weaknesses so much)


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## Gramsci (Feb 4, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> But the whole film is about that emotional coldness, detachment, inability to connect. The one person he does have the possiblity of a relationship working with, he has to resort to charlie and still can't get it up. Hence the ending of the scene with a different woman. He can only get it up if its someone he cannot connect with, just someone he can use. hence its coldness is very fitting.


 
I agree this is exactly the point of the film and why the coldness is fitting.


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## Gramsci (Feb 4, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Shame: a handsome rich man with a nice flat has too much anonymous sex with beautiful women, can't handle it,


 
Yeah I know. Lifes not fair is it?


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## Gramsci (Feb 4, 2012)

StraightOuttaQ said:


> I agree with that Reno, but its the whole artistic aesthetic of the director McQueen. Fascinating interview with him on BBC's 'Hardtalk' programme as a podcast which pretty explains that, no spoilers though. How can we feel emotion for someone who doesn't even feel emotion for themselves though?


 
Podcast here. Thanks for putting me onto it as i had not seen it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019lwjn/HARDtalk_Steve_McQueen_Artist_and_filmmaker/

I think he overdoes the defence of sex addiction as an illness like alcoholism in interview. I didnt see the film as about sex addiction as such. I thought it was compulsive behaviour.

He also talks about Hunger and his work as a War Artist in Iraq ( which i didnt know about). His installation/films are good. I saw his installation/film at the Lumiere (tragically now a gym). The one about the South Africans miners which did stick in my memory. It has been bought by Tate but cant be seen on there website.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2002/oct/08/artsfeatures.art

A link between his artworks and more recent film is his interest in the body as a site of warfare/ conflict ( as he discusses in his interview). Either as a miner working in a "hell", Bobby Sands starving himself  in Hunger or sex as in Shame ( in this sense at war with oneself).


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## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2012)

i have a lot of trouble accepting the popular viewpoint of addiction as an illness. i think your point about compulsive behaviour as opposed to true addiction is interesting though. is poor impulse control the same, ultimately, as 'addiction'?


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## Gramsci (Feb 4, 2012)

Its not my point Orang Utan. Its in the interview i linked up. The interviewer says that some doctors refute the concept of sex addiction saying its compulsive behaviour.


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## Gramsci (Feb 4, 2012)

"Martha Marcy May Marlene"



Saw this at Ritzy this afternoon. About a young woman who leaves a cult and returns to her only family- her sister. The film jumps back and forth from present to near past. Its sometimes confusing but this reflects Marcy s state of mind. This is a pyschological film rather than action. It is however quite scary in places.

It becomes clear that Marcys own family and her substitute cult family are both pretty fucked up. She is trying to find out who she is but in neither "straight" society or the cult does it work.

The film has great acting from John Hawkes as the clever manipulative cult leader. I also thought Elizabeth Olsen did a good job as Marcy.

It is worth seeing on big screen as it is well shot. The cults farmhouse is shot with a slightly dark edge. There are also long shots of them working in the fields around the house communally. This differs from the sister and her husbands uber rich lakeside house. Unnaturally clean and tidy. Its brightly shot but there is no sense of community on the lake.

They power boat on the lake but the other houses look devoid of people but like eyes watching. Marcy is told off for swimming naked in the lake. As other people might complain- but no one is in sight. However warped Marcy got community in the cult.

This is one of the more intelligent of recent US movies. Not Hollywood in any sense.


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## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 4, 2012)

I certainly wouldn't describe sex addiction as a physical illness, but very possibly as a mental illness in terms of compulsive behaviour and self-esteem issues leading to seeking self-validation through sex. I wouldn't equate it to alchoholism. 

The only addiction I would  equate to being similar to an actual physical illness would be something along the lines of drug addiction ; This is only because the body is receiving certain chemicals from drugs, and thus is not manufacturing these (such as in cases of chemical opiates). I'm not an expert in drug addictions, but as the body is not manufacturing these, thus is it is an illness if looked upon it from strictly this point of view. The difference thus is the cause of the illness - the body doesn't manufacture these chemicals due to them being obtained from drug use, rather than though the body malfunctioning. The Body is still functioning normally in reaction to external stimuli in this sense. It is thus analogus, rather than actually being an illness; the net result is the same, the causality is different. 

it may be driven due to psychological factors such as self-worth, self-esteem , rather than 'poor impluse control'. What are the driving factors behind this behaviour? Is it due to generally, body dysmorphia, whereby self-image is distorted due to a number of external, psychological factors? quite probably, by my reckoning. 

Havent seen Hunger. Mind  you, Only DVD ive seen is a vanilla ex-rental, and I don't buy vanilla discs if I can absolutely avoid it. 

I didn't see the film as about sex addiction as such, but as seeing sex addiction as more a symptom , a product  - the manifestation of wilful emotional detachment, and how it affects people's emotional states.


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## 8115 (Feb 4, 2012)

Take Shelter, I really really liked it.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2012)

what's a vanilla disc?


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## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 4, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> what's a vanilla disc?


 
No extras.

A lot of rental discs have the extras taken off so as not to harm retail sales. hence the term "Vanilla" (as in plain) . 

As opposed to Vanilla =  having no kinky sex. Which is quite different.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 4, 2012)

Oh, I don't see that attraction of the vast majority of DVD extras - quite happy to enjoy 'vanilla' downloads


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## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 5, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Podcast here. Thanks for putting me onto it as i had not seen it.


 
Also have a look at here,  and look to Dec 7th 2011 ; another interview with McQueen. Not heard it yet though. 

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt


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## janeb (Feb 5, 2012)

Saw a preview of Woman In Black last week in York, with a Q&A with the director afterwards.  Thought the film was actually quite scary even though I hated Dan Ratcliffe as the lead (someone like David Morrissey would have been perfect) and it was good to see in a cinema - has been a whilst since I've been in a cinema where the tension has built, then everyone jumps, then there's that nervous laugh


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## StraightOuttaQ (Feb 5, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Oh, I don't see that attraction of the vast majority of DVD extras - quite happy to enjoy 'vanilla' downloads


I've always taken the attitude that if I'm going to buy the movie, I may as well get the best package for what I'm paying. Hence always choosing the extras over the barebones editions wherever possible.But thats just me being a film g33k.


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## Orang Utan (Feb 5, 2012)

i'm a film geek too, it's just that there's rarely anything worth watching in dvd extras


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## Reno (Feb 5, 2012)

When DVD first came out I religiously watched extras, but now I rarely do. The occasional classic or cult film still has something interesting on there. Now picture quality is what matters most to me. That's why I now watch every film in HD on my projector. It's like having the cinema in my home.


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## metalguru (Feb 5, 2012)

1. Shame   - very disappointed in this. Competently directed, but with no lightness of touch whatsoever. Even New York is made to look gloomy and miserable. I also had issues with how the gay club scene was portrayed.

2. The Artist - enjoyed it. Probably about 20 minutes too long, but a good film that reawakened my interest in silent films.

3. Carnage - almost unbearable at first. I did wonder if I'd be able to sit through it, but eventually managed to get into the acting. I think its a mis-fire from Polanski.


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## 8115 (Feb 6, 2012)

I went to see The Artist, really enjoyed it.  It wasn't something I would have chosen but my friend wanted to see it.  Lovely music.


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## dynamicbaddog (Feb 10, 2012)

The Muppets
On the Sky Superscreen at the o2. This was ace, charming, funny and joyous.


----------



## bi0boy (Feb 12, 2012)

_Underworld: Awakening in 3D_ - enjoyable but felt a bit too short, more like a stop gap between _Underworld: Rise of the Lycans_ and whatever is coming next.

Could have done without the 3D but it wasn't on in 2D


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## Gramsci (Feb 12, 2012)

Went to the Tate Modern cinema yesterday. It has a full size cinema. Not just a small room and projector. The Tate regularly shows series of films that are not mainstream. Its hit or miss at the Tate as they show filmmakers I have never heard of. There is a split between art film and mainstream film. I like both.

It worth checking out the Tate website to see what is on. Its also cheap-£5.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/film/25215.htm

Went to see these films by Barbara Hammer and some younger film makers influenced by her. She is now about 70 and made early avant garde Lesbian Feminist films. She and the other film makers were there for Q&A. Her films are very interesting. And she has no problem working and passing her knowledge onto others.Comes across as generous and open minded. Not a separatist. There is a sense of joy about the films in this programme. A feeling of community that can be seem utopian now. But is just as relevant to the present day. She also good at using images. Its good to see these films on proper screen as they are rarely shown this way.

There are more on over the next few weeks.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eventseducation/film/barbarahammerseries.htm


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## Belushi (Feb 12, 2012)

They also have a free film club for Southwark and Lambeth residents Gramsci, it looks interesting but its on Monday nights and clashes with my German class


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## Gramsci (Feb 12, 2012)

I went to see Cronenbergs latest "A Dangerous Method"

http://www.sonyclassics.com/adangerousmethod/index.php

Im interested in the topic. It deals with the early years of Psychoanalysis. The friendship between Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Jung ( Fassbender). Also its based on the real life relationship of Jung and one of his first patients played by Keira.

Its based on a play by Christopher Hampton. My problem with the film is that its not cinematic. Its a film version of a play. Thats all well and good. I dont get to see plays and this clearly would have worked well on stage. I feel it lost something being translated to screen in this straightforward way. Id still recommend it as an intelligent look at Pyschoanalysis. Perhaps Cronenberg was a bit in awe of the subject matter and didnt want to take risks. Or maybe as he worked with the playwrite on the script he let Hampton have it his way.

I thought Cronenberg could have used the original play but interpreted it in cinematic way. I like his early films. I can see why he would be interested in Freud and Jung.

Oh and Keira does get spanked by Fassbender. As part of her treatment of course.


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## Gramsci (Feb 12, 2012)

Belushi said:


> They also have a free film club for Southwark and Lambeth residents Gramsci, it looks interesting but its on Monday nights and clashes with my German class


 
unfortunately week days are not good for me. Thanks for the info anyway.


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## dynamicbaddog (Feb 12, 2012)

Carnage,
There was a group of people in the row behind who found this hilarious,  laughing hysterically at nearly every line. I got the impression I was missing something, as I was a bit meh about it all..


----------



## Kippa (Feb 13, 2012)

I went to see 'The Woman in Black', it was a fantastic film.  I have seen a lot of horror films and most 18 rated films don't get me scared at all.  This film was a 12A film and it creeped me out.  There are quite a few scenes that make you jump.  It is basically an old fashioned psychological horror film and of the best kind.  By the way if you have any kids under 12 I would recommend you NOT taken taking them to this film as they will probably have nightmares for quite a while if you take them to this film.  If you think you're a hardend horror buff then try this film out.


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## DexterTCN (Feb 14, 2012)

I also saw Woman In Black yesterday - a very effective ghost story.   There were quite a few 12 and unders at the cinema, they were mostly terrified.   It's well done and atmospheric.

Welcome back Hammer.


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## 5t3IIa (Feb 14, 2012)

I've seen The Artist twice this year and that's it so far.

Second time I noticed how jarringly cruel he is to his wife as I was less distracted by how steamingly hot he is


----------



## Reno (Feb 14, 2012)

Kippa said:


> I went to see 'The Woman in Black', it was a fantastic film. I have seen a lot of horror films and most 18 rated films don't get me scared at all. This film was a 12A film and it creeped me out. There are quite a few scenes that make you jump. It is basically an old fashioned psychological horror film and of the best kind. By the way if you have any kids under 12 I would recommend you NOT taken taking them to this film as they will probably have nightmares for quite a while if you take them to this film. If you think you're a hardend horror buff then try this film out.


 
I'm a hardened horror buff and this film bored me to tears. This is a horror film for people who don't watch many horror films. It's the same bunch of of over-art directed cliches we have seen in haunted house and ghost films ever since The Others. Victorian dolls: whoa, scary ! Child actors in pancake make up: whoa, double scary ! Having lots of sudden, loud noises is the laziest way to scare an audience. It's also an absolutely awful adaptation of a fantastic novel with a tacked on ending reminiscent of Casper the Friendly Ghost. If you want to see a well done version of the book then check out the Nigel Kneale scripted TV adaptation from the 80s or the long running West End play.


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## DexterTCN (Feb 14, 2012)

It was visually very good, the claustrophobic feel and the wind up toys were cool.   I'm sure it was the best choice of what was available yesterday where I was...mysterious island, star wars, this means war, the vow, jack and jill, big miracle.   those are more horrific though, to be sure.


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## purenarcotic (Feb 14, 2012)

Reno said:


> I'm a hardened horror buff and this film bored me to tears. This is a horror film for people who don't watch many horror films. It's the same bunch of of over-art directed cliches we have seen in haunted house and ghost films ever since The Others. Victorian dolls: whoa, scary ! Child actors in pancake make up: whoa, double scary ! Having lots of sudden, loud noises is the laziest way to scare an audience. It's also an absolutely awful adaptation of a fantastic novel with a tacked on ending reminiscent of Casper the Friendly Ghost. If you want to see a well done version of the book then check out the Nigel Kneale scripted TV adaptation from the 80s or the long running West End play.


 
The West End play is incredible! It really gets right in your head, proper freaks you out.


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## mrs quoad (Feb 19, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I went to see Cronenbergs latest "A Dangerous Method"
> 
> http://www.sonyclassics.com/adangerousmethod/index.php
> 
> ...


Bloody awful film, IMO! Just back from the cinema, reeling from the sheer awfulness of it all.

No-one should EVER be forced to play a lunatic with a Russian accent in any film that wants to be taken remotely seriously. Knightley's ham episode in the first 10mins basically savaged the rest of the film for me. Bleh. 

Blenched a bit at the "happy violins over announcement she was shot with her 2 daughters in the holocaust" postscript, too.


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## Gramsci (Feb 20, 2012)

"The Woman in the Fifth"

Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski ( he did "A Summer of Love) latest film. Ethan Hawke plays a writer who tries to contact his daughter. Everything in his life is falling apart. He then meets a mysterious woman - Kristin Scott Thomas- who he becomes involved with.

This is based on a novel - I havent read. As usual. Pawel shows he ability to use cinematography and good use of locations to make want turns out to be a psychological thriller. So I cant say to much as it would spoil it. Its not what I expected. Worth seeing on big screen.​​Its a French / Polish co production mainly in French with subtitles.​


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## Gramsci (Feb 21, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> Bloody awful film, IMO! Just back from the cinema, reeling from the sheer awfulness of it all.
> 
> No-one should EVER be forced to play a lunatic with a Russian accent in any film that wants to be taken remotely seriously. Knightley's ham episode in the first 10mins basically savaged the rest of the film for me. Bleh.
> 
> Blenched a bit at the "happy violins over announcement she was shot with her 2 daughters in the holocaust" postscript, too.


 
Its not Cronenberg at his best. The last one of his I really liked was "Spider". Which does not seem to be that well known.


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## Reno (Feb 21, 2012)

Not a huge fan of Cronenberg's more mainstream films and this one looks pretty dire despite a good cast.


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## Gramsci (Feb 21, 2012)

This is a stunning film by the director of "Handsworth Songs". He alternates between a figure in snow bound landscapes and footage of the early Afro Caribbean migration to UK. The voice over use Greek myths and other writers. ( sorry im not up on literature). This is a film u get immersed in. It somehow works and im not sure why. It is a moving film.

Guardian piece about the director:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/20/john-akomfrah-migration-memory

and interview with director:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/live/video/404


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## mwgdrwg (Feb 21, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> The Muppets
> On the Sky Superscreen at the o2. This was ace, charming, funny and joyous.


 
Took the kids to see this and I was laughing and smiling for the entire 90 minutes. It was great, took me back to my childhood.


----------



## DJWrongspeed (Feb 21, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> Bloody awful film, IMO! Just back from the cinema, reeling from the sheer awfulness of it all.
> 
> No-one should EVER be forced to play a lunatic with a Russian accent in any film that wants to be taken remotely seriously. Knightley's ham episode in the first 10mins basically savaged the rest of the film for me. Bleh.


 
Well would you have enjoyed the play ? it did seem straight forward filmic transfer.  Whether Knightley was good as the savage i dunno.  What I enjoyed was actually seeing her act for the first time


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## mrs quoad (Feb 21, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> Well would you have enjoyed the play ? it did seem straight forward filmic transfer. Whether Knightley was good as the savage i dunno. What I enjoyed was actually seeing her act for the first time


Found the script tremendously clunky. I'm really not sure that I'd be tempted by a theatre production.

And, hmm, I've spent a fair bit of time with seriously mentally ill people; and I've been seriously mentally ill; uhhhh, if I'm honest, I found Knightley's portrayal of mental illness somewhere between awful, and offensive. Mixed with the (ouch) Russki accent, and I think that's a part of what set me against the film from the off. I could only get through bits of it with my eyes closed, to avoid the massively large order of on-screen ham. Rendering it more radio, IYKWIM. I'm not sure how well a stage adaptation would get through that; not worse, I'm guessing 

Probably wasn't helped by the fact that both Artichoke and I have a passing acquaintance with psychoanalysis. And... tbh... there wasn't much in there - at all - about psychoanalysis. I got the impression there'd be a fair bit more. As it was, the 'information' content was - basically - Freud believed in the penis, Jung was a bit off-the-wall, and they didn't get on very well after getting on quite well for a bit.

I would've far, far preferred watching a decent documentary (or two), tbh.

e2a: bloody hell, that was meant to be 'the savage'?! Not by a bloody long stretch


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## blossie33 (Feb 21, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> This is a stunning film by the director of "Handsworth Songs". He alternates between a figure in snow bound landscapes and footage of the early Afro Caribbean migration to UK. The voice over use Greek myths and other writers. ( sorry im not up on literature). This is a film u get immersed in. It somehow works and im not sure why. It is a moving film.
> 
> Guardian piece about the director:
> 
> ...





Yes, I saw this a couple of weeks ago - I was initially interested as I am from Birmingham and therefore recognised some of the places in the old film.

A very visually striking and original film - difficult to describe!


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## Gramsci (Feb 21, 2012)

Yes it is difficult to describe. It is very good piece of film made for cinema. Glad I caught it on big screen.


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## Sue (Feb 21, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Its not Cronenberg at his best. The last one of his I really liked was "Spider". Which does not seem to be that well known.


 
I like Croenenberg (though won't be going to see this as it looks rubbish) but thought Spider was awful. And very, very boring.


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## redsquirrel (Feb 22, 2012)

Shame - very disappointing, went in with high expectations after Hunger and this definitely did not meet them. Looks great but but it doesn't hold together at all.


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## Gramsci (Feb 26, 2012)

"Rampart"

http://rampartmovie.com/

Woody Harrelson as violent old school cop. His life starts to fall apart after he is filmed beating up a black guy who crashes into his police car.

This film is well shot. Looks good on big screen. Good performances as well. The Cop is so horrible I could not feel any sympathy for him at all. Kind of left me nonplussed about the film. As a film about macho masculine men it has some interest. Its written by James Ellroy so that is no surprise.

The other problem I have with film is that it implies that its rogue cops like Brown who are the racist ones. They have not moved with the times. The possibility that its structural reasons of US society that mean more black men are banged up is not entertained. The TV series The Wire dealt with this better.

It can be taken as a film about masculinity. One of Ellroys obsessions. But does not say anything new. Also I have the feeling in parts of film that Brown is bad boy. But hey you somehow can admire him for being straight talking and non PC. 

There are parallels with Shame. Including him going to Sex Club and seeking soulless one night stands.

Best bits are him sparring with Weaver. She wont take any of his nonsense. Undercuts his macho image of himself he likes to project.


----------



## Kaka Tim (Feb 26, 2012)

took 12 yr old daughter to see 'the woman in black'.
Fun creepy ghost story with lots of thrills (i actually shouted out loud in suprise/shock at one point )  but deep it ain't.
She loved it.


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## Callie (Feb 26, 2012)

woman in black - poo

muppets - pooing poo hole.


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## Gramsci (Feb 27, 2012)

"Hadewijch" by Bruno Dumont



Saw this at Lumiere. Teenage girl tries to become a nun and is chucked out for being to zealous. Goes home to her wealthy parents and gets involved with a boy from the banlieues (projects on outskirts of Paris where the immigrants live.) She learns about Islam from his extremist brother.

Cinema at its most austere. Visually wonderful. Particularly like the way Dumont concentrates on peoples faces. He also uses straight on shots that are framed by the screen rather than making the illusion the edge of the screen is not there. Some wonderful shots that are reminiscent of  religious paintings. But using ordinary people like Pasolini did in his film of Christ. 

