Movies you've just watched

[emphatic]

Who are you, and what have you done with Skykid?

[Some-Mist]

I just know that a lot of people respect him as an actor and I've been dying to see Locke because of all the positive impressions.

watched Locke last night. Hardy is excellent but the film goes around in circles and is uneventful.

I don't think that that's an entirely unfair statement. In a way, I compare it to "12 Angry Men" only, you know...without the other pesky 11 men skulking about. Nonetheless, I find Hardy's performance compelling, *especially* when you consider (or partially because of) the very limited set he has to work with.

didn't even realize that there are other means of "seeing it" as of last week. was searching last month and couldn't find anything.
kinda disappointing that it's uneventful, but I'm going to try and check it out this weekend

I absolutely love 12 angry men too :>

[Mortificator]

Tomorrow is supposed to be Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Never saw it; it's supposed to be one hell of a ride.

Unfortunately, I'd say that's definitely the worst of the Heisei Godzilla movies. You might get some campy fun out of it, though.

As far as Destroyah, something that pleasantly surprised me was how cruel the big D was. As much as it's possible for a giant colony of precambrian anaerobes, he gave the impression that he fucking loved trolling Godzilla.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Yes, Under The Skin is quite an interesting sci-fi movie...didn't think that Scarlett Johannsen in her shapely birthday suit would happen but they're there in several scenes (just like with the Trance flick with another shapely actress by the name of Rosario Dawson in her surprise cameo birthday suit debut as well).

Beyond the Black Rainbow seems to take place in an alternative and surreal 1983 era - quite some trippy scenes to behold, nevertheless.

Not to mention that the third sequel of The Expendables 3 will debut this summer of 2014 also.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[BrianC]

I was excited when I first heard Josh Whedon did the Avengers movie becuase he had experience with Marvel before with the Astonishing X-Men comic. I loved the comic and the Avengers movie also delivered in a big way.

[DEL]

Skykid wrote;

Maleficent

Normally I run a mile from anything Disney that isnt associated with Pixar, but since a nice girl insisted she wanted to see this and everything else was in Chinese, I reluctantly accepted her offer.

And actually, I was a little surprised. It's still Disney, but a lot of that annoying hackneyed crap they always do when it comes to films with these themes turned out to purposely be flipped on its head. This is the story of Sleeping Beauty, but twisted into something else entirely, drawing on several other fairy tale elements and balling them together into an original tale.

When it first started I thought the little girl playing the main character was going to be in it for the entire movie. I almost walked out. There might be bad acting and child acting, but then there's intolerable child acting and I can't deal with the latter. Thankfully she grows up into Angelina Jolie very soon indeed and things became more bearable.

The movie isn't without weaknesses. Jolie is much more accomplished as the dark version of herself than she is as the light, where she comes off a bit hammy and ucomfortable, and there are a couple of unnecessary slo-mo effects shots that are out of place and feel like they belong in a different movie. But everything else is actually well-handled and cleverly composed, both visually and in terms of an original screenplay. I liked the spin on the fairy tale classics and the little twist at the end, despite being easy to guess. It's got its fair share of darkness, which reminded me of the Jim Henson days, in part, and it was nice to see Disney purposely stomping on its own rulebook of boring cliche fantasy.

It's not a must-see, but you'll likely enjoy it if you do. And as far as chick flicks go - those ones you're dragged to - this is more interesting material.

I don't think its Quote: "interesting material" for children.
Do I need to remind you of Kabballywood and its religion...?

[President_Obama]

Money?

[Moniker]

I was excited when I first heard Josh Whedon did the Avengers movie becuase he had experience with Marvel before with the Astonishing X-Men comic. I loved the comic and the Avengers movie also delivered in a big way.

Yeah, I was pretty shocked that he was able to pull a big cast of second-rate comic-film heroes into a remarkably decent and cohesive film. Was expecting some choice snarkiness from RD Jr., and little else. Went in w/ zero expectations and was very pleased.

Still, Scarlette Johansen (sp whatever) could do well with some acting classes. I don't care if I have an overwhelming desire to urinate on her knockers... in a good way.

[null1024]

Star Trek into Darkness.

Finally got around to seeing this, heh.

Spoiler

It's fucking Wrath of Khan, plus some other stuff jammed on. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Right down to the KHAAAAN! [said by Spock this time] and the radiation and glass pane scene. It's not nearly as good as Wrath of Khan either. Not even in the same class.

That being said, it's still pretty enjoyable, had a few Star Wars vibes, and I want Chekov to be my otouto [his mannerisms are too cute, even if his accent is terrible in every way, it's sickeningly endearing].

Also, Khan seems like he watched the Matrix way back when and told himself that he's Neo or something, that fucking long coat and hair drives me up a wall [which looked cool, but I still wanted to throw something at the screen upon seeing it]. At least he didn't put on sunglasses, I'd have stopped watching that minute that second.

On an non-inflated scale, it's a 5/10. Not great, and there is a much better version of this very movie you could watch [if it wasn't so late and if I didn't have work in the morning, I'd do that right now in fact], but it's not terrible. You could do far worse, the fights were cool, and it has a bit of fun with itself.
On a standard paid-review style scale, it's a 7/10.

[Skykid]

Still, Scarlette Johansen (sp whatever) could do well with some acting classes. I don't care if I have an overwhelming desire to urinate on her knockers... in a good way.

She's not that bad dude, reasonably competent, just nothing special. Her best performance was probably Match Point.

Speaking of performances, shall we do the man in your avatar?

Bronson


Quite enjoyed the movie. Not something I'd watch twice, I don't really enjoy material that puts dispicable mentally unhinged thugs on a glorified pedestal - but Refn made it interesting enough. It's not as stylish as Drive (nor does it need to be) but certainly a better overall piece of work. Not sure why some people seem to think of it as an art movie: it's arty, yes, but certainly not abstract.

Anyway, Tom Hardy. I don't get it. He was decent enough, yes, did his homework, found the character and got into his best cockney voice + amplifications of rage - but I didn't think he was exceptional in any way. At best, he totally looked the part, but that's a visual commendation. Otherwise he was mostly Tom Hardy and quite similar in performance terms to most things I've seen him in.

He cites his greatest inspiration as Gary Oldman, so I'll give him credit, he knows a fine actor when he sees one. But he's no way near the standard of Oldman - not even close - and I'm sure he'd be the first to agree.

Let's break it all down a little, shall we?

I don't think he's a bad actor. Must straighten that out first. I think he's decent enough, and I quite like him, in-fact, probably owing mostly to a certain real-world character he brings to the screen.

The first thing I saw him in was probably Band of Brothers, but I can't remember that too well, but I recall when watching Tinker Tailor I