Im not into religion but this is riveting exploration of faith. Sounds a turn off put its not. Requires concentration to watch but its worth it. 

Revolves around the idea that God is both present and absent. God/ Christ is most manifest when he appears to be absent. This is a concept in both Islam and Christianity.


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 7, 2012)

The Woman in Black. Enjoyable enough, good ghost story but could have done with a few more jumpy moments..


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## Gramsci (Mar 8, 2012)

http://michaelfilm.com/en/

"Michael"

Off to the weird land that is Austria to see film about keeping someone in the cellar. 

This is in the style of that other great Austrian director Haneke. Spare and uncompromising. It tells of a Austrian who keeps a young boy imprisoned in his bunker under his house. You are not shown much in the way of sexual violence. Everything is implied and suggested rather than shown. This film is not exploitative shocker. It is very disturbing. Excellent film if u can stomach it.

Shot in a disturbing so bright highly light way that forces you to look. 

It is creepy as life on the surface seems so normal on the surface . Boringly mundane and routine. Its almost as though no one really wants to look beneath the surface. 

I wonder with the Austrian films like this Ive seen if the background is Austria Nazi past. After WW2 Austria got "victim" status. Part of the Cold War deal. So Austria unlike Germany never faced its Nazi past. Everything after the war continued as "normal". But at some level everyone knew it was not. Why Haneke ended up making films in France. He brought up issues that Austria did not want to look at. Why I think his film White Ribbon is about Austria not Germany.


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## Reno (Mar 9, 2012)

The Muppets. Felty happiness ! I had a big grin plastered on my face from beginning to end.


----------



## pennimania (Mar 10, 2012)

You've Been trumped   (at our film club)

worthy but flawed.


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## moonsi til (Mar 13, 2012)

I saw 'John Carter' in 3D at the weekend. I have no idea hat I was expecting as it was chosen to take a 10yr boy and his dad to. At 132 minutes I was also worried about boredom & falling asleep and none of this happened. I thought the film was superb and we all came out grinning.

ETA:....well see below! LOL


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## Reno (Mar 13, 2012)

moonsi til said:


> I saw 'John Carpenter' in 3D at the weekend. .


 
If only.


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## moonsi til (Mar 13, 2012)

...oh...what have I said!!.......goes off to google ...


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## Reno (Mar 13, 2012)

I think you went to see "John Carter". John Carpenter is the (once great) director of scfi and horror classics like The Thing and Halloween.


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 13, 2012)

Payback Season

I was looking forward to this, it has Adam Deacon in it, some of it was filmed around Millwall FC and Harry Shotta did the tune for the end credits, but it was a bit of a let down really. It's about a footballer from a housing estate played by Adam Deacon who in trying to keep in touch with his roots falls foul of a local gang leader demanding huge sums of money of him. I like Adam Deacon but I thought this was all a bit too cliched. Very violent and grim in places but they have tried to make it look like a stylish music vid which doesn't quite work.


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## Lea (Mar 14, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "Rampart"
> 
> http://rampartmovie.com/
> 
> ...


 
I watched this last week but really didn't like it much. 

SPOILER ALERT:

I didn't understand the part where Harrelson shoots the person chasing after the thief but lets the thief run off with the money.

It was well acted. Not much happened. It was more of a character study.


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## Kidda (Mar 14, 2012)

Man on a ledge 

''shut down the block, there's a man on a ledge'' 

Genius stuff.


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## Orang Utan (Mar 14, 2012)

sounds well high concept


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 17, 2012)

mockumentary -
The Devil Inside


Another lame horror film that I struggled to stay awake through..


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## Reno (Mar 17, 2012)

^ This got some of the worst reviews of any film released this year.


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2012)

"In Darkness"

Moving true story of Pole who tries to save the Jews who sought refuge in the sewers where he works. Good as this guy is not a saint. He is petty criminal who first sees the Jews as a way to make some money. When they run out of money he finds he cannot desert them. A tale of an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances who shows true heroism. Holland , a veteran Polish director, on top form.

I was chatting to a Pole today about the film. She said her grandparents were in Treblinka. They were not Jews. The Germans also put Poles in camps as well. As she said people in West dont know everything that happened during war in East. Also she said the people in West often think Poles are implicated in killing of Jews. But it was not like that in WW2.

A note on the history. This was in Lvov. It was then part of Poland. Its now in Ukraine. It had mixed Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish population. The Ukrainians supported the Germans. Some joined the Ukrainian SS and helped the Germans kill Jews. As is shown in film. During the war the Ukrainians and Poles also fought an ethnic war between themselves that went on after the war. Ending when Stalin redrew the borders. Many Poles left to go to west Poland that had been part of Germany before the war. My Polish friend says that there are some Poles left in Lvov.


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## editor (Mar 20, 2012)

Bill Cunningham New York.


> Documenting uptown fixtures (Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller—who all appear in the film out of their love for Bill), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham's enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair. In turn, Bill Cunningham New York is a delicate, funny and often poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace.


 
Fantastic film.


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2012)

"The Mill and the Cross"

Saw this film by Lech Majewski on Saturday at National Gallery. ( BTW they have full size cinema which show films on a regular basis. Check NG website. And its cheap). A film about Breugels painting "The Way To Calvary". Stunning recreation of the painting and goes into the religious and political background to it. The film also recreates the life of that time- in all its brutality of political and religious conflict.

Breugel puts Christs death in contemporary time. The painting is populated by ordinary people. I didnt realise what a "democratic" painting it was.

Unfortunately will be released in rest of Europe but here distribution rights have not been sold.


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## Gramsci (Mar 20, 2012)

editor said:


> Bill Cunningham New York.
> 
> 
> Fantastic film.




This looks good. Didnt realise. Its still on. Never knew about this guy.


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## editor (Mar 20, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> This looks good. Didnt realise. Its still on. Never knew about this guy.


He's 80 and he's out on the streets snapping photos, and cycling around the mad thoroughfares of NYC. Really interesting guy with a great attitude towards celebrities.


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2012)

"Ordet" directed by Dreyer. One of those famous directors I have heard about but not seen. This looked like restored version by BFI. I saw it at BFI on Screen One. Quite an experience. Does demand to be seen on cinema screen. I notice the youtube trailer gets the Black and White wrong. Does not show the subtle use that Dreyer makes of it. 

It is very odd film. About uptight religious Danes. Miserable lot. . However I got drawn into this quite surreal looking world. Its set mainly in a farmhouse. But everything looks so set out and clean. The characters move slowly and everything looks weirdly slightly unreal. As though this is taking place in another world from ours.

Definitely unlike anything else u will see at the multiplex. One of those films that I didnt want to end as it took u to a different place.


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## Reno (Mar 21, 2012)

editor said:


> Bill Cunningham New York.
> 
> 
> Fantastic film.


 
I also really want to see his. It's coming out on DVD over the next couple of weeks and its on my Lovefilm list.


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## DexterTCN (Mar 21, 2012)

21 Jump Street. Which I *did not want to go and see* - but it's brilliant, extremely funny and quite intelligent.


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2012)

Yes the trailer is funny.


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## DexterTCN (Mar 21, 2012)

It does a running 'explosions' joke that works well, excellent drugs humour, it has rob riggle from the daily show (there's a stunning joke at the end with him and a penis) james franco's little brother is quite good I suppose.   There's a wonderful swipe at remaking stuff from the 80s early on.

Hill and Tatum actually play off each other really well.   I'll see this one again, I think.


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## Gramsci (Mar 21, 2012)

"Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Has to be seen on big screen. I saw it at Curzon Soho screen One. The title intentionally reminds viewer of the Leone films. This is slow moving shots of landscapes and peoples faces. Also a lot of (black) humour. In the sweeping Anatolian countryside a group of men ( and this like Leones films is about men) search for a body of a murdered man. 

They are moving in this ancient landscape which will outlive them all. As the doctor points out. The "Prosecutor" says of one that he is like a handful of bees- all noise and no action. This can be seen to refer to all of them in the end. There efforts are eventually fruitless. They all somehow know that beyond the bickering about everyday life that there actions will leave little trace on this landscape. 

The cinematography ( as I expected from Ceylan) is outstanding


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## not-bono-ever (Mar 22, 2012)

that marigold hotel brit flick film.

a harmless way to waste a couple of hours


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## Gramsci (Mar 23, 2012)

I heard from a friend its not worth the bother of paying to see. The trailer put me off.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 23, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
> 
> Has to be seen on big screen. I saw it at Curzon Soho screen One. The title intentionally reminds viewer of the Leone films. This is slow moving shots of landscapes and peoples faces. Also a lot of (black) humour. In the sweeping Anatolian countryside a group of men ( and this like Leones films is about men) search for a body of a murdered man.
> 
> ...



brilliant wasn't it? went to see it on monday and was most impressed.. some people less so, but ithought it was a classic piece of film making.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 23, 2012)

also watched Rampart, which was very good as well


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## Gramsci (Mar 24, 2012)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> brilliant wasn't it? went to see it on monday and was most impressed.. some people less so, but ithought it was a classic piece of film making.


 
Not so keen on Rampart but I agree Once Upon a Time. I think its the best film he has done.


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## Reno (Mar 24, 2012)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> also watched Rampart, which was very good as well


 
Not nearly as good as The Shield, which was inspired by the same real life scandal.


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## Idris2002 (Mar 24, 2012)

J. Edgar

It felt confused, hurried and rushed. And it didn't know if it wanted to be an expose of an AMERICAN MONSTER, or a sympathetic portrayal of a tormented closet case.

Each of the episodes - especially the Palmer raids and the Lindbergh baby case - would have made a better film in their own right.

I was surprised at how handsome the actor chosen to play Nixon was, given that the real Nixon was a dirty, vicious animal.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Mar 24, 2012)

Reno said:


> Not nearly as good as The Shield, which was inspired by the same real life scandal.


not come across The Shield tbh. will try and hunt down, once I've watched 3 monkeys (which someone just leant me).


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## Kid_Eternity (Mar 25, 2012)

The Grey was surprisingly good as was A Dangerous Method.


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## Gramsci (Mar 25, 2012)

"The Hunger Games"



I liked this. Its really for teenagers. And there were a lot there including a lot of girls. This film has a feisty heroine. Much better than Twilight which imo was had a socially conservative subtext. If u want a good role model this heroine is one.

I like sci fi and whilst this film hasn't been marketed heavily as sci fi that's what it is. Its based on best selling novels ( this is first part ) which I hadn't heard of as probably they are for the teen market.

Set in near future the "Games" are a cross between Roman gladiatorial events and Big Brother . Keep the population of the capital occupied and the poor in place. The best bit is the lead up to the Games which is the first two thirds. I liked all the politics and satire of reality TV shows. The Games themselves are like Battle Royale. But with none of the black humour of that Japanese classic.

Its long film but I noticed the young audience were gripped by it. U can tell as they were not chatting or on there phones. Its fairly bloody in bits but seems ok for over 12s imo.


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## Gramsci (Mar 25, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> The Grey was surprisingly good as was A Dangerous Method.


 
The Grey looked interesting but didnt have wide release. Heard Liam was good in it.


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## Kid_Eternity (Mar 25, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> The Grey looked interesting but didnt have wide release. Heard Liam was good in it.



Yeah he really was...lot of emotion in that film.


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## Epona (Mar 25, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "The Hunger Games"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




The OH went to see this today and said it was really good (I didn't go because my back and hip were bad and it's quite a long film, can't sit in cinema seat that long!), no teens in the cinema at all it was mostly folks in their 20s, 30s, and upwards. As far as I can tell the books may have been targeted at a (largely female) teen audience, but it's not Twilight or Harry Potter and it's not some twee teen romance in a fantasy/sci-fi setting - strong young female lead character and quite a gritty setting, going by what I have been told it is one I will be looking forward to when the DVD release comes around - as I said, I'd have gone to see it at the cinema but I just can't do cinema seats for that length of time, anything much over 90 minutes is not a comfortable experience.


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## Picadilly Commando (Mar 25, 2012)

Turtles Can Fly

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424227/

An anti-war film of sorts with a pile of kids as the main protagonists. 

Quote because am a bit too buggered to write coherently

"Turtles Can Fly," the haunting new film from Iranian writer/director Bahman Ghobadi ("A Time for Drunken Horses"), begins with an arrestingly beautiful image: A young woman (Avaz Latif), resolute in her manner, stands barefoot on a rocky ledge, contemplating a leap that will surely end in death. The landscape is gray and forbidding; the light is cold; the tone ominous. Then the camera comes closer to the actress' face, wreathed in tangled brown hair, and we realize, with a start, that she is a child.

Ghobadi's film is a story of wounded children, a devastating reminder of the costs of war. It's set in an Iraqi village near the Turkish border, in early 2003, as the villagers await news of an American invasion. As they try to set up a satellite dish, a key player emerges: a boy known as Satellite (Soran Ebrahim), with Coke-bottle glasses and a pushy, ever-yelling confidence. He's the expert in this operation, in the way that kids worldwide seem to know more about technology than their elders, and he's also the ringleader of the village children, who follow him like loyal acolytes.

Satellite, in his bulldozer way, soon catches the eye of Agrin, the girl we saw in the opening scene, and he's dazzled by her, gazing at her with Mooney eyes. "I've been looking for a girl like you," he tells her. She, orphaned by war, takes care of her two brothers — one is armless, maimed by a land mine; the other is a toddler — and ignores Satellite. There's an air of quiet tragedy about her, the reason for which is explained late in the film, in a scene so wrenching it's almost unbearable to watch.

The performances in the film — all by nonprofessional actors — vary in quality. Ebrahim has some touching moments as Satellite but rarely varies his voice from a shout; it suits the character's almost corporate like personality but eventually becomes wearying. But Latif, as the tragic Agrin, makes the most of her few lines; she's calm, astonishingly beautiful and skilled enough to let us see the heavy weight on this grown-up child's shoulders.

Ghobadi and director of photography Shahriar Assadi linger on the vast landscape, with its bleak fields and desolate, branch less trees, and create some beautiful effects with shadows. (In one shot, the hills glow under a night-blue sky as the tiny shadow figure of a child appears between them.) And the director's eye for heartbreaking detail is keen. In this harsh, desperate world, a child cries, with no hands to wipe away his tears. Others stare at the camera, looking far older than they should, as if seeking the end of a nightmare.


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## Picadilly Commando (Mar 25, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "The Hunger Games"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I took my   13 year old nephew to see it and i fell asleep lol, but from what i saw its like runni  aang man and battle royale for BBC three. I have the book somewhere too but never got around to reading it cozz its a book for 'tweens' init.

aghshould i give a it a nother chance?


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## Reno (Mar 25, 2012)

Picadilly Commando said:


> I took my 13 year old nephew to see it and i fell asleep lol, but from what i saw its like runni aang man and battle royale for BBC three. I have the book somewhere too but never got around to reading it cozz its a book for 'tweens' init.
> 
> aghshould i give a it a nother chance?


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## Picadilly Commando (Mar 25, 2012)

Hello Reno, are we goin to have another cat pointless cat fight? lol

You start, am gonna roll one last one and put the ca t out


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## Picadilly Commando (Mar 25, 2012)

cant get the furry little bastard from out under the bed i need to rattle his cat foodtin


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## moonsi til (Mar 25, 2012)

I went to see The Hunger Games yesterday too...the cinema was very quiet due to the lovely weather. I would say that the audience at this showing were mainly teenage to about aged 20 and female. I recall thinking how many there were. We took my BFs 10 year son and we all really enjoyed it...it has made me want to re-watch Battle Royale though which I have just checked is an 18...so BFs son will be waiting a few years yet.


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## metalguru (Mar 25, 2012)

moonsi til said:


> I went to see The Hunger Games yesterday too...the cinema was very quiet due to the lovely weather. I would say that the audience at this showing were mainly teenage to about aged 20 and female. I recall thinking how many there were. We took my BFs 10 year son and we all really enjoyed it...it has made me want to re-watch Battle Royale though which I have just checked is an 18...so BFs son will be waiting a few years yet.


 
I went to the 5pm showing at Whiteley's yesterday for Hunger Games and it was quite busy. What surprised me was how many young kids there were (and there was a lot of wandering in and out that you get with that age of audience). I found bits of it quite disturbing, even as an adult (e.g. the scene where the kids are gathering at the bottom of the tree discussing their plan of action and the following scene).

I really liked the film, after a slightly slow start. But I'm not sure it's really suitable for young kids at all.

Didn't recognise Woody Harrelson at all - till reading the reviews. Really like the lead girl's acting and also Stanley Tucci's TV host.

Best film of 2012 so far for me.


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## Gramsci (Mar 25, 2012)

Epona said:


> The OH went to see this today and said it was really good (I didn't go because my back and hip were bad and it's quite a long film, can't sit in cinema seat that long!), no teens in the cinema at all it was mostly folks in their 20s, 30s, and upwards. As far as I can tell the books may have been targeted at a (largely female) teen audience, but it's not Twilight or Harry Potter and it's not some twee teen romance in a fantasy/sci-fi setting - strong young female lead character and quite a gritty setting, going by what I have been told it is one I will be looking forward to when the DVD release comes around - as I said, I'd have gone to see it at the cinema but I just can't do cinema seats for that length of time, anything much over 90 minutes is not a comfortable experience.


 
Exactly why I liked it. its not Harry Potter or twee romance. For the audience its targetted at I thought at last this is something a bit more relevant and progressive. 

At Ritzy it was mainly teens. The book I read in a review is much more bloody and its been toned down to get a 12 certificate.


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 25, 2012)

DexterTCN said:


> It does a running 'explosions' joke that works well, excellent drugs humour, it has rob riggle from the daily show (there's a stunning joke at the end with him and a penis) james franco's little brother is quite good I suppose. There's a wonderful swipe at remaking stuff from the 80s early on.
> 
> Hill and Tatum actually play off each other really well. I'll see this one again, I think.


yes, I went to see this afternoon and enjoyed it a lot. Everyone else in the cinema was laughing along as well


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## Reno (Mar 25, 2012)

*If Not Us, Who?* a German drama about how Gudrun Ensslin got radicalised in the 60s and her relationship with the writer Bernward Vesper, who she eventually left for Andreas Baader. Pretty good even if it meanders somewhat towards the end. Much preferred this to The Baader Meinhof Complex, which tried to cover too much and ended up being too action based and rather superficial. This concentrates on the gradual change of just one of its members over a decade and felt both psychologically and politically more insightful and involving.

Then I borrowed a friend's 15 year old and we went to see *The Hunger Games*. I thought it was watchable, but no great shakes. The boy, who had read the books, liked it. I didn't like the art direction for the futuristic world, which was a bit of a mess and loads of scifi cliches we've seen many times before. The dystopian reality TV satire felt obvious and stale. It's gets better in the second half when the games get underway, but still not that great. As a film it's rather bland and as people keep bringing up other kids literary franchises, it's nowhere in the same class as the better Harry Potter films (though almost anything is better than Twilight). Jennifer Lawrence holds the film together and makes a likeable heroine in a role not too dissimilar from the one she played in the excellent indie thriller Winter's Bone.


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## mrs quoad (Mar 27, 2012)

Just back from If Not Us.

First cinema film I've proper enjoyed in ages. 

Then we came out & Artichoke was all, like, crikey! I wasn't expecting them to be that active! I thought they'd just be a bit politically active!

And I was, like, dude, Baader Meinhof? Srsly? We talked about them at quite some length, when we were deciding to go see the film. You know about them. You knew about them from ages back.

And she was all like wut?!? That was them?! Then who was Baader?

And then she was properly surprised. 

Top film. Only 8 people in the screening, too!


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## mrs quoad (Mar 27, 2012)

Also, it started with a cat who's just like Reno's.


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 27, 2012)

not-bono-ever said:


> that marigold hotel brit flick film.
> 
> a harmless way to waste a couple of hours


good acting in that, but it was a bit too harmless' for my liking


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## Reno (Mar 27, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> Also, it started with a cat who's just like Reno's.


 
Jews of the animal world.


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## belboid (Mar 27, 2012)

Into the Abyss - new Herzog doc about capital punishment, told around the events of one particular murderous evening. As powerful, and moving as you might expect, unsentimental, frequently harsh, and surprisingly funny at times.

Despite this being a special preview, clearly advertised as with _live_ (by videolink) Q&A with Werner immediately after the showing, nigh on half the ticket buyers still thought this meant they should show up twenty odd minutes after the film began. Eejits.


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## Firky (Mar 31, 2012)

Hunger Games.

I'd probably have enjoyed it a lot more if I was about 14. Scrap that. I didn't enjoy it but I _may_ have done if I was 14.


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## Mr Smin (Mar 31, 2012)

Hunger Games- quite liked it, heroine is great. Disappointed that hunger itself was rather lost as a theme. The books are much more explicit that people starve to death both in the arena and in the Districts.


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## Epona (Apr 5, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Exactly why I liked it. its not Harry Potter or twee romance. For the audience its targetted at I thought at last this is something a bit more relevant and progressive.
> 
> At Ritzy it was mainly teens. The book I read in a review is much more bloody and its been toned down to get a 12 certificate.


 
I only recently read the trilogy of books (love dystopian stuff but because the books are supposedly aimed at a young adult audience (not 12 year old kids so the film has to be toned down a bit to get that certificate!) I just hadn't really considered it until the film got popular iykwim) and it actually ranks as one of the more disturbing and disquieting things I've read.

I've now actually managed to see the film, and it is massively toned down from the book. Naturally, the book is better, they almost always are.

Edit: and what Mr Smin said, starvation and poverty in the districts is the major theme in the books* that was only marginally touched on in the film, more should have been made of it.

*



Spoiler



Such as kids are so used to going hungry that when they finally get a decent meal while they are being prepared as cattle for the slaughter that the meal is described in great detail and the fact of their impending demise put on the back burner, the importance of acquisition of food and the horror and hopelessness of slow starvation are themes that could have been played better in the film


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## Reno (Apr 5, 2012)

Not having read the books, one of the things I found really dissatisfying about The Hunger Games, apart from it being an incredibly bland looking film that feels like it was made by a committee, was that asides from the heroine none of the other characters seemed developed in any way. I would have felt much more involved had I known a little more about the other kids in the game. Battle Royale did a much better job in giving us some idea about a vast number of characters involved in a similar scenario, who we all get to know a little bit while the film goes on.

Is that something the film just skipped over, or are the other characters similarly underdeveloped in the books ?


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## Mr Smin (Apr 5, 2012)

The second book puts a bit more on the other teenage characters, but the narrative is entirely with Katniss and so we only know what she knows... and it takes time for her to discover anything beyond her small circle of friends and acquaintances.


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## andy2002 (Apr 5, 2012)

Took the kids to see the new Aardman film *The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists!* It's nothing special and probably not as good as Chicken Run or even Flushed Away but still has quite a few funny moments. The comparisons to Blackadder I've read in reviews are quite accurate, I think. The Guardian recently gave away the novel it's based on and we've been reading that as a bedtime story.


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## Orang Utan (Apr 5, 2012)

Why did it give it away twice? Such an enormous waste of paper.


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## andy2002 (Apr 5, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Why did it give it away twice? Such an enormous waste of paper.


 
Are you seeing my post twice or something? Because I'm not...


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## Orang Utan (Apr 5, 2012)

No! The Guardian gave the book away twice in the space of about six weeks.


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## andy2002 (Apr 5, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> No! The Guardian gave the book away twice in the space of about six weeks.


 
How very odd.


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## Yuwipi Woman (Apr 5, 2012)

firky said:


> Hunger Games.
> 
> I'd probably have enjoyed it a lot more if I was about 14. Scrap that. I didn't enjoy it but I _may_ have done if I was 14.


 
Overall I liked Battle Royale more.


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## Gramsci (Apr 7, 2012)

Epona said:


> I've now actually managed to see the film, and it is massively toned down from the book. Naturally, the book is better, they almost always are.
> 
> Edit: and what Mr Smin said, starvation and poverty in the districts is the major theme in the books* that was only marginally touched on in the film, more should have been made of it.
> ]


 
I did wonder this when I went to see the film. The film suggested the games were related to a war. Which I didnt really understand. A few of the scenes in the districts reminded me a bit of another film "The Road". Which was dystopian adult film.


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## Gramsci (Apr 7, 2012)

mrs quoad said:


> Just back from If Not Us.
> 
> Top film. Only 8 people in the screening, too!


 
This film did look interesting. Also read Reno post on it as well. 

It was on at Curzon for a very short time so I missed it.


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## Epona (Apr 7, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I did wonder this when I went to see the film. The film suggested the games were related to a war. Which I didnt really understand. A few of the scenes in the districts reminded me a bit of another film "The Road". Which was dystopian adult film.


 
I do think there is more explanation in the books than they have in the film, the games are punishment for a previous rebellion and a reminder that the govt is in control, the population in the Districts are little more than slaves to provide the Capitol with food and entertainment. The books are so much better in this regard, over the trilogy this theme about control and rebellion is further explored - don't forget that the film is also just one of a proposed trilogy to match the books (I believe the 2nd is in production at the moment).

In fact just read the books. The film is OK but as usual isn't a patch on the books.


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## Gramsci (Apr 7, 2012)

http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/bfi_southbank/film_programme/extended_runs/la_grande_illusion

I saw Jean Renoir's restored film "La Grande Illusion" today. Its on at the BFI and a few other cinemas (Curzon in London) this month. Dates for BFI above

Its a film about French POWs in WW1 trying to escape from there camp. It was made between the World Wars. Its not really an action film but concentrates on the individual characters and the relationships between them. Also the changing French and German society class system during the war. Its an actors film and they are all very good. Also some great dialogue.

It was made in 1937. I was reminded of later films in parts of it. I wonder if its one of those famous films that is like a template for later war films. Up to present day.There is a scene later in the film that reminded me of "Essential Killing".

It has an old fashioned feel about it. And I was not sure I was going to like it. But as it went on it became a criticism of war. It is a decent humane film. It was made at a time when Fascism was becoming more powerful in Europe. Sadly its message was not heeded.


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## Gramsci (Apr 7, 2012)

"The Kid with the Bike"



Latest film by the Dardenne brothers. Ive seen one there films  (The Fils). They usually make films together. This is a touchingly simple ( in a good sense) story of a boy living in a hostel seeking his father. He gets to know the local hairdresser and stays with her on weekends. Like the Italian neo realist film the "Bicycle Thieves" the film revolves around his adventures with his bike. 

Its very good on the relationships between adults and children. I wouldn't say its a completely realist film as it does bang not on about politics. Looks deceptively simple but its actually well constructed and thought out piece of film making.


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## Badgers (Apr 7, 2012)

Saw a film called ATM tonight. 
I can't see it making screens in the UK


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## Gramsci (Apr 7, 2012)

belboid said:


> Into the Abyss - new Herzog doc about capital punishment, told around the events of one particular murderous evening. As powerful, and moving as you might expect, unsentimental, frequently harsh, and surprisingly funny at times.
> 
> Despite this being a special preview, clearly advertised as with _live_ (by videolink) Q&A with Werner immediately after the showing, nigh on half the ticket buyers still thought this meant they should show up twenty odd minutes after the film began. Eejits.


 
Did Werner have much to say in the Q&A?

Ive seen the TV version but not the cinema one. If it hadn't been for Herzog I would not have watched it. The US death penalty has been done before. Herzog like in his doc about the Antarctic station (Encounters at the End of the World) adds something to what otherwise would have been run of the mill.

He enters into philosophical discussions with the inmates of Death Row. And surprisingly its clear they like these discussions. Including Herzog asking them there dreams. I agree they are unsentimental. It sounds like he concentrated on one of the first 2 cases. In the third he does get slightly sentimental when talking to the "gentleman" thief. But thats ok. Werner is very German. Hard headed rationalism with Germanic romanticism.

What I did like is that as an interviewer Herzog did not show pity but respected there position. He treated them as human beings when they are living and dying somewhere that takes away there humanity. Something he subtly shows in his doc series without getting on a soapbox about the death penalty.As he told them he was not there to review there case or try and get them off the Death penalty.


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## Gramsci (Apr 8, 2012)

"Headhunters"

Barking mad over the top thriller from Norway. Out this weekend. See before the planned US remake. Its a satire on greed and power with a lot black humour. It is very violent in a Korean mad movie way. Goes along at 100 mph as well.

And the US remake will not have those stunning Scandinavian woman in it either.


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## mentalchik (Apr 8, 2012)

Wrath Of The Titans..................Meh Of The Titans more like


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## Gramsci (Apr 10, 2012)

Latest offbeat film by Aki Kaurismäki. This is about an aging "Bohemian" who shelters a young illegal immigrant. For those who know the films of Aki this has the laid back Finnish humour of the director and his heartwarming humanity. This somehow manages not to fall into sickly sentimentality.
It also a has slightly surreal edge to it.Its not surprising that at one point a character starts reading Kafka. Though this time the hero wins out against bureaucracy . Its not a realist film like Loach would have made. It however shows how ordinary peoples decency can win out against the state.
The few clips of real TV footage of asylum seekers camps in France being torn down by police root the film in reality. The film does show the plight of those who try to enter "Fortress Europe".


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## blossie33 (Apr 10, 2012)

I've just seen Le Havre too, really enjoyed it.


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## dynamicbaddog (Apr 10, 2012)

Wild Bill
 Directed by Dexter Fletcher and set on a housing estate around the  Olympic construction site, it's about an ex con (Wild Bill) returning home after 8 years inside. I thought it was great, and awesome soundtrack too..


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## Big Gunz (Apr 10, 2012)

The girl who played Primrose Everdeen in Hunger Games looks like Winona Rider cloned herself!


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## gaijingirl (Apr 10, 2012)

Really wanted to see Le Havre or the one with Johnny Depp as a goth but submitted to the will of the husband and went to see The Hunger Games.  I enjoyed it but thought it was overly long and not a patch on Battle Royale - but then THG was a 12 and BR is an 18 so very different beasts.  Still - have not managed a film for ages so was pleased to be at the cinema.


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## peterkro (Apr 10, 2012)

Badgers said:


> Saw a film called ATM tonight.
> I can't see it making screens in the UK


I watched half that,if I'd have continued I may have ripped my own eyeballs out.


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## Reno (Apr 10, 2012)

As smart, original, funny and "meta" as you'd expect from something Joss Whedon is involved in. Difficult to explain without spoiling stuff. It starts out as an Evil Dead style horror film abut a bunch of young, generic potential horror film victims going for a weekend to the titular cabin. This is intercut with a parallel plot about a secret underground laboratory. Then it takes a gazillion twist and turns, eventually going bat shit crazy at the climax. But it works and it's great fun and while parallels to Scream have been drawn by reviews, it's not quite like anything else I've seen done before with the genre. Can't remember the last time I saw an American horror film I've enjoyed this much. The best way to see this film is to know as little about it as possible, BTW.


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## Kaka Tim (Apr 11, 2012)

Saw the Aardman Pirates film with the daughter.
Good fun, pretty much what you'd expect. Plenty of daft. Some great moments. 
Tennant is quite annoying as charles darwin though.
A solid 7/10.


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## starfish (Apr 11, 2012)

Kaka Tim said:


> Saw the Aardman Pirates film with the daughter.
> Good fun, pretty much what you'd expect. Plenty of daft. Some great moments.
> Tennant is quite annoying as charles darwin though.
> A solid 7/10.


 
Saw that at the weekend with my nephew & niece. Wasnt paricularly impressed given the write ups it has been receiving. Some funny bits but overall disappointing (compared to The Muppets which we watched the night before). Also it reminded me of why i dont particularly like going to the cinema anymore.


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## belboid (Apr 16, 2012)

Le Havre.

Gramsci's said almost enough about it already, but why let that stop me?  The story is incredibly similar to Welcome, but as told by Michael Powell rather than Ken Loach.  The way Kaurismaki constructs a shot is just beautiful, his characters always so full of life (even tho the people I went with kept telling me one of the barfly's looked exactly like me in a few years time, bastards), and as for his use of colour, mmmmm


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## Firky (Apr 16, 2012)

War Horse

Watched it for about ten minutes - up until he won the horse at the market, outbidding his landlord. Too much golden sunshine, green fields and Disney.

So I watched The Lives of Others (again). Now that is a good film.


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## bi0boy (Apr 17, 2012)

saw Battleship yesterday - crock of shite but I suppose mildly entertaining on the big screen.


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## Reno (Apr 17, 2012)

Why isn't anybody going to see or even talking about *The Cabin in the Woods* ? It's probably the best reviewed American horror film in a decade (92% on Rottentomatoes), has great Internets buzz, is genuinely surprising, tremendous fun, really smart and made for geeks (of which I thought there were some here).

Plenty of people here went to see_ The Hunger Games_. This film deals with similar themes (about spectatorship, bread and games and the exploitation of violence) and then runs rings around the bland teen blockbuster with monsters, gore, tits, great gags and some genuinely good ideas.

There even were a few people who went to see the crummy run-of-the-mill horror flick _ATM_ on the last page or two, so why not this ?


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## Orang Utan (Apr 17, 2012)

i saw the trailer and now i don't want to see it anymore


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## Reno (Apr 17, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> i saw the trailer and now i don't want to see it anymore


 
Why not ?


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## Orang Utan (Apr 17, 2012)

there are what appear to be HUGE GREAT BIG SPOILERS in it.
i'm not that precious about spoilers usually, but this trailer pissed me off massively.


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## Reno (Apr 17, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> there are what appear to be HUGE GREAT BIG SPOILERS in it.
> i'm not that precious about spoilers usually, but this trailer pissed me off massively.


 
One of the most interesting things The Cabin in the Woods does is that it puts its biggest plot twist up front. There aren't any really big spoilers in the trailer, it mostly gives away stuff you are in on within five minutes. Then it goes to places that you could never predict from seeing the trailer. It also doesn't give away any of its best jokes, like many trailers do. The pleasure of the film is to be aware of its rules and then watch the pieces slowly click into place till you find out the reason for it all.

One warning (and not really a spoiler, but spoilered for the mega-spoiler allergic like firky): 



Spoiler: Reno



The film probably works best if you love and know horror films. It's primarely a film about ideas (or at least a world based on ideas about horror films) and you have to be willing to go with it and suspend your disbelief. It deals with genre deconstruction and audience pleasure in watching violence as much as Haneke's Funny Games does, but it does so with affection and humor instead of wagging its finger at you. It's surprisingly experimental and out there for a Hollywood film, which will put off audiences who expect something more conventional but which also assures it future cult movie status.


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## Firky (Apr 17, 2012)

ALLLALALALA I CNAT READ YOU!


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## Gramsci (Apr 21, 2012)

belboid said:


> Le Havre.
> 
> Gramsci's said almost enough about it already, but why let that stop me? The story is incredibly similar to Welcome, but as told by Michael Powell rather than Ken Loach. The way Kaurismaki constructs a shot is just beautiful, his characters always so full of life (even tho the people I went with kept telling me one of the barfly's looked exactly like me in a few years time, bastards), and as for his use of colour, mmmmm


 
"Welcome" was a good film as well. More Loach than Powell. The other way around to Le Havre. Unfortunately for some reason it didnt do well here at cinemas. It also shows the plight of the Kurdish people.


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## Gramsci (Apr 21, 2012)

Reno said:


> One of the most interesting things The Cabin in the Woods does is that it puts its biggest plot twist up front. There aren't any really big spoilers in the trailer, it mostly gives away stuff you are in on within five minutes. Then it goes to places that you could never predict from seeing the trailer. It also doesn't give away any of its best jokes, like many trailers do. The pleasure of the film is to be aware of its rules and then watch the pieces slowly click into place till you find out the reason for it all.
> 
> One warning (and not really a spoiler, but spoilered for the mega-spoiler allergic like firky):
> 
> ...


 
I agree with your comments in the spoiler. Thought I would give it a go after reading for first comments on it. Yes I was glad I saw it. Thanks for that. The poster for it looked like just any other recent tired generic US horror movie. The Far East ones are so much better.

It is difficult to talk about without spoiling it as it does go places I didnt predict. Some of the jokes are very funny. 

It is both a good old fashioned slasher movie and a film about voyeurism. It manages to be both an intellectual film and entertaining.

It slightly reminded me of the Truman Show but for horror. Or rather peoples liking for watching extreme(sexualised) violence. 

It was saying that if our unpleasant desires are not meet in fantasy the whole edifice of civilization could crumble. Its no surprise the secret laboratory is underground in the dark. Like a cinema or our unconscious desires. 

So its about voyeurism but also a defence of extreme cinema.


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## Reno (Apr 21, 2012)

There has been some Interwebs bouhaha when people didn't even want the premise of The Cabin in the Woods spoiled or thought that something major had been revealed. I wouldn't have been that interested had it just been another slasher film and I was intrigued by the other elements in the trailer. Film discussion on the Internet has developed some very rigid rules. On one hand people are massively spoiler alergic and on the other hand they can't get enough of this endless publicity drip feed, like with the Prometheus campaign.


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## baldrick (Apr 21, 2012)

Leon  our local was doing a cult film night. not seen it in so long I forgot about the scene where Gary Oldman says to his henchman: "EVERYONE!!!"


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## baldrick (Apr 21, 2012)

firky said:


> So I watched The Lives of Others (again). Now that is a good film.


love that film.


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## Gramsci (Apr 21, 2012)

I sometimes read reviews after ive seen a film due to plot spoilers.

Though , thinking about it, a decent film or play should be able to be seen even if one knows the story. If that was not the case how could a Hitchcock film be seen more than once? Plenty of twists and turns in his films but can be seen more than once.


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## Gramsci (Apr 21, 2012)

I went to the Argentinian film festival yesterday. I went to see "Ausente" (absent). Only managed to see half of it as fire alarm went off in Ritzy. They insisted fire brigade had to come. Got refund but wont be able to see the other half of it as its only on once. 

What I did see of it was very good. Its the story of a teenage schoolkid who is mysteriously trying to get into the life of a schoolteacher. It does not explicitly explain what is going on. Covers dodgy territory as instead of an older man manipulating a youngish boy its the other way around. 

The boy reminded me of the kids in "Funny Games" ( the original Austrian version). Its a psychological nightmare. 



I was more than annoyed not to have seen all of it. The alarm went off in the bar upstairs. Probably just someone having a smoke. Why they had to close the cinema completely for the night I dont know.


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## Kid_Eternity (Apr 21, 2012)

Reno said:


> Why isn't anybody going to see or even talking about *The Cabin in the Woods* ? It's probably the best reviewed American horror film in a decade (92% on Rottentomatoes), has great Internets buzz, is genuinely surprising, tremendous fun, really smart and made for geeks (of which I thought there were some here).
> 
> Plenty of people here went to see_ The Hunger Games_. This film deals with similar themes (about spectatorship, bread and games and the exploitation of violence) and then runs rings around the bland teen blockbuster with monsters, gore, tits, great gags and some genuinely good ideas.
> 
> There even were a few people who went to see the crummy run-of-the-mill horror flick _ATM_ on the last page or two, so why not this ?


 
Saw it last night, good film! This is the type of stuff I'd like to see more of at the flicks!


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## Gramsci (Apr 22, 2012)

"El Asaltante" Argentinian film from 2007. Saw at Argentinian film festival in London today.

English title calls it "The Mugger". But this is not accurate as the old man played by Arturo Goetz is doing hold ups of schools cash not mugging people on the street.

This is Roger Corman style low budget film making at its best. Its lean and not over long. The camera follows "El Asaltante" ( u never know his real name) as he does his hold ups. Apparently based on true story.

Arturo is outstanding as the robber. You are never told why he is doing this. Is it the money? Is the little downtrodden man suddenly getting powerful when he is holding people up?

There is an increasing edge of desperation building up during the film. Maybe its connected to the bad economic times Argentina went through in early 2000. Robbing is a sideline for this old guy to keep his head above water.

No one in the film is particularly nice. The streets feel hostile. He is always looking over his shoulder. We see the streets through his eyes.


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## DarthSydodyas (Apr 23, 2012)

Kid_Eternity said:


> Saw it last night, good film! This is the type of stuff I'd like to see more of at the flicks!


  It was excellent.   I'll be getting that on blu-ray.


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## gaijingirl (Apr 26, 2012)

Saw Le Havre finally and really enjoyed it.  Gramsci puts it well in his post.  It is quite a beautiful film!


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## Reno (Apr 28, 2012)

I went the see _The Look_ at the BFI, a documentary about Charlotte Rampling which I rather enjoyed as I'm a huge fan of the actress. There was a talk and Q&A with Rampling afterwards.


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## belboid (Apr 29, 2012)

Whedon double bill today, Cabin in the Woods and Avengers Assemble.  Both highly entertaining, Cabin probably the more interesting, a decent breath of life for a tired genre. Avengers is pretty much standard superhero fare, but delivered at such a pace and with more than enough wit to make it all good


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## Callie (Apr 29, 2012)

anyone seen wild bill?


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## Gramsci (Apr 29, 2012)

"Breathing (Atmen)"

Austrian film about a young man in prison who must hold down a job to get parole. He winds up working in a mortuary. This film let u know bit by bit the background and reasons why this young man is in prison. Its filmed in the , what I know call, Austrian style , long straight on shots and a lot of lighting. Acting based on a more realistic way that people behave in real life. Ultimately this is a humane and life affirming film. A change from recent Austrian films. First film by Markovics who also wrote the script. Well worth seeing imo


. ​


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## Gramsci (Apr 29, 2012)

‎"Back to Stay" "Abrir puertas y ventanas"

I saw this film at the Argentinian film festival in London at the Ritzy. It follows three sisters who live in the same house that belonged to there grandmother. She has recently died and they are coming to terms with this change to there lives. Its a film you gradually get into as you get to know the different sisters and there dawning realisation that there lives are going to change forever. Its a gentle slow ( but not boring) film. Its beautifully shot in the old rambling house of there grandmother.


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## blossie33 (Apr 30, 2012)

I saw the Being Elmo documentary film on Friday - about the guy who is the puppeteer behind the Emlo character from Sessame Street. He also worked on the Labyrinth film.

Really enjoyed it, he came across as being a really nice guy and it was interesting to see how the puppets are made etc.
I didn't know that the guy who originally designed most of the puppets for Jim Henson's name was Kermit!


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## andy2002 (Apr 30, 2012)

*The Avengers* (I refuse to call it 'Marvel Avengers Assemble'): Less a movie, more a two-and-a-half-hour punch-up, but bloody entertaining all the same.


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## Gramsci (May 2, 2012)

This film will be shown again at the Ritzy on Sunday 6th May at 2pm.



Gramsci said:


> I went to the Argentinian film festival yesterday. I went to see "Ausente" (absent). Only managed to see half of it as fire alarm went off in Ritzy. They insisted fire brigade had to come. Got refund but wont be able to see the other half of it as its only on once.
> 
> What I did see of it was very good. Its the story of a teenage schoolkid who is mysteriously trying to get into the life of a schoolteacher. It does not explicitly explain what is going on. Covers dodgy territory as instead of an older man manipulating a youngish boy its the other way around.
> 
> ...


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## Orang Utan (May 3, 2012)

I saw Pasolini's The Gospel According To St Matthew at St Nicholas Church in Deptford as part of the New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival. 
It was a suitable venue to watch it in, if a little uncomfortable (even though I brought a cushion), esp considering the length of the film. I was entranced though. It was very moving and absolutely stunning visually, esp the frequent panning across people's extraordinary faces. Pasolini very much emphasises Jesus as a revolutionary, something that seems a bit hackneyed now but can't have been at the time. At the same time, there's nothing here for the church to take issue with.
The music is amazing and quite varied - lots of Bach and Mozart, but also frequent instants of Odetta singing a spiritual and this beautiful piece of music from the Congo:


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## JimW (May 3, 2012)

belboid said:


> Into the Abyss - new Herzog doc about capital punishment, told around the events of one particular murderous evening. As powerful, and moving as you might expect, unsentimental, frequently harsh, and surprisingly funny at times.
> 
> Despite this being a special preview, clearly advertised as with _live_ (by videolink) Q&A with Werner immediately after the showing, nigh on half the ticket buyers still thought this meant they should show up twenty odd minutes after the film began. Eejits.


Just watched this having seen the shorter TV films he made at the same time; superb bit of work, honest and ho I wish more documentaries would be.
ETA: oops, not at cinema though; leaped into search results without checking


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## Gramsci (May 7, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I saw Pasolini's The Gospel According To St Matthew at St Nicholas Church in Deptford as part of the New Cross & Deptford Free Film Festival.
> It was a suitable venue to watch it in, if a little uncomfortable (even though I brought a cushion), esp considering the length of the film. I was entranced though. It was very moving and absolutely stunning visually, esp the frequent panning across people's extraordinary faces. Pasolini very much emphasises Jesus as a revolutionary, something that seems a bit hackneyed now but can't have been at the time. At the same time, there's nothing here for the church to take issue with.
> The music is amazing and quite varied - lots of Bach and Mozart, but also frequent instants of Odetta singing a spiritual and this beautiful piece of music from the Congo:




One of my favourite films- I can watch more than once. Yes the faces are amazing. He used a lot of non actors who were real farm workers in the film.

I would not say that portraying Jesus as a revolutionary is hackneyed. Its an aspect of the New rather than the Old Testament that periodically surfaces. As it did in Middle Ages with millennialism and during the English Civil War. And also more recently the radical Catholic priests in South America.


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## Gramsci (May 7, 2012)

I saw mia hansen-løve new film "“Un amour de jeunesse" today. I liked her last film "The Father of my children" and this one did not disappoint. She wrote and directed this study of a teenage love affair that is cut short when the boy goes to travel abroad and he loses contact with her . Only to return in the girls life many years later. It could have been a really sentimental film but its not. Its actually hard edged despite the bourgeois lifestyle of the characters. ( something I can find irritating in French film. These people who live lives where work seems to be secondary. They all have flats in Paris and have second rambling mansion in countryside.They the waft around discussing philosophy and relationships. The assumption is that we all live like this.)But hey its French. This is an exploration of passion that is so intense that the two cannot live together in reality. Its an engrossing film that is moving as well. Can tell it affects people as nobody rushed off to leave as the credits rolled at end. Good understated performances as well. Mia is particularly good at filming two people together. Following there small movements that express what they are really thinking rather than using to much dialogue.


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## belboid (May 7, 2012)

Blades of Glory, still marvellously funny


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## Thimble Queen (May 8, 2012)

cabin in the woods and marvel avengers today.... liked them both v much but poss cabin better.... thor is in both, thumpy heart embarrassed face


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## Lea (May 10, 2012)

Watched the Hunger Games last night and really enjoyed it. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I somehow thought it would be like Battle Royale but it wasn't.


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## Reno (May 14, 2012)

An Austrian film called _Breathing_. It's about a young man in a young offenders institute who is at a stage where he's let out during the day to get a job. He starts working for a funeral home and also uses his new found freedom to track down the mother who gave him up when he was little. It's beautifully made and acted and as the film goes on we find out how and why he found himself where he is, but in the end it all dovetails a little too neatly. Everything can be traced back to a single traumatic experience.


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## dynamicbaddog (May 20, 2012)

Since last posting on this thread I've been to see
All in Good Time - O.K I guess, bit too gentle for my tastes tho,
The Dictator - loved it, best thing Baron  Cohen has done for ages
and today I saw 2 Days in New York which was great, proper funny it's got some real LOL moments in it


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## Gramsci (May 28, 2012)

"Even The Rain" / "Tambien La Lluvia"



The script is by Paul Laverty who has worked on many of Ken Loachs films. As I expected from Laverty it is a highly political film. It also a good introduction to the histoty and politics of South America. It is based on the opposition to the water privatisation in Bolivia by the indigenous people.

Unlike Laverty/ Loach film "Route Irish" this  does work as an action film and as a political film. The plot revolves around a Spanish film crew who are making a film about Columbus and the Spanish colonalisation of South America.

There are some very effective scenes were the (Spanish) actors practise there parts in front of the bemused Bolivians. They gradually see that they are recreating the kinds of power structures that the Spanish conquistadors did 500 years earlier. The Spanish crew also start to see that the conflict over water is still one between the remaining indigenous people and the political European descent elites.

Before I saw the film I read a little about it wondered if it would be embarrassingly heavy handed. It does work better than I thought it would. Partly I think due to the high quality of the acting in the film. Also due to the script showing more moral complexity than I thought it would. Though it is the Spanish who are most troubled (and most interesting) whilst the Bolivian indigenous characters are all shown as brave and honourable. Well thats Laverty.

Not so sure about the last minute car chase ending and reconciliation. I thought it could have had a darker ending. Like "Route Irish" did - though that is an inferior film to this one.

ps

Its only on at a few places. Thought it deserves a wider showing. Saw it at Panton street Odeon. It was hot in there as the air conditioning is not up to much in that cinema. And I did go late evening to see it. Wish some of these chains would sort this stuff out. It was bearable as the were only 7 people in the cinema. Its not cheap to see films in cinema anymore.


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## Gramsci (May 28, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> Since last posting on this thread I've been to see
> All in Good Time - O.K I guess, bit too gentle for my tastes tho,
> The Dictator - loved it, best thing Baron Cohen has done for ages
> and today I saw 2 Days in New York which was great, proper funny it's got some real LOL moments in it


 
Still have not seen "The Dictator". Might wait for DVD as there is other stuff on. I like Baron Cohen. But my more "right on" friends do not want to see it as they do not think Baron is politically correct enough. Another friend went to see it and said the humour was predictable.


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## DJ Squelch (May 31, 2012)

Saw Moonrise Kingdom this afternoon which was lovely.The two kids in the lead roles were great and I enjoyed their scenes together in the wilderness much more than some of the bits featuring more established actors and of course being a Wes Anderson film it looked beautiful and had an interesting soundtrack.


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## Gramsci (Jun 4, 2012)

"The Turin Horse"



Saw Bela Tarrs "Turin Horse" at Renoir. Ive seen several of his previous films. This is the most gruelling to watch of his films I have seen . Over 2 hours of B/W arthouse euromisery. Left the cinema most depressed. Its unrelentingly grim. Can life just a monotonous repetitious trap you cannot escape from? In the world of Bela Tarr it is.

There is great opening scene as the horse trudges through the windswept landscape to the old mans house. ( It is at beginning of trailer though is much longer) The B/W camerawork becomes hypnotic after a while. Even after leaving the cinema its in your head.

The Turin Horse is the one that Nietzsche hugged before he descended into his last years of mental fragility. Tarr imagines the life of the horse and those around him. The old man and his daughter living in a house in the desolate country.

The film is claustrophobic despite being set in a wide open space. The house is set in a hollow with the rolling hills obscuring a long view. The man and daughter live in abject poverty living solely on potatoes. Life is one repetitive ritual they cannot seem to escape from though they are stoically aware of it. There one attempt to leave is inexplicably aborted.

The horse ( a great performance in itself) is like the old man and his daughter. Seemingly looking at the world without hope or pity. Its not that the characters feel sorry for themselves. Its that they live in an existential hell they ,uncomplaining ,suffer.

At one point a stranger turns up. He regales them with the fact that the town has gone to "ruination" and his views on the repetitive turn of life. This I think is from Nietzsche. It has no effect on the old man who says it is rubbish. There is no hope in the old mans world. In fact there is nothingness. The film is not even about human nature its more about the grim reality of unknowing nothingness that we keep at bay with our actions- life and loves. Which are in the end futile. Well thats how I felt after the film.


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## DexterTCN (Jun 4, 2012)

Won't be going to see that then.


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## Miss Caphat (Jun 4, 2012)

blossie33 said:


> I saw the Being Elmo documentary film on Friday - about the guy who is the puppeteer behind the Emlo character from Sessame Street. He also worked on the Labyrinth film.
> 
> Really enjoyed it, he came across as being a really nice guy and it was interesting to see how the puppets are made etc.
> I didn't know that the guy who originally designed most of the puppets for Jim Henson's name was Kermit!


 
yeah, that was a great little story. Jim came across as a bit of a dick at times though, didn't he?
or, alternately a dick and a saint
amazing that he accomplished so much in such a short time though


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## Belushi (Jun 5, 2012)

*McCabe & Mrs Miller*  Altman's revisionist Western at the BFI, beautifully shot, Julie Christie is terrific in it.


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## Gramsci (Jun 6, 2012)

"The Angels Share"



Just watched the trailer and its shite ( the trailer not the film which I saw this weekend). The trailer ups the comedy and makes the film look like a light romp in Scotland. In fact this is a hard hitting film with humour. It has great performances from the young cast. The mixture of humour with a dark edge to the film works. I liked the way you gradually got to know the characters and they became believable.

The beginning of the film is brilliant. The first ten minutes or so we are in a court where people are up for various petty crimes. This film makes most of its political points using humour or as in beginning shots straightforwardly shows you how it is.


The film cleverly and unusually subtly for Loach and Laverty explores class and its damaging effects. Also shows how crime is a class ridden concept. The higher reaches who set themselves up as judging the "Neds" are not really that much morally superior to them. Just wealthier so can get away with more.

No plot spoiler but I did enjoy the upbeat ending. No middle class moral ending for Loach/Laverty and good on them.

won award at Cannes and deservedly so imo.

I could follow the Scots English pretty well. There were no subtitles when I saw it this weekend.


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## andy2002 (Jun 8, 2012)

Took the kids to see *Men In Black 3* – I tend to enjoy time travel tales and this one was done reasonably well, despite reports that they started shooting the film before the script was finished.


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## marty21 (Jun 9, 2012)

Finally went to the Cinema, first film of the year! @me 

Moonrise Kingdom - thought it was a sweet, wonderful film.


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## friedaweed (Jun 9, 2012)

...erm.....errrrrr???


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## gaijingirl (Jun 9, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> No plot spoiler but I did enjoy the upbeat ending. No middle class moral ending for Loach/Laverty and good on them.


 
I saw this a couple of weeks ago and this is what I liked best about it too.... the only downside was that I thought it could have been a little shorter/edited down - but I possibly do have a bit of a short attention span at the moment.

This week I went to see Ill Manors (Plan B's film) which was ok, but definitely was too long (short attention span or not!) and a bit cliched really.  I wouldn't rush out to see it again!


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## Reno (Jun 10, 2012)

I saw Woody Allen: A Documentary with a Q&A from the director (of the documentary).

Very good if you like Allen's work, though in the Q&A they said this was a two hour version of a 3.5 hour PBS documentary, so maybe wait for that, because its not something that has to be seen on the big screen. Film clips are very well chosen often paralleling Allen's life story and the footage of his early TV and stand up career is particularely fun.


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## Gramsci (Jun 10, 2012)

gaijingirl said:


> I saw this a couple of weeks ago and this is what I liked best about it too.... the only downside was that I thought it could have been a little shorter/edited down - but I possibly do have a bit of a short attention span at the moment.
> 
> This week I went to see Ill Manors (Plan B's film) which was ok, but definitely was too long (short attention span or not!) and a bit cliched really. I wouldn't rush out to see it again!


 
Length is a problem with a lot of films. It is the obligatory 90mins plus when an hour would have worked. Still I thought Angels Share was not to long.

Just seen Ill Manors. Thought the plot went a bit like an over the top soap in the last third. However the characters were believable.

It was incredibly depressing.

I thought it managed to not glamourise violence. Which is a plus point. The bit with the prostitute , when they pimped her out, was so grim. Also had a feeling of realism about it that other parts of the film lacked.

It was antidote to the Jubillee flag waving and upcoming Olympics. Which imo is being used to distract people from the recession and cuts of this Government.


----------



## gaijingirl (Jun 10, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Length is a problem with a lot of films. It is the obligatory 90mins plus when an hour would have worked. Still I thought Angels Share was not to long.
> 
> Just seen Ill Manors. Thought the plot went a bit like an over the top soap in the last third. However the characters were believable.
> 
> ...


 
Yeah it was very depressing and that bit with the prostitute was awful.  But there was no humour whatsoever and it just felt a bit one dimensional.  (although that Kirby character was somewhat amusing at times).  Even in the worst, shittiest situations there tends to be some humour - at least when you're telling a story that spans over a period of time of that length.  I'm not suggesting it needed outright comedy but it was just a bit over-bearing for me.  Also the "nice" (comparatively) character coming good at the end was a bit predictable I thought.  

That was Plan B's eyes in the mirror at the end driving the cab wasn't it?  (went to see it with a 4 week old baby and although I asked her she wasn't sure!).


----------



## Gramsci (Jun 10, 2012)

gaijingirl said:


> Yeah it was very depressing and that bit with the prostitute was awful. But there was no humour whatsoever and it just felt a bit one dimensional. (although that Kirby character was somewhat amusing at times). Even in the worst, shittiest situations there tends to be some humour - at least when you're telling a story that spans over a period of time of that length. I'm not suggesting it needed outright comedy but it was just a bit over-bearing for me. Also the "nice" (comparatively) character coming good at the end was a bit predictable I thought.
> 
> That was Plan B's eyes in the mirror at the end driving the cab wasn't it? (went to see it with a 4 week old baby and although I asked her she wasn't sure!).


 
I thought it was brave not to put humour in it. Im would guess that was raised when script was discussed. Credits say Plan B wrote it. It could have been another awful mockney movie but it was not. Not perfect but he was writing about people who lived really grim chaotic lives. Im afraid it might not get big audience at cinema. It will get youth audience who will download it for free.

There was some really Black humour in the prison scenes. Also bits of black humour that turned into grim situations. That I thought was good move on Plan Bs part. 

Plan B eyes in mirror. Sorry Im told old to be that up with youth culture.  Only really know his name. Listened to his rap in the film. Made sense in the context of film.


----------



## gaijingirl (Jun 10, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I thought it was brave not to put humour in it. Im would guess that was raised when script was discussed. Credits say Plan B wrote it. It could have been another awful mockney movie but it was not. Not perfect but he was writing about people who lived really grim chaotic lives. Im afraid it might not get big audience at cinema. It will get youth audience who will download it for free.
> 
> There was some really Black humour in the prison scenes. Also bits of black humour that turned into grim situations. That I thought was good move on Plan Bs part.
> 
> Plan B eyes in mirror. Sorry Im told old to be that up with youth culture.  Only really know his name. Listened to his rap in the film. Made sense in the context of film.


 
I just wondered if he was doing a kind of Hitchcock with a fleeting cameo in his own film.  Actually yes the scene in the police cells did make me laugh come to think of it.


----------



## Kidda (Jun 10, 2012)

Went to see Men in Black 3 on Friday and thought it was a bag of shite. Too much swearing it in for a PG, normally i wouldn't be bothered but i had taken a group of kids to watch it and so it stood out. 

Just been to see The Dictator, not sure it lived up to the hype. It was watchable but not anywhere near as funny as Borat. I wish SBC would quit with the Jew stuff in his films now, it's getting boring and is too easy.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 10, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I thought it was brave not to put humour in it. Im would guess that was raised when script was discussed. Credits say Plan B wrote it. It could have been another awful mockney movie but it was not. Not perfect but he was writing about people who lived really grim chaotic lives. Im afraid it might not get big audience at cinema. It will get youth audience who will download it for free.
> 
> There was some really Black humour in the prison scenes. Also bits of black humour that turned into grim situations. That I thought was good move on Plan Bs part.
> 
> Plan B eyes in mirror. Sorry Im told old to be that up with youth culture.  Only really know his name. Listened to his rap in the film. Made sense in the context of film.


Plan B wrote AND directed it


----------



## Gramsci (Jun 10, 2012)

yes I forgot to put that on.


----------



## Reno (Jun 17, 2012)

The Raid, good fun and almost sustains itself in an attempt to be an action films which consists of almost non-stop action. I'm not sure I've seen a film with a higher body count. An hour in, after having seen about about 500 men graphically getting shot, stabbed, kicked or beaten to death, it got a little samey though at least by that point some sort of plot had kicked in. It's really like a first shooter as a film, but its sustains itself just about by the sheer quality of its action scenes.

Saw this at BAFTA where the usually stuffy audience was for once was moved to cheer and applaud when the two brothers finally manage to kill Mad Dog.


----------



## blossie33 (Jun 18, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw Woody Allen: A Documentary with a Q&A from the director (of the documentary).
> 
> Very good if you like Allen's work, though in the Q&A they said this was a two hour version of a 3.5 hour PBS documentary, so maybe wait for that, because its not something that has to be seen on the big screen. Film clips are very well chosen often paralleling Allen's life story and the footage of his early TV and stand up career is particularely fun.


 
I saw this at the Rio in Dalston on Sunday, it was the full 3+ hours version - I don't really like sitting in one place for that long but there was a break.

I must admit that I have never seen a Woody Allen film but I really enjoyed the documentary - found it very interesting.


----------



## belboid (Jun 18, 2012)

Evidently...John Cooper Clarke - yes, the one that has just been on TV for free.

Fortunately, Clarkie himself showed up for the intro & Q&A and a couple of poems.  Made it worthwhile


----------



## mwgdrwg (Jun 18, 2012)

Reno said:


> The Raid, good fun and almost sustains itself in an attempt to be an action films which consists of almost non-stop action. I'm not sure I've seen a film with a higher body count. An hour in, after having seen about about 500 men graphically getting shot, stabbed, kicked or beaten to death, it got a little samey though at least by that point some sort of plot had kicked in. It's really like a first shooter as a film, but its sustains itself just about by the sheer quality of its action scenes.
> 
> *Saw this at BAFTA where the usually stuffy audience was for once was moved to cheer and applaud when the two brothers finally manage to kill Mad Dog*.


 
Spares me going to see it now


----------



## Reno (Jun 18, 2012)

mwgdrwg said:


> Spares me going to see it now


 

Saved you some money there. 

(he's just one of a gazillion villains who get dipatched BTW)


----------



## belboid (Jun 22, 2012)

Prometheus. 

What a fucking mess. Looked great tho


----------



## gaijingirl (Jun 22, 2012)

Rock of Ages (you don't get a great deal of choice at baby cinema) - kind of like a soft rock Glee.  Not brilliant but Tom Cruise was very good - to be fair to the bonkers lizard lover.


----------



## DJ Squelch (Jun 23, 2012)

I went to see the re-release of Jaws the other day, fantastic to see it on the big screen again. Saw it at the marina and afterwards I sat on Brighton beach watching the boats & people swimming in the sea.


----------



## Sue (Jun 23, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "The Angels Share"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Saw this the other day. Thought it was pretty good. And no, no problems with the Weegie English either...


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 23, 2012)

Ill Manors
It's not perfect - like others have said it's relentlessly grim and a bit overlong. However I thought it had a good storyline and John Cooper Clarke putting in an appearance reciting  ' Pity the Plight of Young Fellows'


----------



## Gramsci (Jun 23, 2012)

mwgdrwg said:


> Spares me going to see it now


 
Reno is right the quality of the action scenes alone make it worth seeing on big screen. And Im not really into martial arts films.


----------



## Sue (Jun 23, 2012)

Polisse. Hmm, some decent bits but more overly sentimental, over the top bits. And the ending is .


----------



## belboid (Jun 25, 2012)

Frankenstein - a recording (which is why it's going in here, rather than the theatre thread) of the NT production from last year.

Quite astoundingly astounding really, Johnny Lee Miller can't have ever acted better, the script and staging were superb, and, fuck me, what a story. The James Whale film is great fun, but its a travesty of the depth and intelligence of the book itself


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 26, 2012)

Rock of Ages - really liked it, it's good fun. Loved all the soft rock 80s classics and Russell Brand was on form.


----------



## blossie33 (Jun 27, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> Rock of Ages - really liked it, it's good fun. Loved all the soft rock 80s classics and Russell Brand was on form.


 
I have heard say he does a terrible Brummie accent - what did you think?
As a Brummie I'm interested to know 
I can't stand the guy otherwise I'd go to hear for myself!


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 27, 2012)

blossie33 said:


> I have heard say he does a terrible Brummie accent - what did you think?
> As a Brummie I'm interested to know
> I can't stand the guy otherwise I'd go to hear for myself!


oh was that meant to be a Brummie accent? 
His singing and dancing were very good tho, he's a surprisingly good singer.


----------



## blossie33 (Jun 27, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> oh was that meant to be a Brummie accent?
> His singing and dancing were very good tho, he's a surprisingly good singer.


 
Yes, apparently.
One of my colleagues told me she heard he had done it as a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne but people were saying how dreadful it was!!


----------



## Gramsci (Jun 28, 2012)

belboid said:


> Frankenstein - a recording (which is why it's going in here, rather than the theatre thread) of the NT production from last year.
> 
> Quite astoundingly astounding really, Johnny Lee Miller can't have ever acted better, the script and staging were superb, and, fuck me, what a story. The James Whale film is great fun, but its a travesty of the depth and intelligence of the book itself


 
Showing Theatre plays in cinemas is becoming popular in cinemas. What is it like compared to film version of play or seeing a play in the theatre? Do you get close ups? Or is it straight on camera as though ur in audience?


----------



## belboid (Jun 28, 2012)

It's straightforwardly filmed, seem to be about four to six camera's in use I'd guess. So you get up close when you need to and pan about on other occasions.  But that is how you really watch in the theatre anyway, concentratng on one person sometimes, the whole scene at others.

This worked really well - partly down to Boyle's film history I suppose. It was better than the filmed than theatre I've seen on TV. The fact that it was a recorded show made it slightly less intense - there was no worry that someone might fuck up, cos they wouldn't have chosen that one to show, would they?  An actual live feed would be that bit more gripping I think.  But they're even more expensive. 

Smetimes the theatrics don't quite come off.  The opening of this, for instance, is ten minutes of Frankenstein being born. It was an impressive bit of performance, but it didn't really work as cinema.  If it had been happening actually right in front of me tho, I bet it would have been rivetting.

Definitely worth going to if it's a decent play I think.


----------



## Reno (Jun 28, 2012)

Cosmopolis. Not one of Cronenberg's better ones, though I didn't mind the main section in the cruising limousine where loads of people already left the cinema. It was the last act and the endless confrontation with Paul Giamatti's character in full Giamatti mode, which nearly made me lose the will to live. It reminded me a little of Cronenberg's Crash which I rather like, it's just nowhere near as effective.


----------



## frogwoman (Jun 29, 2012)

Prometheus, one of the best sci fi films I've seen in a long time.


----------



## Totoro303 (Jul 1, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "The Angels Share"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Just seen this... not a lot to add, but find your comments of the film more or less spot on. I have to say I was just very slightly put off by how this was kind of portrayed in reviews as some kind of comedy (while not being a fan of of films with a self righteouss tone) . In the event the balance between hard hitting political points and humour was just right. Really enjoyed it.


----------



## Gramsci (Jul 2, 2012)

belboid said:


> It's straightforwardly filmed, seem to be about four to six camera's in use I'd guess. So you get up close when you need to and pan about on other occasions. But that is how you really watch in the theatre anyway, concentratng on one person sometimes, the whole scene at others.
> 
> This worked really well - partly down to Boyle's film history I suppose. It was better than the filmed than theatre I've seen on TV. The fact that it was a recorded show made it slightly less intense - there was no worry that someone might fuck up, cos they wouldn't have chosen that one to show, would they? An actual live feed would be that bit more gripping I think. But they're even more expensive.
> 
> ...


 
I dont see plays that often so I notice the difference. Last time was when a friend was over from Canada and I got tickets to play at that Royal Court (upstairs) in Sloane sq. It is more intense to see real people act rather than on a cinema screen. So I see your point about theatrics. 

I prefer cinema screen myself. Like the distance.


----------



## Gramsci (Jul 2, 2012)

Reno said:


> Cosmopolis. Not one of Cronenberg's better ones, though I didn't mind the main section in the cruising limousine where loads of people already left the cinema. It was the last act and the endless confrontation with Paul Giamatti's character in full Giamatti mode, which nearly made me lose the will to live. It reminded me a little of Cronenberg's Crash which I rather like, it's just nowhere near as effective.


 
I was going to try and see this but its not on many places now. Read interesting review in Evening Standard where reviewer said he was not impressed by it straight after he saw it. But several days later the effect of the film made him look at things in a different way. Im curious. 

Crash was a disappointment. I had read Ballards book as I read sci fi. The book is, as Ballard said, pornographic. I was hoping that Cronenberg would do a more daring version of the book than he did . I thought it was tame compared to the book.


----------



## blossie33 (Jul 2, 2012)

Info for anyone interested, the East End Film Festival starts tomorrow 3rd July intil Sunday 8th July.

http://www.eastendfilmfestival.com

Have booked to see a couple. Would have liked to have seen Arena: Amy Winehouse in Limehouse but it was sold out.


----------



## Reno (Jul 2, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> I was going to try and see this but its not on many places now. Read interesting review in Evening Standard where reviewer said he was not impressed by it straight after he saw it. But several days later the effect of the film made him look at things in a different way. Im curious.


 
Five days later and I'm still not impressed.


----------



## Gramsci (Jul 2, 2012)

Reno said:


> Five days later and I'm still not impressed.


 
Oh well maybe I will catch it on DVD then.


----------



## Gramsci (Jul 2, 2012)

blossie33 said:


> Info for anyone interested, the East End Film Festival starts tomorrow 3rd July intil Sunday 8th July.
> 
> http://www.eastendfilmfestival.com
> 
> Have booked to see a couple. Would have liked to have seen Arena: Amy Winehouse in Limehouse but it was sold out.


 
Always looks good line up of films in this Festival.


----------



## Gramsci (Jul 7, 2012)

http://marinafilm.co.uk/?gclid=CIqPssq8iLECFUcKtAodcGrW9A

On at Renoir in London.

Doc on the "grandmother" of performance art. Grew up in Yugoslavia to hardline Communist parents. She says that her parents were totally involved in there political work. She had a austere upbringing as a member of the revolutionary elite. Shows in her work. She is highly disciplined and autocratic.Also a true believer in her work. Which only now, as she says, is getting taken seriously and not the work of a mad woman. 

I had mixed feelings about her work. It is on the intense humourless end of performance. She went from 60s alternative peformance to being a rock star of the art world. As someone said she is the Andy Warhol of performance art. She has a loyal team behind her. She use her body as the centre of her art work. 

As one person says in the film there is a difference between acting and performance art. In acting you use fake blood and fake knives. In performance art real blood and real knives. ( which she has done in the past.) 

Her last work at MOMA was her sitting opposite one person. Sitting still and staring into there eyes. It works and is moving in a strange way. As someone says she makes everyday life slow down. It is simple idea and also profound. But it is by her rules. Those who attempted to subvert her artwork were hauled of by burly security guards at a hidden signal by her. There is a touch of Stalinism here. It is subversive art but its structured and not a free for all. There is no discussion here. I noticed at one point she is talking about her pyscho analyst. She likes her because she is strict.


----------



## Belushi (Jul 8, 2012)

*The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoise* at the BFI last night. Bunuel's absurdist satire on the lives of the corrupt upper classes from 1972.


----------



## Reno (Jul 8, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> http://marinafilm.co.uk/?gclid=CIqPssq8iLECFUcKtAodcGrW9A
> 
> Her last work at MOMA was her sitting opposite one person. Sitting still and staring into there eyes. It works and is moving in a strange way. As someone says she makes everyday life slow down. It is simple idea and also profound. But it is by her rules. Those who attempted to subvert her artwork were hauled of by burly security guards at a hidden signal by her. There is a touch of Stalinism here. It is subversive art but its structured and not a free for all. There is no discussion here. I noticed at one point she is talking about her pyscho analyst. She likes her because she is strict.


 
In that piece of art Marina Abramovic makes herself tremendously vulnerable, both as an artist and as a human being. To imply that because she grew up in the former Yugoslavia she is like Stalin is rather unfortunate, especially as her work comes out of being the neglected child of parents who valued the state over their child. The whole idea of that piece of art was that she connects with people on quite a personal level and she has to trust strangers that they will collaborate rather than use her. The idea wasn't that this is a free for all where wannabe performance artists use her piece of art to piggy back on to promote themselves. Those who did struck me as profoundly insensitive. The guards just did what guards in any museum do when a visitor interferes with a piece of art, they asked them to move away and whatever force was used, was minimal. Those people weren't asked to leave the museum, just to stop interfering. The woman who took her clothes off was perfectly fine and still inside MoMA when she was interviewed after and actually quite apologetic. The guards are also there because her work obviously gets the backs up of conservative nutballs and as the incendiary clip featuring those two rightwing fembots from Fox News showed, it's not inconceivable that someone would want to physically attack her. I also don't see why her work has to be humorous. Not all art has to be and what she does is confrontational and challenging both on a physical and emotions level. Humour would take the edge off to a degree where it would lose it's power. And to the benefit of the film, as a person she struck me as someone who clearly did have a sense of humour.

I thought this was a tremendous documentary on a subject I could not conceive would be this interesting before I went to see it. I thought the film was surprisingly moving at times, especially when Ulay, her ex-husband and collaborator sat with her, decades after an acrimonious split. I came as a sceptic and in the end thought her work was tremendous and I found her tremendously charismatic. If I had a minor niggle, I would have liked to know more about the artists chosen to recreate her older performance pieces. The films seems to go down this road when they enter her perfomance art "boot camp" but then that's dropped, but I suppose that would have demanded a longer film.

In any case this is among my two or three favourite films so far this year.


----------



## Gramsci (Jul 8, 2012)

Reno said:


> In that piece of art Marina Abramovic makes herself tremendously vulnerable, both as an artist and as a human being. To imply that because she grew up in the former Yugoslavia she is like Stalin is rather unfortunate, especially as her work comes out of being the neglected child of parents who valued the state over their child. The whole idea of that piece of art was that she connects with people on quite a personal level and she has to trust strangers that they will collaborate rather than use her. The idea wasn't that this is a free for all where wannabe performance artists use her piece of art to piggy back on to promote themselves.
> 
> I thought this was a tremendous documentary on a subject I could not conceive would be this interesting before I went to see it. I thought the film was surprisingly moving at times, especially when Ulay, her ex-husband and collaborator sat with her, decades after an acrimonious split. I came as a sceptic and in the end thought her work was tremendous and I found her tremendously charismatic. If I had a minor niggle, I would have liked to know more about the artists chosen to recreate her older performance pieces. The films seems to go down this road when they enter her perfomance art "boot camp" but then that's dropped, but I suppose that would have demanded a longer film.
> 
> In any case this is among my two or three favourite films so far this year.


 
I agree about the other artists who recreated her work. They were not interviewed at all. I agree a lot of her work comes out her background. She also mentioned her Grandmother with whom she did have a close relationship. She also said her Grandmother was a very spiritual person. I think that relationship was an influence on her work.

Her early work looked like a reaction to Yugoslav communism as well as the history and politics of that region.There was a thaw in Tito's Yugoslavia that left an opening for counter-cultural artists and film makers in 60s and 70s. I would also have liked the doc to look more closely at her earlier work. Why did performance art take off in this period? Why did these artists turn to using there bodies? What effect on society did they want?

Early performance art was confrontational when compared to theatre. It was done in close proximity to the audience in small spaces. Often with the spectators being involved in the art work. Traditional theatre was considered to be passive consumption of art that would not lead to any change in the spectator once they had left theatre. Leading to society remaining unchanged. The critique of traditional theatre was that it was safety valve for the social order not there to change it. Same went for cinema. Also performance art took its confrontational approach to the masses ( in theory). Hence the van she and her partner travelled around Europe in.

So her work needs to be seen in context of worldwide development of this kind art. Which the doc did not go into. I need to see Yoko Ono exhibition at Serpentine as she is same generation. Marina was not the only pioneer of this art. Shuji Teryama did it in Japan ( made some interesting film versions of his groups performances). I like his work.

The doc could have a taken a more critical approach to her work. The one point this happened was late on in the doc when they interviewed a woman in MOMA who the doc said was an art critic. It was very short bit.

I find myself feeling uncomfortable with her piece in MOMA despite what you say. If she did this piece again would I go is the question I ask myself. The answer would be no. To me it looked like the piece was turning into an endurance test. Can she do it for the set time? Will she make it? Not an aspect of her work I liked. Her charisma got in the way of the art.

Still it was fascinating doc on the subject. Better than seeing Spiderman.


----------



## mwgdrwg (Jul 11, 2012)

I watched The Amazing Spider-Man last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it, even better than the Avengers. The 3-D was quite subtle, the action scenes were great, and the characters relationships were believable (e2a: for comic book creations). I'm a big Spidey fan and was worried that it would be a disaster, but it was great


----------



## DexterTCN (Jul 11, 2012)

Saw Spiderman today.  Enjoyable and well done, a bit better than the first Toby Maguire one.


----------



## Sue (Jul 14, 2012)

Killer Joe. Glad I'm a veggie...


----------



## 8115 (Jul 15, 2012)

Dark Horse. Absolutely brilliant. I really liked it. I was the only one laughing though 



Spoiler: dark horse



I loved the bit at the end where he peels the wallpaper back and you see the height mark and "dad's dark horse".  That really got me.  Best bit.  Also I liked the cougar secretary.  I want to see Happiness now.


----------



## Sue (Jul 15, 2012)

Powell and Pressburger double bill -- Spy in Black and Colonel Blimp. Fab.


----------



## blossie33 (Jul 16, 2012)

Went to see Electrick Children at the weekend - quite sweet and rather off beat,  enjoyed it and during the week I saw Shut up and Play the Hits a doccumentary about LCD Soundsystem's last gig at Madison Square Gardens which was interesting.


----------



## Ted Striker (Jul 16, 2012)

5 Year Engagement. If you walk into the cinema dragged by your other half, KNOWING the best you can expect from the film is a 6/10 experience, then it fits the bill perfectly.

A couple of scenes ranked as potentially ace but were executed poorly (Cookie Monster/Elmo chat and the Wedding Song), which was the general theme of the movie to be fair.


----------



## Reno (Jul 17, 2012)

The latest Pixar film, Brave. This got more mixed reviews than most Pixar films and it feels a little slight with a predictable plot, but it's still pretty good and far better than Disney's other recent "princess" films. Maybe the expectations are unrealistically high that Pixar are always going to deliver another masterpiece (though after Cars 2 expectations should have been lowered) and if this isn't up there with the best of them, it's still better than most CGI animated films and good fun. The only thing I found grating were a couple of songs.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Jul 18, 2012)

The Hunter. Thoroughly enjoyable psychological drama.


----------



## 8115 (Jul 19, 2012)

Ice Age 4.  Proper brilliant.  It's formulaic, but I think thats what means they can keep going without it getting terrible.  A good song, too.


----------



## RubyToogood (Jul 22, 2012)

Nostalgia for the Light (at BFI Southbank).  This is a film about the Chilean desert, which is visited by astronomers, geologists, and relatives of the disappeared of the Pinochet era searching for bodies. It's mostly about some awesome photography, but also about the relationship of those people to what they do, and about how the past is pieced together. Seriously beautiful and quite thought-provoking film.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Aug 3, 2012)

TED
Really funny, rocked with laughter throughout.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Aug 7, 2012)

The Amazing Spider-Man - enjoyed it, it's good fun. Not as good as Sam Raimi's 2002 version tho. And there is a lot of product placement - Peter Parker has the same phone as me (a Sony Xperia mini)


----------



## Sue (Aug 7, 2012)

Electrick Children. Tailed off a bit at the end but not bad at all. KInd of strange though that that's the second film in the last year the lead actress is in about religious cults (other being Martha Marcy May Marlene.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Aug 14, 2012)

Offender

 very fast paced plot, bent screws,violence, , bullying, riots etc etc liked it a lot but  it's nothing like the film Scum which apparently inspired it.


----------



## DJWrongspeed (Aug 14, 2012)

Agree with others about a Prometheus, only went because others recommended 

So onto the madness of Andrew Kötting with Swandown,


----------



## Firky (Aug 18, 2012)

Reno said:


> Why isn't anybody going to see or even talking about *The Cabin in the Woods* ? It's probably the best reviewed American horror film in a decade (92% on Rottentomatoes), has great Internets buzz, is genuinely surprising, tremendous fun, really smart and made for geeks (of which I thought there were some here).


 
Think I may watch this tonight.

Is there tits?

I have Salmon Fishing in Yemen to watch too, hmm.


----------



## Firky (Aug 18, 2012)

firky said:


> Think I may watch this tonight.
> 
> Is there tits?


----------



## Sue (Aug 19, 2012)

Finally saw Batman. Loved the first, thought the second was good, thought this was too long and pretty boring for much of the time.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 19, 2012)

firky said:


> Think I may watch this tonight.
> 
> Is there tits?
> 
> I have Salmon Fishing in Yemen to watch too, hmm.


 
There is very funny joke on watching hotties in film. Even if a bit sick.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 19, 2012)

http://aiweiweineversorry.com/



Saw this today. Ritzy was still to hot even though it was midday performance. Still it is fascinating doc. I have seen some of Wei Wei works. He is now an international artist and this doc followed him for a few months as he set up a couple of exhibitions, Its a standard doc format. What makes it good is that it gives more of Wei Wei background. His father was famous (Communist) poet who was persecuted during Cultural Revolution. Wei Wei is of the generation that lived through the transition of China to free market.
,
His own art work is conceptual. What this doc does well is show how conceptual art can be relevant to the society it comes from. His work is critique of the dramatic changes on China. As one artist says of him all his work should be considered art including his social activism.

What has made Wei Wei a problem for the authorities are the docs he made about the earthquake in China. Badly built schools collapsed killing kids. Wei Wei helped to expose the shoddy "tofu" construction of these schools. In China it is dangerous to criticise the authorities even if you are right.

He also produced some moving conceptual artworks about the Earthquake.Including a list of the names of the children killed.

The other thing that makes this doc is Wei Wei. He is a modest guy , not really a self publicist, but he has a real presence on screen. Clearly still has the Communist sentiments of his father for justice.

The counter argument to Wei Wei is that there have been great changes in China in the last 20 years. Many people taken out of poverty and more individual freedom. The existence of Wei Wei is a sign that China has changed. But Wei Wei argues that this is not good enough. He uses new social media - he incessantly uses Twitter now his Blog has been closed down.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 19, 2012)

"The Forgiveness of Blood"

Director Joshua Marston

This film only got average reviews but I rate it. So did the small audience at the Curzon Soho. There was a power failure so we had a break half way through film. Everyone said what an engrossing film this is. 

It is by the director of "Maria Full of Grace" and is set in Albanian. A murder leads to a blood feud between two families. According to ancient codes the aggrieved family can kill a member of the other family if they leave there house. This is based on actual events in Albania. The film was first shown in Albania and was a big hit. 

The American director did a lot of research for the film and used local people as actors.It is , as my friend said, an engrossing film about the relationships in the family that is affected. It shows the terrible effects of this self imprisonment. Which is a problem in Albania to this day. 

The film reminded a bit of an old school western. Probably due to the countryside and life of these Albanians that seems similar to US western frontier life. 

Not lots of violence in the film but more about how damaging violent codes are to all those involved. The teenage boy most at risk and caught , through no fault of his own, does not comprehend how these archaic codes go on. At several points he tries to stop it and the elders shut him up. The film shows a generation gap between the young people in Albania who look to the outside world ( of internet, mobile phones and Facebook) and the older generation.

For some reason this film has a very limited release. Only on at Curzon and Odeon Panton street. Deserves better. I like this directors films and how he is able to get inside other cultures. Most impressed.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 19, 2012)

Jeff Robinson said:


> The Hunter. Thoroughly enjoyable psychological drama.


 
yes it was and another under rated film imo. I chatted to an Aussie I know. He lived in Tasmania for a while ( a greenie). When I explained some of the plot he said it is like that out there. A split between loggers and environmentalists as shown in film. So the film is not that far fetched.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Aug 20, 2012)

The Wedding Video -British  wedding comedy starring  Robert Webb as the groom not the funniest film I've seen, but  amusing in parts


----------



## Sue (Aug 22, 2012)

The Bird (L'Oiseau). Very, very..French. And not in a good way. Couple of hours of my life I'll never get back.


----------



## blossie33 (Aug 22, 2012)

Sue said:


> The Bird (L'Oiseau). Very, very..French. And not in a good way. Couple of hours of my life I'll never get back.


 
I was thinking of going to see this!
Was it that bad?


----------



## Sue (Aug 22, 2012)

blossie33 said:


> I was thinking of going to see this!
> Was it that bad?


 
Thought it was pretty bad, as did the friends I went with. Heavy on the symbolism/metaphors, nothing much happens and the stuff that does all feels kind of pointless. Read some reviews today and they were all quite positive so maybe it was just us...


----------



## DexterTCN (Aug 22, 2012)

Brave.  Which was enjoyable and Scottish.


----------



## 8115 (Aug 22, 2012)

I saw Ai Weiwei, Never Sorry the other day.  I was actually quite underwhelmed by it, ironically it felt very propoganda-like and didn't really have too many moments of magic, which is a shame because I really like him as an artist.


----------



## blossie33 (Aug 23, 2012)

Sue said:


> Thought it was pretty bad, as did the friends I went with. Heavy on the symbolism/metaphors, nothing much happens and the stuff that does all feels kind of pointless. Read some reviews today and they were all quite positive so maybe it was just us...


 
I did go to see it last night, I can see what you're saying, it wasn't one of the best films I've seen!
Visually it was sort of arty with some nice shots. The storyline was a bit weak and I did wonder why the Chef guy was so keen on her! I didn't dislike it, was interesting, but it's not a film I would want to watch again.


----------



## Reno (Aug 23, 2012)

I saw the IRA thriller Shadow Dancer, which got great reviews, but it felt no better than a middling TV movie to me. Mind I saw this at the Cineworld at the Trocadero with no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year, it was so hot I could barely concentrate on the film. Fucking shit hole !


----------



## Reno (Aug 25, 2012)

Last night I watched _V/H/S_ at Frightfest, a horror anthology by a buch of up and coming directors based around 'found footage'. Like all anthology films it was a bit hit and miss. The very gory first episode about three guys who pick up two girls in a club to take to a motel room for sex, with them being too drunk and randy to notice that one of the girls is not quite right, was probably the best. The saucer eyed actress who plays the girl is very creepy. The middle three were watchabale enough, with a Skype based episode being the best and the last one, about a bunch of friends who turn up for a Halloween party at the (very) wrong house was also fun.

Going to see two more Frightfest films tomorrow


----------



## youngian (Aug 25, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw the IRA thriller Shadow Dancer, which got great reviews, but it felt no better than a middling TV movie to me. Mind I saw this at the Cineworld at the Trocadero with no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year, it was so hot I could barely concentrate on the film. Fucking shit hole !


 
I enjoyed Shadow Dancer as it was a more plot driven espoinage thriller on the lines of Le Carre than an another generic action film. Being British it did have a TV movie feel but the lead performance were terrific and nothing was quite what it seemed.


----------



## Reno (Aug 25, 2012)

youngian said:


> I enjoyed Shadow Dancer as it was a more plot driven espoinage thriller on the lines of Le Carre than an another generic action film. Being British it did have a TV movie feel but the lead performance were terrific and nothing was quite what it seemed.


 
Honestly, the lack of air conditioning, a ceiling light that kept shining in my eyes and the film getting projected much smaller than the size of the screen made the cinema experience so unbearable, that I got distracted from the film. All I could think of was to get out of there. It got great reviews, I might give it another try when it comes out on Blu-ray.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Aug 25, 2012)

Reno said:


> Honestly, the lack of air conditioning, a ceiling light that kept shining in my eyes and the film getting projected much smaller than the size of the screen made the cinema experience so unbearable, that I got distracted from the film. All I could think of was to get out of there. It got great reviews, I might give it another try when it comes out on Blu-ray.


That Trocadero Cineworld  does indeed  suck big time. I avoid it when I can. On one occasion I was there, they left the door to the auditorium open and all thru the film you could hear the adverts blaring out from the monitors in the corridor. The one down the road in  the Haymarket is fairly decent tho.


----------



## Reno (Aug 25, 2012)

dynamicbaddog said:


> That Trocadero Cineworld does indeed suck big time. I avoid it when I can. On one occasion I was there, they left the door to the auditorium open and all thru the film you could hear the adverts blaring out from the monitors in the corridor. The one down the road in the Haymarket is fairly decent tho.


 
I love the Haymarket one, especially the beautiful main screen.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 27, 2012)

youngian said:


> I enjoyed Shadow Dancer as it was a more plot driven espoinage thriller on the lines of Le Carre than an another generic action film. Being British it did have a TV movie feel but the lead performance were terrific and nothing was quite what it seemed.


 

I agree with this.

However it was not purely British film from the credits. The Irish Film Board provided some of the funding and it was filmed in Dublin. There are also several Irish actors in the film.

It had the solid acting and production values one expects from British TV drama. Would be watchable on DVD. It does have some well set up scenes. The creepy IRA "interrogation" flat and the funeral are two.

I thought it portrayed well the paranoia and suspicion that both sides of the conflict got caught up in. To think of it it could be seen in other countries. (Must tell my Argentinian friend about it). Not so much about the "Troubles" like the McQueen film about Bobby Sands. It was more about the effect of the Troubles on ordinary people. Or rather what would have been a ordinary family if it had not been for the war. As that is what her family would have been. It is not really a film asking you to take sides.The film shows how Andreas young son is becoming affected by the violence. Like she was when she was young as is shown at the beginning. The trauma is being passed down generations. 

Andrea Risborough was very good.Just checked her out on IMDb and realise I have not seen most the films she has been in.

I also thought the actress who played the mother gave a haunting performance. She has been there and seen it all. Which is unrelentingly grim. You see it in her face in the film. Excellent understated performance.

The film was set at the time of the lead up to the ceasefire as negotiations were becoming public. It showed the weariness of those involved in this long conflict.

One of the more thoughtful dramas Ive seen recently.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 27, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw the IRA thriller Shadow Dancer, which got great reviews, but it felt no better than a middling TV movie to me. Mind I saw this at the Cineworld at the Trocadero with no air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the year, it was so hot I could barely concentrate on the film. Fucking shit hole !


 
Is it as bad as Panton street Odeon? Trocodero was done up a few years back. They should have sorted out air conditioning.

I was at Ritzy that same weekend at the same problem. And I caught the early morning performance on Sunday. There idea to deal with it was putting jug or water and paper cups at front of screen.  Reminds me I need to email to complain. Cinema is not cheap. I expect air conditioning to work.


----------



## Gramsci (Aug 27, 2012)

"The Imposter"


Saw this on screen One at the Ritzy. Tried to not read to much of reviews as I didn't want to spoil the story. It is a documentary but its made more like a drama reconstruction. Its seamless. The talking heads and dramatic reconstructions go well together.

As the title says its about an Imposter. It really is a case of you could not make this up. If you did there would be so many glaring inconsistencies that no one would believe the plot.

If you think its just about the "imposter" think again. It goes into really scary territory later on.

As a documentary what does it say is the question I ask. There is a danger imo that as docs have become more fashionable recently they have moved into being more like a form of drama. Rather than interrogating the reality of the world around us. Which is the proper role for documentary film. 

At some points, in watching this, I got the uncomfortable feeling I was watching a freak show. However I chatted to a US friend of mine and he said Texans are regarded as a bit mad by other people in US. I can see why. So it can be seen to be about that reality in Texas. Scary. 

By the end I was not sure who I could believe. Could I believe anything they said? Did they convince themselves that what they were saying was true? It really was quite disturbing film.


----------



## Reno (Aug 27, 2012)

I saw two more films at Frightfest: Berberian Sound Studio and Sinister.

_Berberian Sound Studio_ was a dissappointment. I was drawn to it because it's about creating the soundtrack for an Italian horror film in the 70s, potentially an interesting premise. Toby Jones is very good in the lead, an uptight British sound technician struggling with with a Anglo-Italian culture clash, feeling isolated in Italy where they do things very differently. The film is brave in that it hardly ever leaves the sound studio and we never see anything but the title sequence of the film they are working on (The Equestrian Vortex which sounds like a take on Argento's Suspiria) , but it also takes a lot to make such a minimalist premise work and eventually it becomes clear that the film is going nowhere and very slowly so.

In the last 20 minutes the film attempts an Blow Up/The Conversation/Inland Empire style mental collapse and mesh of fiction and reality, but it never goes far enough and the film just doesn't manage to make the leap into darker Lynchian territory it tries for. Just as the film finally starts to get interesting, it suddenly stops and the credits roll. I found Peter Sticklands first film Katalin Varga overrated and was hoping I'd like this one better, but no luck. That said the sound design is brilliant and spot on, as is the film-within-the-film Goblin-style score by the band Broadcast.

_Sinister_ got a lot right even if it falls apart in the last act. Starring Ethan Hawke, it's about a true-crime writer who moves his family into a house which was the crime scene for the gruesome murder of the family who lived there, to research the crime for his next book. In the attic of the house he discovers several reels of old Super 8 film which depict similarly horrific murders of families in other locations, often decades apart and a demonic presence lurking in the shadows of the frame.

The film has an intriguing premise and despite being a little cheesy, it is at times really quite scary. It even manages to make an 80s style horror film comic relief character work, a bumbling cop who is a fan of the writer. There are a few great twists along the way and the Super 8 footage of the killings which out hero pours over and over to solve the mystery (again shades of Blow Up and The Conversation) is genuinely disturbing, even if it doesn't show that much. Unfortunately the resolution is just too far-fetched convoluted and relies on several tired tropes of the modern haunted house film. I'm fed up with dodgy child actors playing spooky ghost kids with pasty make up. Not scary ! Still worth checking out if you are a horror fan, because until the last ten minutes, it's pretty good and a fair attempt at doing something different.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Aug 27, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "The Imposter"
> 
> 
> Saw this on screen One at the Ritzy. Tried to not read to much of reviews as I didn't want to spoil the story. It is a documentary but its made more like a drama reconstruction. Its seamless. The talking heads and dramatic reconstructions go well together.
> ...




I heard an interview with the director and thought it sounded really interesting - though living in Leicester I'll probably have to wait about for another couple of months until I can see this one.  Your reaction to the film reminds me of my mine to the film doc 'capturing the friedmans' which left me utterly humble about the seeming intractablity of being able to accurately adjudicate between competing truth claims in so many instances. The unreliable narrator, rather than be an outrider, is probably the norm, certainly in an adversarial context.


----------



## Reno (Sep 4, 2012)

I just saw The Queen of Versailles a documentary about David Siegel, a US time share billionaire and his family who built the biggest home in America, just as the recession lands them in deep water. Very good and like a magnified version what it happening with foreclosures in the US in the wake of the crash. The focus is really on the trophy wife, who is a woman of tacky tastes (she seems to have the same interior decorator as Saddam Hussein) with an excessive spending habit. What I liked is that though the values of these people are reprehensible and their tastes hilariously awful, the documentary makers don't throw them under the bus, which would have been the easy option. Actually the wife emerges as oddly likeable and I got the idea that she'd probably be a happier person without all that money, because its shown to be like an addiction. Nobody seems very happy in the film. This started out as a documentary about the building of that obscene house, but then the financial crash happened it turned into a darkly funny satire on the American Dream turning sour. When you can't afford the staff anymore and you have a gazillion pets just because you can, who will find the puppies before they get eaton by the pet python ?


----------



## blossie33 (Sep 5, 2012)

I went to see Samsara on Friday. I had seen Baraka, the film the same guys made in the 90's which really impressed me. Beautiful photography.

http://barakasamsara.com/


----------



## Gramsci (Sep 5, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw two more films at Frightfest: Berberian Sound Studio and Sinister.
> 
> _Berberian Sound Studio_ was a dissappointment. I was drawn to it because it's about creating the soundtrack for an Italian horror film in the 70s, potentially an interesting premise. Toby Jones is very good in the lead, an uptight British sound technician struggling with with a Anglo-Italian culture clash, feeling isolated in Italy where they do things very differently. The film is brave in that it hardly ever leaves the sound studio and we never see anything but the title sequence of the film they are working on (The Equestrian Vortex which sounds like a take on Argento's Suspiria) , but it also takes a lot to make such a minimalist premise work and eventually it becomes clear that the film is going nowhere and very slowly so.
> 
> In the last 20 minutes the film attempts an Blow Up/The Conversation/Inland Empire style mental collapse and mesh of fiction and reality, but it never goes far enough and the film just doesn't manage to make the leap into darker Lynchian territory it tries for. Just as the film finally starts to get interesting, it suddenly stops and the credits roll. I found Peter Sticklands first film Katalin Varga overrated and was hoping I'd like this one better, but no luck. That said the sound design is brilliant and spot on, as is the film-within-the-film Goblin-style score by the band Broadcast.


 
I liked it. I would not say its a horror film. Its surreal and weird. Its more of a nightmare. Like a dream where you try to get out of somewhere and never quite make it. Nothing actually happens to you but there is a feeling it might. And you cannot wake up.

Did have the effect of when me and my friend left the cinema that daylight and normality took a bit of adjusting to. So the film did take me into a parallel world. 

The homage to Italian exploitation movies was very well done. My friend did not get all that and I think she thought that was all made up. Didn't spoil it for her.


----------



## ska invita (Sep 6, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw two more films at Frightfest: Berberian Sound Studio and Sinister.
> 
> _Berberian Sound Studio_ was a dissappointment. I was drawn to it because it's about creating the soundtrack for an Italian horror film in the 70s, potentially an interesting premise. Toby Jones is very good in the lead, an uptight British sound technician struggling with with a Anglo-Italian culture clash, feeling isolated in Italy where they do things very differently. The film is brave in that it hardly ever leaves the sound studio and we never see anything but the title sequence of the film they are working on (The Equestrian Vortex which sounds like a take on Argento's Suspiria) , but it also takes a lot to make such a minimalist premise work and eventually it becomes clear that the film is going nowhere and very slowly so.
> 
> In the last 20 minutes the film attempts an Blow Up/The Conversation/Inland Empire style mental collapse and mesh of fiction and reality, but it never goes far enough and the film just doesn't manage to make the leap into darker Lynchian territory it tries for. Just as the film finally starts to get interesting, it suddenly stops and the credits roll.


 
Glad to read your take on it - exactly the same as mine. Really disappointed though, and all the 5 star reviews are a reminder not to trust reviewers...a lot of emperors new clothes going on. Some interesting bits and a couple of great moments (the goblin !) but it just doesnt have any tension or darkness in it. Shorter in the middle and more at the end wouldve helped. A bit too much style over content.

I guess it was a pretty tiny budget so scores well on that front. Maybe im spoiled by the quality of Lynch movies, but if Lynch is premier league, this was division 2 (with a chance of promotion in the play off).

Also I found Toby Jones off putting - I never suspended my disbelief with him.

Some very good posters though (there are three other designs)


----------



## belboid (Sep 8, 2012)

Another one for Berberian Sound Studio.

Thoroughly enjoyed it, instantly took me back to hapy days listening tto the BBC Sound Effects Death & Horror albums I had (which merrilly told you about the use of cabbages etc). Very funny, looked great (some of the shots of the boiling and or rotting down veggies particularly). The 'theme' of the last half hour may be a bit trite, but I liked how it was far more subtle than the obviousness of the Polanski & Lynch films it was clearly influenced by.

But its stong point was the use of sound, which was superbly done, some great little bits about the nature of translation, and even a sound version of the Lueshov Effect.

5 stars is far too generous, it cetainly isnt without flaws, but it was enjoable, intersting, and well worth 4 out of 5, imo.


----------



## Reno (Sep 8, 2012)

belboid said:


> The 'theme' of the last half hour may be a bit trite, but I liked how it was far more subtle than the obviousness of the Polanski & Lynch films it was clearly influenced by.


 
Some of us dummies prefer the obviousness of those masters of the cinema of ambiguity, at whose heels this film snaps. Peter Strickland has a long way to go till he approaches the way Polanski manages to imply things by the way he frames a shot or the command of atmosphere Lynch has over his films. I didn't think the film was especially subtle (those Italians and their passionate ways !), just half hearted.

As art house tributes to Italian horror films from the 70s go, I far preferred the Belgian _Amer_ from a couple of years ago.


----------



## belboid (Sep 8, 2012)

Reno said:


> Some of us dummies....


No need to be so hard on yourself, Lynch is a genius.  I just like a more varied diet. And no one should try and 'do a Lynch' - they'll fail, and it'll be shit.  Fortunately I don't think BSS was doing that at all. Then again, I dont think its really a tribute to Italian horror films either.  There ya go


----------



## Reno (Sep 8, 2012)

belboid said:


> Then again, I dont think its really a tribute to Italian horror films either. There ya go


 
Not everything about the film, but a large part of it is a tribute to Italian horror of the 70s, in particular to Suspiria. I don't even think that's a matter of opinion, the director would tell you so himself (he did in a Q&A, when I saw the film)

...and he same goes for Amer. It is a tribute to Italian horror films AND it is more.


----------



## belboid (Sep 8, 2012)

There are plenty of references, and it clearly owes a debt and has an element of homage. It's just about more than that, imo.


----------



## Reno (Sep 8, 2012)

belboid said:


> It's just about more than that, imo.


 
Yes, sure. But that doesn't mean that it isn't also a homage to Italian horror films. It's fairly obvious that films can be more than one thing.


----------



## belboid (Sep 8, 2012)

Okay, it wouldnt be the thing I'd put at the front.  At least, it wasn't that that interested me about it.


----------



## Reno (Sep 8, 2012)

belboid said:


> Okay, it wouldnt be the thing I'd put at the front. At least, it wasn't that that interested me about it.


 
It was what made me go to see it.


----------



## belboid (Sep 8, 2012)

I'm not entirely surprised you're disappinted then.


----------



## Reno (Sep 8, 2012)

belboid said:


> I'm not entirely surprised you're disappinted then.


 
It's not like I can't tell the difference between what type films Berberian Sound Studio homages and what type of film it attempts to be and manage expectations accordingly. Apart from the homage, it tries to be a type of film I rather like, there are just better examples of it. Some of them were made by Polanski and Lynch and a few more by Coppola and Antonioni.


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## belboid (Sep 8, 2012)

Forty years ago.....and differently.

Hey ho, you didnt like it.  Fine. Other opinions are available.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Sep 9, 2012)

Finally saw Searching for Sugarman last night. Loved it, a truly heart warming documentary.


----------



## DJWrongspeed (Sep 10, 2012)

Reno said:


> _Berberian Sound Studio_ was a dissappointment. I was drawn to it because it's about creating the soundtrack for an Italian horror film in the 70s, potentially an interesting premise. Toby Jones is very good in the lead, an uptight British sound technician struggling with with a Anglo-Italian culture clash, feeling isolated in Italy where they do things very differently. The film is brave in that it hardly ever leaves the sound studio and we never see anything but the title sequence of the film they are working on (The Equestrian Vortex which sounds like a take on Argento's Suspiria) , but it also takes a lot to make such a minimalist premise work and eventually it becomes clear that the film is going nowhere and very slowly so.


 
5mins of this film is worth alot more than the rest of the pap out there.  The going nowhere isn't a problem for me it's more reflective on the cinematic process and media. The whole atmosphere is wonderful. It doesn't know how to end but heh most films fail in this area.  It's no Polanski or Lynch but it is a low budget UK film made by an inexperienced director.  I think we should expect great things from Strickland in the future.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 16, 2012)

1. Moonrise Kingdom -
2. The Sweeney -

I used to go to the cinema almost weekly, so to only go to two this year is strange - must see more, must see more


----------



## bi0boy (Sep 16, 2012)

Is Lawless any good? Might see it tomorrow.


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Sep 17, 2012)

The Watch with has Richard Ayoade in it. It's very inane and silly and got terrible reviews everywhere, but I sort of liked it. Jonah Hills character Franklin made me laugh. But it's a bit all over the place, it's no Ghostbusters.
The Sweeny, which was alright, Plan B was good in it, but overall not very memorable. They had D Box seats avaiable at the screening I went to. I was tempted but they wanted a fiver extra on top of my cineworld card, and I didn't  know if it would be worth it.


----------



## Reno (Sep 17, 2012)

Today I saw _Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel_, a very entertaining documentary about the Harper's Bazaar/Vogue editor, an interesting and eccentric character.

Then I saw _Premium Rush_, an attempt to make an action film like Speed with bicycles. Despite fancy graphics and camera work, the screenplay was about as sophisticated as something by the Children's Film Foundation. It really felt like a kids film from the 80s, with a hammy Michael Shannon as a ridiculous pantomime villain chasing after plucky bike messenger Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is fine as always but who deserves better material. It didn't make me like bike messengers any better even if they.

A couple of days ago I saw _Hope Springs_ with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones. It was a free screening I hasten to add. A good film could be made about a 60something couple trying to safe their dying marriage, but despite great performances from the leads, this goes too often for romantic comedy cutesiness. They decided to saturate this in soppy soft rock songs which clumsily spell out every emotion is case we didn't get it.


----------



## not-bono-ever (Sep 24, 2012)

Brave

with the kids.

better than I expected to be fair - quite enjoyed it.

the bit fat credit to Steve Jobs RIP  at the end had me dry retching tho


----------



## Firky (Sep 24, 2012)

Am going to the pictures this Friday for the first time since I got happy cancer


----------



## Biddlybee (Sep 24, 2012)

happy cancer?  

what you going to see?


----------



## Firky (Sep 24, 2012)

It made me happy to get a new liver 

I don't know, anything, like a labrador I am happy just to get out side the house for the afternoon


----------



## Biddlybee (Sep 24, 2012)

Lawless is good


----------



## Firky (Sep 24, 2012)

Is that the Nick Cave one? I love Nick Cave.

Not sure to go to the iMax or Tyneside Independent Cinema with dead comfy seats, proper food and drink. 

https://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/

Might get an iPhone 5 when I'm there too...


----------



## Biddlybee (Sep 24, 2012)

Yep that's the one. Go to the one with comfy seats!


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## Sue (Sep 26, 2012)

Vertigo. First time I've seen it on the big screen.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 28, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "The Turin Horse"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I saw this this evening.

The slowest-paced film in the history of cinema?


----------



## Gramsci (Sep 28, 2012)

teuchter said:


> I saw this this evening.
> 
> The slowest-paced film in the history of cinema?


 
Maybe or his other 9 hour film Satans Tango.


----------



## teuchter (Sep 28, 2012)

I was reading a review of Turin Horse where they had counted the number of cuts and there are apparently 30. In a 2 and a half hour film.


----------



## The39thStep (Sep 30, 2012)

Killing Them Softly- no real twists in what is a very straight forward story of quite bleak and futile misery masquerading as life. Can't take Brad Pitt to seriously though.


----------



## gosub (Oct 1, 2012)

Wife on three week trip to oz so have been going to cinema cos she'll have seen them all on plane and won't rent em, didn't really get the point of killing them softly, really liked lawless though


----------



## 8115 (Oct 6, 2012)

Barbara.

It was really good.  Set in communist East Germany, about a doctor who'd been disciplined for wanting to leave and sent to live in the country.  Looked really good, strong story with good characters and also a lot to think about.  It was a bit predictable, in particular the end, but I really enjoyed it.


----------



## Jeff Robinson (Oct 6, 2012)

The39thStep said:


> Killing Them Softly- no real twists in what is a very straight forward story of quite bleak and futile misery masquerading as life. Can't take Brad Pitt to seriously though.


 
I hear it's LLETSA's directorial debute.


----------



## Reno (Oct 6, 2012)

Jeff Robinson said:


> I hear it's LLETSA's directorial debute.


 
What the fuck is a LLETSA ?

It's the 3rd film by Andrew Dominick after Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James...


----------



## The39thStep (Oct 6, 2012)

Jeff Robinson said:


> I hear it's LLETSA's directorial debute.


 
probably the best description I could imagine


----------



## The39thStep (Oct 6, 2012)

Reno said:


> What the fuck is a LLETSA ?
> 
> It's the 3rd film by Andrew Dominick after Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James...


 
You've never heard of a LLETSA? You don't know what you are misting.


----------



## Captain Hurrah (Oct 6, 2012)

Reno said:


> What the fuck is a LLETSA ?


 
You don't visit the politics forums much.


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## Firky (Oct 6, 2012)

RIP LLETSA


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## Captain Hurrah (Oct 6, 2012)

Suckers.


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## Firky (Oct 6, 2012)

He was a good poster though, never went with the popular consensus , always the counter argument. He was the anti-manarchrist.


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## Reno (Oct 6, 2012)




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## DJWrongspeed (Oct 9, 2012)

teuchter said:


> I saw this this evening.
> 
> The slowest-paced film in the history of cinema?


 
Go see The Man from London his other film, it's even slower. I think another previous one is 7 hrs or something.

Enjoyed the Barbara film as well. It was missing a bit of spark or something but the old East German interiors looked spot on. The threat and decay and of it all is worth remembering.


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## Reno (Oct 9, 2012)

The39thStep said:


> Killing Them Softly- no real twists in what is a very straight forward story of quite bleak and futile misery masquerading as life. Can't take Brad Pitt to seriously though.


 
I saw that this weekend. Really enjoyed it. I don't think every film needs twists, it's mainly a character study and I often found it quite funny (the mob bureaucracy). It was quite a stylised, dreamlike film, far from 'masquerading as real life'


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## Ms T (Oct 9, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw that this weekend. Really enjoyed it. I don't think every film needs twists, it's mainly a character study and I often found it quite funny (the mob bureaucracy). It was quite a stylised, dreamlike film, far from 'masquerading as real life'


I really liked it too.  Great use of music, and I thought Brad Pitt was pretty good - and looked every bit his age.


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## Reno (Oct 9, 2012)

Pitt may be a limited actor, but he has learned which roles work for him and he was very good in this. He now only appears in films which he believes in rather than for the money like so many male stars. He also tends to produce these films and has become one of the few people in Hollwood who get quality films off the ground.


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## dynamicbaddog (Oct 9, 2012)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower 
Untouchable

both really good , Untouchable is a French film based on a true story, very funny and quite touching,  the sort of film that restores your faith in human nature.


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## 8115 (Oct 9, 2012)

Holy Motors.

I'm torn between saying, amazing and, almost amazing but didn't quite deliver.  The strangest film I've ever seen though.  There was something about it that didn't quite hit the high notes though.  I think it might almost look better on a smaller screen.


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## Reno (Oct 13, 2012)

I saw the LA cop drama _End of Watch_, which was pretty good. Great writing and acting, Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent in a tougher role than what he usually plays, but his co-star Michael Pena as his partner, steals the show. The relationships with their girlfriends/wives are also unusually well developed for a film like this and Anna Kendrick as Gyllenhaal's smart, funny girlfriend brings a lot of heart to the film.

The film starts out as a (poorly motivated) found footage movie, but eventually abandons the conceit, while the camera is still always hand held. I've laughed more in this than at many comedies recently due to some great dialogue and there are also some very tense and horrifically violent moments moments in there.

In the end though it isn't quite as good as the sum of its parts and I'm still puzzling why it didn't make a bigger impression on me, despite so much about it being great. Maybe it's because the film feels rather episodic. It's no Serpico and it's not as good as the TV series The Shield, which it often reminded me of but then that's probably my favourite TV series ever. Still very much worth checking out it this sounds like your type of film.


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## Reno (Oct 13, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw the LA cop drama _End of Watch_, which was pretty good. Great writing and acting, Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent in a tougher role than what he usually plays, but his co-star Michael Pena as his partner, steals the show. The relationships with their girlfriends/wives are also unusually well developed for a film like this and Anna Kendrick as Gyllenhaal's smart, funny girlfriend brings a lot of heart to the film.





Reno said:


> The film starts out as a (poorly motivated) found footage movie, but eventually abandons the conceit, while the camera is still always hand held. I've laughed more in this than at many comedies recently due to some great dialogue and there are also some very tense and horrifically violent moments moments in there.
> 
> In the end though it isn't quite as good as the sum of its parts and I'm still puzzling why it didn't make a bigger impression on me, despite so much about it being great. Maybe it's because the film feels rather episodic. It's no Serpico and it's not as good as the TV series The Shield, which it often reminded me of but then that's probably my favourite TV series ever. Still very much worth checking out it this sounds like your type of film.


 
...I had more of a think what bugged me about _End of Watch_ and it probably was the "found footage" conceit. It's not that I mind it as such, it was just used in such a ham fisted way and then it got dropped half way in, which gave the film a choppy, broken up quality. I got distracted trying to figure out which character within the film was still filming, when that would have been impossible by that point. There is a love scene where only two characters were present, but it still looked like a 3rd character was filming them, which would have been creepy. I think it would have been better if like with The Shield, they would have just gone for a hand held camera aesthetic from beginning to end without the characters filming each other.

There was a Q&A with Michael Pena and the producer after the screening and I got the impression that they weren't aware how overused the "found footage" approach has become (especially in horror films) and how much better it has been applied in other films.


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## The39thStep (Oct 13, 2012)

Looper= two hours of tense chase, dubious moral decisions,alternative reality, I think I understand this, a one gigantic plot twist .  Very very enjoyable.Play it again Sam.


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## Gramsci (Oct 13, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw that this weekend. Really enjoyed it. I don't think every film needs twists, it's mainly a character study and I often found it quite funny (the mob bureaucracy). It was quite a stylised, dreamlike film, far from 'masquerading as real life'


 
I agree it was dreamlike in a nightmarish way. I think that some people might miss the point that it was supposed to be dreamlike and stylised. It is different from other crime movies like Goodfellas. Which was based on real life and made that clear in the film.

It was clearly relating (dis)organised crime with American capitalism using a lot of black humour. It was also a very dark film. There was no redemption no nice characters.

Brad Pitt was exceptionally good. I do like him as an actor.

I also thought it looked great on the big screen.


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## Gramsci (Oct 14, 2012)

8115 said:


> Barbara.
> 
> It was really good. Set in communist East Germany, about a doctor who'd been disciplined for wanting to leave and sent to live in the country. Looked really good, strong story with good characters and also a lot to think about. It was a bit predictable, in particular the end, but I really enjoyed it.


 
The directors other film Ive seen is Yella. Which I would recommend. I would say it is better film. It is quite surreal. This film was more straightforward storyline but had elements of the slightly paranoid feeling I got from Yella. I heard the director talk about Barbara and he spent a lot of time getting the East German hospital looking real. Some of the actors said it was like that. Maybe he tried to hard on the authentic look in this film.

Yella was a critique of alienating modern capitalism and business in present day Germany. So useful to watch along with this film. I think the director makes interesting films. Its good that this one got a limited release here.

What I liked about Barbara was that it showed the moral ambiguities of living in Communist East Germany. Which is more true to how it was. It was low key film which me and my friend liked when we saw it. Interesting to compare it the the Lives of Others. Which I need to see again.

Also it implied that life in the West was not that wonderful either. As shown in the hotel room scenes which subtly showed that there was a power imbalance between the east German women and there west German men.


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## Gramsci (Oct 14, 2012)

firky said:


> Is that the Nick Cave one? I love Nick Cave.
> 
> Not sure to go to the iMax or Tyneside Independent Cinema with dead comfy seats, proper food and drink.
> 
> ...


 
What you have cinemas with comfy seats up North?


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## Gramsci (Oct 14, 2012)

Captain Hurrah said:


> You don't visit the politics forums much.


 
Its scary there. Much nicer here.


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## Gramsci (Oct 14, 2012)

Talking of politics I went to see Peter Watkins film "La Commune" and also his film set in Denmark called "Evening Land" at Tate Modern recently

http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/evening.htm

http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/commune.htm

He is a political film maker. And a good one. Like Loach he uses a lot of non actors but his films are very different. He shows all sides and does not have the slightly irritating sentimental edge of Loach.

La Commune is five and a half hours. Using historical sources he recreates the short lived Commune of 1871 which was brutally put down. The actors also debate in the film how they feel about the events they are portraying. Which is fascinating. So its not a straightforward narrative film nor is it a documentary. He tries for a different kind of film making which is polemical and engages you without forcing you to think in a certain way. 

His criticism of a lot of film is that its formulaic which is ideological in itself. The formulaic nature of a lot of film production means that social conditions and society are not criticised.


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## Reno (Oct 14, 2012)

Just saw a preview of Jacques "A Prophet" Audiard's new film _Rust and Bone_ and absolutely loved it. My favourite film of the year at this point and Audiard is probably one of my top three favourite directors working now. I just love how he omits or implies things, letting you guess or make up your own mind, where another director would shove in the camera for a close up or belabour a plot point. Apparently there was muted response to this film by some after its Cannes premier because it isn't at all like A Prophet and features what some thought was an outlandish premise. What Rust and Bone is most like is Read My Lips, my favourite film of his (my favourite film of the previous decade actually) and another genre piece centring on a disabled woman's troubled, yet mutually beneficial relationship with a man who is a bit of a lowlife .

This is Audiard's take on the melodrama and because that's a genre which is regarded less highly than tough guy films in our cultural climate, it may have been dismissed by some. But it's a fucking great melodrama ! Marion Cotillard plays a trainer of killer whales in a Seaworld attraction, who gets her legs torn off by one of the animals and who has to rebuild her life. After an initial stage of near suicidal depression she turns to a bouncer, who also makes money as a street fighter (the Belgian Matthias Schoenaerts, who was in the excellent and creepy Left Bank) who she briefly met after he drove her home when another man attacked her at a nightclub. He's not very reliable, violent and not an ideal single dad to his five year old son, who he just took off his druggy ex and he seems like the least likely person to turn to. But his attitude of not really giving a shit, living in the moment and not judging or feeling sorry for her becomes a great asset to her recovery.

It's a film that manages to be touching without ever feeling forcefully manipulative and like all of Audiard's films its gritty and yet lyrical. It's a love story that never goes down the expected path and it's characters are complex and feel true. It's a wonderful film.


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## Sue (Oct 14, 2012)

The39thStep said:


> Looper= two hours of tense chase, dubious moral decisions,alternative reality, I think I understand this, a one gigantic plot twist . Very very enjoyable.Play it again Sam.


 
Saw this earlier, really enjoyed it too.


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## Gramsci (Oct 14, 2012)

I saw a South African film called "Accession" at the Ritzy as part of the BFI London film festival today.

A gruelling film to watch. Three women walked out during the film. Its about a guy who lives in a township. You follow him as he hangs out , hustles for work and chats up women. He learns he might have AIDs and slowly falls apart. A friend tells him that if he has sex with a virgin he will be cured. This leads to two scenes of rape that are not exploitative in any way, in cinematic terms, but led to several people walking out. He starts has happy go lucky guy and ends up doing terrible things. The portrayal of rape in the film shows how terrible it is.

The film follows him all the time. Watching him in close up. He also talks directly to the camera as though he is talking to someone in the township. It is low budget but a lot of thought has gone into how it is shot.

I thought it was excellent but totally depressing film. Shows what people will do to save themselves when they are in a corner. Also shows the way that AIDS has had such a bad effect in SA. Where until recently the ruling ANC would not take it seriously.

As I was leaving I overheard two women asking what you were supposed to take from the film and what its political message was.

I think film does not have to have a specific message. This film puts you up close and personal (using the camera) with one individual.


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## dynamicbaddog (Oct 15, 2012)

To Rome With Love, the latest Woody Allen. A bit patchy I thought, 4 separate stories, some of it was funny but  not his best.


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## dynamicbaddog (Oct 17, 2012)

Paranormal Activity 4. - weren't much going on in terms of activity really, about 90 mins footage of empty rooms and then the  jumpy bit at the end.


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## seeformiles (Oct 18, 2012)

Went to see the Led Zep Reunion Doc "Celebration Day" last night - I've had a dodgy bootleg dvd for years so nice to see with good sound and bloopers removed.

The place was packed and outside the cinema it was just a haze of skunk! Par for the course then


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## Tulse Hill (Oct 18, 2012)

Not a big cinema fan, last film I went to see was the last Mission Impossible and my friend paid.


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## 8115 (Oct 18, 2012)

I went to see On the Road, I really liked it.  Might read the book.


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## Sue (Oct 22, 2012)

Beasts of the Southern Wild. Struggling to find any reedeming features.


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## Orang Utan (Oct 22, 2012)

I heard lots of good things about that!


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## Sue (Oct 22, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> I heard lots of good things about that!


 
Yep, won at Cannes and Sundance, generally very good reviews. Went with a load of people. We all thought it was pants.

Oh, redeeming feature. The wee girl's good and has cool hair.


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## Sue (Nov 4, 2012)

8115 said:


> Holy Motors.
> 
> I'm torn between saying, amazing and, almost amazing but didn't quite deliver. The strangest film I've ever seen though. There was something about it that didn't quite hit the high notes though. I think it might almost look better on a smaller screen.


 
Saw this earlier. No idea what it was all about but really enjoyed it.


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## seeformiles (Nov 5, 2012)

Went to see "The Art Of Negative Thinking" - Norwegian black comedy about a paraplegic bloke forced to attend a support group. v.funny!


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## Jeff Robinson (Nov 5, 2012)

Five Broken Cameras. A documentary made by a Palestinian living in a small village in the West Bank. He is an individual who can't put the camera down - he films everything. During the course of the documentary five of his cameras are broken by Israeli soldiers and settlers. There's a really interesting, and tragic, personal story in this, but also a political message about Israel's outrageous ongoing oppression of the Palestinians. I can't remember the last time a film made me feel so angry, I kept kicking the empty seat infront of me!


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## Reno (Nov 8, 2012)

I saw _Argo_ a week ago and_ The Master _last night.

Argo is perfectly entertaining, but oddly lightweight film. It goes a little too Hollywood at the end, with chase sequences that obviously didn't quite happen like that. Still, a fascinating true story that I didn't know anything about which nobody would believe if someone just made it up. 

I'm not sure what to make of The Master, PT Anderson's follow up to There Will Be Blood. It's clear that PT Anderson is an amazing film-maker and The Master is a fantastically well made film. But I didn't connect with the character or subject matter at all. It wasn't that it didn't hold my attention. Despite some scenes going on forever and the film being repetitive, there is a tension that runs through the film and much of it has to do with the two larger than life performances at its centre. I just found the film ultimately frustrating and vague. Like Malick's Tree of Life last year, it feels that Anderson's films are becoming primarily statements of their own directorial style. The Johnny Greenwood score is brilliant, he is the most innovative film composer out there now. The art direction and cinematography are gorgeous and flawless as expected. I'm glad I saw it, but unlike with There Will Be Blood or Magnolia, I won't be in any hurry to watch it again.


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## DJWrongspeed (Nov 8, 2012)

Sue said:


> Beasts of the Southern Wild. Struggling to find any reedeming features.


I thought it was merry visceral romp. Come on, the scene in the brothel was beautiful. Perhaps a bit low on substance but didn't all the flesh, meat and joie de vivre make up for that ?

Saw 'On the Road',  didn't know what to think.


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## sim667 (Nov 8, 2012)

Reno said:


> I saw _Argo_ a week ago and_ The Master _last night.
> 
> Argo is perfectly entertaining, but oddly lightweight film. It goes a little too Hollywood at the end, with chase sequences that obviously didn't quite happen like that. Still, a fascinating true story that I didn't know anything about which nobody would believe if someone just made it up.


 
Is this worth going to see at the cinema? Im tempted by either that or rust and bone tomorrow night.


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## Reno (Nov 8, 2012)

sim667 said:


> Is this worth going to see at the cinema? Im tempted by either that or rust and bone tomorrow night.


 
I think Rust and Bone is a far better film than Argo and more worthy of watching on a large screen. Argo is perfectly entertaining while it lasts, but didn't stay with me the way Rust and Bone did. It's just a little too concerned with turning an extraordinary true story into a crowd pleaser.


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## sim667 (Nov 8, 2012)

Reno said:


> I think Rust and Bone is a far better film than Argo and more worthy of watching on a large screen. Argo is perfectly entertaining while it lasts, but didn't stay with me the way Rust and Bone did.


 
I thought the reviews for that might have been hand picked from one or two places that was 'on side' with the director, but it was actually shit....... but is it actually as good as the reviews make out, and not too gooey?


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## Reno (Nov 8, 2012)

sim667 said:


> I thought the reviews for that might have been hand picked from one or two places that was 'on side' with the director, but it was actually shit....... but is it actually as good as the reviews make out, and not too gooey?


 
R&B or Argo ? Who is hand picking reviews for you ? Rust and Bone isn't gooey at all, in fact it avoids any sort of sentimentality you usually get with tales about the disabled. Seen any films by Jacques Audiard ? Not a single gooey moment in any of them.


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## sim667 (Nov 8, 2012)

Reno said:


> R&B or Argo ? Who is hand picking reviews for you ? Rust and Bone isn't gooey at all, in fact it avoids any sort of sentimentality you usually get with tales about the disabled. Seen any films by Jacques Audiard ? Not a single gooey moment in any of them.


 
R&B.

I didnt mean handpicked for me, i meant handpicked for the advertisers...... but im getting yo' drift..... may well go and see that instead of argo.


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## Reno (Nov 8, 2012)

sim667 said:


> R&B.
> 
> I didnt mean handpicked for me, i meant handpicked for the advertisers...... but im getting yo' drift..... may well go and see that instead of argo.



Both Argo and R&B got mostly good reviews and both have them plastered over the posters. Not dealing with superheroes or giant robots they are the type of films aimed at an adult audience which rely on reviews.


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## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2012)

I have to say the trailer for Rust & Bone put me off a bit even considering the people involved, but I imagine they are trying to attract the kind of audience who love cheesy films with people overcoming adversity in feelgood uplifting set pieces.


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## Reno (Nov 8, 2012)

I wrote about it a few posts up.


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## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2012)

Reno said:


> I wrote about it a few posts up.


yeah, i read that. it got me excited, but as i said, the trailer, and something else a friend said about it, made me dither in my resolution to see the film.


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## Reno (Nov 8, 2012)

This is another French wheelchair film currently out and it looks like the type of film about disability that makes _me_ run a mile:


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## Orang Utan (Nov 8, 2012)

Have you seen Ultraa? at least i think that's what it's called. it has the fella from Man Bites Dog playing a total arsehole who gets disabilised (yes i know it's not a word) by a tractor during a silly argument with his neighbour, who is also a dick and also paralysed by the accident. They decide to blame the manufacturer of the equipment involved with the accident instead of themselves and set on a hilarious road trip to visit the factory. It's sick as fuck but very funny and could never ever be accused of being schmaltzy and feelgood


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## sim667 (Nov 8, 2012)

have you seen the diving bell and the butterfly reno? thats a fantastic film.


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## Reno (Nov 9, 2012)

sim667 said:


> have you seen the diving bell and the butterfly reno? thats a fantastic film.


 
I wasn't a fan, but realise that many people were blown away by the film. I didn't even like the book, which made me feel sort of guilty as the poor sod had written it by blinking his eye. There was something too precious (in a particular French way) about both the book and the film. I realise that the film was trying to interpret his inner life, but to me it looked too much like the director showing off and ultimately it was the type of "triumph of the spirit" stuff which I find cheesy, even if it was artfully packaged.


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## sim667 (Nov 9, 2012)

Reno said:


> I wasn't a fan, but realise that many people were blown away by the film. I didn't even like the book, which made me feel sort of guilty as the poor sod had written it by blinking his eye. There was something too precious (in a particular French way) about both the book and the film. I realise that the film was trying to interpret his inner life, but to me it looked too much like the director showing off and ultimately it was the type of *"triumph of the spirit"* stuff which I find cheesy, even if it was artfully packaged.


 
Oh I dont think so at all....... It wasnt quite on a par with free willy, or long way home for pukingly triumphant spirit.

Goodybe lenin is worth a watch too, thats quite uplifting but with a bit of a dark humor to it. I love that film.


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## Sue (Nov 9, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> I thought it was merry visceral romp. Come on, the scene in the brothel was beautiful. Perhaps a bit low on substance but didn't all the flesh, meat and joie de vivre make up for that ?
> 
> Saw 'On the Road', didn't know what to think.


 
Was so boring -- was looking at my watch 15 minutes in. Felt like the director was checking off his 'making an Indie film' list.

' Shakey, nauseau-inducing camera work? Check. Non-professional actors? Check. Dubious CGI metaphor stuff? Check. Global warming/environmental disaster thing? Check. Obligatory Southern whorehouse scene? Check...'


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## belboid (Nov 12, 2012)

Skyfall. Which I enjoyed very much, until the Harry Potter ending. Cracking villainy from Bardem.


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## Reno (Nov 13, 2012)

_Silver Linings Playbook_, the new film by David O. Russell (The Fighter, Three Kings, Flirting With Disaster, Spanking the Monkey) who I think is always worth checking out. It's a romantic comedy with a little more bite than usual where the two leads aren't just kooky, but struggle with serious emotional and mental health issues. Bradley Cooper is very good as the bipolar lead, as is Jennifer Lawrence, who for one gets to play an adult instead of a plucky teen.


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## belboid (Nov 13, 2012)

_


Reno said:



			Jennifer Lawrence, who for one gets to play an adult instead of a plucky teen.
		
Click to expand...

_to be fair, she _was_ a plucky teen when she made her other movies (THG excepted)


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## Reno (Nov 13, 2012)

belboid said:


> to be fair, she _was_ a plucky teen when she made her other movies (THG excepted)


 
True, but she will be known as a teen for a while yet, as the THG films get rolled out over the next few years. In any case, it's good to see her in a role very different to the ones she is famous for and she is excellent as a permanently pissed off, promiscuous widow with poor social skills. I was impressed with her in Winter's Bone, but when I saw THG I wondered whether she could do anything else.


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## mauvais (Nov 16, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> I thought it was merry visceral romp. Come on, the scene in the brothel was beautiful. Perhaps a bit low on substance but didn't all the flesh, meat and joie de vivre make up for that ?
> 
> Saw 'On the Road', didn't know what to think.


Saw BotSW last night, and thought it was ace. Just bought the soundtrack.


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## Gramsci (Nov 18, 2012)

Reno said:


> It's a film that manages to be touching without ever feeling forcefully manipulative and like all of Audiard's films its gritty and yet lyrical. It's a love story that never goes down the expected path and it's characters are complex and feel true. It's a wonderful film.




Totally agree now Ive seen it. A wonderful film. Life affirming without being overly sentimental. As you say he takes the Melodrama genre and makes a great film out of it. 

For some reason its the character of Ali played by Matthias Schoenaerts that sticks in my mind. As a film about masculinity it is most interesting. The film gradually becomes more about him and the way he changes. Particularly his relationship with his son. 

It also has parallels with the Prophet. These are both about characters that grow and develop throughout the film. The characters that the director writes about and the milieu they live in is on the edges of straight society. Out of necessity rather than choice.


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## Gramsci (Nov 18, 2012)

Anyone seen Haneke latest "Amour"?

Saw it today. Starts off like its going to be like a lot of French films of the problems of the well to do Parisians. But after a while it becomes gripping and mesmerising. When it ended I did not want it to stop. There is something about the way its filmed ( all in one flat) that starts to lead one to a slightly different world out of kilter with the "real" world. But its a film about ageing and death (well its Haneke its not going to be a happy clappy film). Showing how two people gradually disconnect from the world of the living. It does show that only the old can deal with there ageing. The young cannot ( or will not ) comprehend it.

So I would say its a proper film. Not a play on film. As I at one point thought it would turn into when it started. Its , in a understated way, wonderfully shot. A lot also depends on the 2 main actors. Who are superb.

Im not going to say to much as the film, to my surprise, went in a direction I was not expecting.

This is an austere film. Its about subjects people would rather not think about- ageing and death. Surprisingly ,for Haneke, its a humane film. It does have Haneke unflinching look that he shares with you . The indignities of ageing and illness.

And Love. But you need to watch the film to the end to see how.

I saw it in Screen 5 in Ritzy. Pretty full. But the film clearly had peoples attention all the way through. No fidgeting or popcorn eating. And silence throughout .Sign of a good film imo.

Some reviewers have said it won the Palme D or due to the two actors. And it was a bit light for Haneke.

I totally disagree. For me this is now my favourite film by Haneke. Its a mature work of a master film maker.


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## Reno (Nov 18, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Totally agree now Ive seen it. A wonderful film. Life affirming without being overly sentimental. As you say he takes the Melodrama genre and makes a great film out of it.
> 
> For some reason its the character of Ali played by Matthias Schoenaerts that sticks in my mind. As a film about masculinity it is most interesting. The film gradually becomes more about him and the way he changes. Particularly his relationship with his son.
> 
> It also has parallels with the Prophet. These are both about characters that grow and develop throughout the film. The characters that the director writes about and the milieu they live in is on the edges of straight society. Out of necessity rather than choice.


 
Have you seen Audiard's _Read My Lips_ ? It's still my favourite film of his and _Rust and Bone_ feels like a companion piece.


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## Reno (Nov 19, 2012)

_Lincoln_. Very good and intelligent historical film which feels strikingly authentic in its recreation of the period. This is the most un-Spielbergian Spielberg film since _Munich_ and its actually very low key and neither sentimental nor especially patriotic. It's a long film and you have to pay attention as it assumes a certain familiarity with the historical facts, which are part of any curriculum in the US but are less familiar here. 

I liked that it concentrated on Lincoln's last four months and the vote on the 13th Amendment, rather than it being a cradle to grave biopic, it gave it focus. Because its written by playwright Tony Kushner it's mostly dialogue based and apart from a few brief battle scenes, there is little action (or vampire slaying 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





 ). Daniel Day Lewis gives another flawless performance, he is an actor who completely disappears into a role and he is strikingly different every time. Apart from an also very good Sally Field as his mentally unstable wife, the film features just about every great US character actor, all rendered slightly grotesque by their hair and costuming, which closely keeps to its sources.


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## Reno (Nov 19, 2012)

_Sightseers_, the new film by Ben "Kill List" Wheatley. This is a black comedy about a seemingly sedate British caravan holiday that turns into a killing spree, which is a bit like a Mike Leigh flick crossed with John Waters (especially Serial Mom). It's amusing in places and Wheatley has a very distinctive style but it get's a little repetitive by the end. The characters are too caricatured for me to actually believe their actions or care much about them and the satire is a bit obvious at times. Mind, this has been getting rave reviews everywhere and it has a great soundtrack, so I seem to rate it a little less highly than most. I preferred Kill List.


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## Jeff Robinson (Nov 19, 2012)

About Elly, an Iranian fIlm directed by Asghar Farhadi who won the best foreign langauge movie oscar for the excellent 'A Seperation'. It was really good social realist character drama full of moral complexity but still nowhere near as good as A Seperation.


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## Gramsci (Nov 19, 2012)

Reno said:


> Have you seen Audiard's _Read My Lips_ ? It's still my favourite film of his and _Rust and Bone_ feels like a companion piece.


 
Yes in the cinema when it came out. Just watched the trailer for it to remind me. Didnt realise that was one of his films. See what mean about companion piece.


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## Orang Utan (Nov 19, 2012)

Reno said:


> _Sightseers_, the new film by Ben "Kill List" Wheatley. This is a black comedy about a seemingly sedate British caravan holiday that turns into a killing spree, which is a bit like a Mike Leigh flick crossed with John Waters (especially Serial Mom). It's amusing in places and Wheatley has a very distinctive style but it get's a little repetitive by the end. The characters are too caricatured for me to actually believe their actions or care much about them and the satire is a bit obvious at times. Mind, this has been getting rave reviews everywhere and it has a great soundtrack, so I seem to rate it a little less highly than most. I preferred Kill List.


Have you seen Down Terrace? Both that and the Kill List suffer from unbelievable plots based around some sort of kitchen sink gritty realism. Such a jarring contrast. Doesn't really work.


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## Tankus (Nov 19, 2012)

Just seen Skyfall ...somewhat underwhelmed ...I thought that Casino Royal was better ......irritating ending


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## Reno (Nov 19, 2012)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you seen Down Terrace? Both that and the Kill List suffer from unbelievable plots based around some sort of kitchen sink gritty realism. Such a jarring contrast. Doesn't really work.


 
I've got it on DVD, but haven't yet watched Down Terrace.

Kill List worked a lot better for me the second time round and I think it's rather good. I'm not sure it aspires much to being believable, it has a nightmarish slightly surreal quality. It goes less for kitchen sink realism than for Pinteresque stylisation and the surprise ending is set up quite early on.

I think Ben Wheatley is a developing film-maker with an interesting and unique voice and while I didn't like Sightseers as much as many critics did, there is much about it that is interesting, especially in terms of style. He hasn't made a really great film yet, but I think he'll get there.


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## Reno (Nov 25, 2012)

*Seven Psychopaths*. Having liked _In Bruges_ and there being quite a bit of buzz around this I was expecting more. It's not bad, but it never becomes more than a string of amusing moments and performances which don't amount to much. Charlie Kaufman meets Tarantino, only not quite as good as either.


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## Kaka Tim (Nov 26, 2012)

Saw Skyfall last night. Entertaining enough I 'spose, but after the gritty realism (for bond anyway) of Casino Royale I was expecting something in a similar line - but this was pretty daft all the way through. Like the way the villain could freely roam across Britain whistling up a private army (from 'henchmen are us'?) with the state security forces, army etc having nothing to say about it.

.


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## DexterTCN (Nov 26, 2012)

Kaka Tim said:


> Saw Skyfall last night. Entertaining enough I 'spose, but after the gritty realism (for bond anyway) of Casino Royale I was expecting something in a similar line - but this was pretty daft all the way through. Like the way the villain could freely roam across Britain whistling up a private army (from 'henchmen are us'?) with the state security forces, army etc having nothing to say about it.
> 
> ***********************.


Spoiler!


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## Kaka Tim (Nov 27, 2012)

edited.


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## Jeff Robinson (Nov 27, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> "Even The Rain" / "Tambien La Lluvia"
> 
> 
> 
> ...




I largely agree with this review. I was worried from the trailer that it was going to be embarrisingly heavy handed too. It still was a bit, but ulitimately it would be hard not to be given the subject matter. Anyway, the film is now available on BBC iplayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019h75h/Even_the_Rain/


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## Sue (Nov 29, 2012)

Amour. Very good, if not exactly cheery.

The Master. Hmmm. Not enough happens and it's v slow so feels far too long. Don't know, bit of a waste as feels like this could've been a much better film. Philip Seymour Hoffman was excellent as usual. Joaquin Phoenix (who's been really good in various other things) is Acting with a capital A. Which I found really annoying.


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## dynamicbaddog (Nov 30, 2012)

The Master,
- story of a self destructive Naval veteran who after leaving the Navy drifts into a strange cult 'The Cause' who promote the idea of reincarnation, believing that through “processing” people may recall past lives (bit like Scientology) it's visually stunning, quite funny in places and very original.


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## goldenecitrone (Nov 30, 2012)

Rust and Bone. What a pile of merde.


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## Red Cat (Nov 30, 2012)

Ben non! Qu'est-ce que tu raconte?


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## Yelkcub (Nov 30, 2012)

The Master. Pants.

Hoping Sightseers tonight will be better!


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## goldenecitrone (Nov 30, 2012)

Red Cat said:


> Ben non! Qu'est-ce que tu raconte!


 
Ce n'etait pas du tout a mon gout.


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## DJWrongspeed (Dec 1, 2012)

Gramsci said:


> Anyone seen Haneke latest "Amour"?
> 
> 
> Some reviewers have said it won the Palme D or due to the two actors. And it was a bit light for Haneke.
> ...


 
Yes along with Cache it is masterly film making. The lady actress is superb. The ending is so simple but enormously effective.


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## Reno (Dec 1, 2012)

DJWrongspeed said:


> The lady actress is superb.


 
Emmanuelle Riva:


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## Orang Utan (Dec 1, 2012)

oh is that her in hiroshima mon amour? 
beautiful dame


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## Reno (Dec 1, 2012)

That's her!


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## Gramsci (Dec 1, 2012)

Yelkcub said:


> The Master. Pants.
> 
> Hoping Sightseers tonight will be better!


 
Sightseers. What a bizarre film. If its a comedy its very very dark. I saw it as follow on from the Kill List. Scratch the surface and this country is truly weird. 

I felt the audience didnt know quite what to make of it.


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## Reno (Dec 1, 2012)

I saw *Zero Dark Thirty*, Kathryn Bigelow's political thriller about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. Stretching from 9/11 to his death, it's a good if at times dry docu drama, mostly focusing on one CIA agent played actress-du-jour, Jessica Chastain. Like _The Hurt Locker_ this isn't really a political film, it's more like a police procedural, mainly following people doing their jobs. Unlike _Argo_ this doesn't have to make up a hokey action climax, the tense raid at the end of this film really did happen. I probably admire this one more than truly loving it, but it's mostly involving and smart. This has a lot of well known character actors in it, butit was a bit odd seeing John Barrowman sharing a scene with James Gandolfini.


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## Sue (Dec 6, 2012)

Yossi. Israeli, follow-up to a film that came out ten years or so ago (and which I haven't seen). Was okayish but felt more like a tv thing than a film to see in the cinema. (Was a last minute, free ticket thing, probably wouldn't have gone to see it otherwise.)


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## Reno (Dec 6, 2012)

Saw a review of Django Unchained and I posted about it on the Django Unchained thread.


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## Gingerman (Dec 9, 2012)

Saw Lawrence of Arabia at the BFI yesterday,now there's a film made for watching on  the big screen


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## Orang Utan (Dec 9, 2012)

Oop, wrong thread!


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## Sue (Dec 9, 2012)

Kubrick double bill -- Dr Strangelove and The Shining.

Has anyone seen Room 237? Is it any good?


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## DexterTCN (Dec 10, 2012)

Sue said:


> Kubrick double bill -- Dr Strangelove and The Shining.
> 
> Has anyone seen Room 237? Is it any good?


S'meant to be very good.  http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=137860


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## belboid (Dec 10, 2012)

Sue said:


> Kubrick double bill -- Dr Strangelove and The Shining.
> 
> Has anyone seen Room 237? Is it any good?


I missed it but me mate went and absolutely loved it.  She's a massive Shining fan, so enjoyed the (often mad) theories, tho in truth the film is at least as much about people who hold such madcap theories, as it is about the theories themselves.


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## DexterTCN (Dec 10, 2012)

Sue said:


> Kubrick double bill -- Dr Strangelove and The Shining.
> 
> Has anyone seen Room 237? Is it any good?


And Toy Story 3 as well, obviously.

http://www.empireonline.com/features/lee-unkrich-the-shining/p2


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## Reno (Dec 16, 2012)

For some demented reason I went to see the film of Les Miserables at a BAFTA screening (which means this is not something I would ever pay extra to watch). The only way I got through it was by recasting everybody with the Muppets in my mind.


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## cliche guevara (Dec 18, 2012)

Went to the Ritzy yesterday and saw The Hunt - a Danish film about false accusations that was incredibly uncomfortable to watch, but very well done.

Then went back in half an hour later to watch Chasing Ice, which had my jaw on the floor from start to finish. Contained some of the most striking real life imagery I've ever seen.


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## DexterTCN (Dec 18, 2012)

cliche guevara said:


> ...Then went back in half an hour later to watch Chasing Ice, which had my jaw on the floor from start to finish. Contained some of the most striking real life imagery I've ever seen.


Certainly touched a right-wing American.


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## Manter (Dec 18, 2012)

I haven't seen a single film in the cinema all year.

which is quite odd


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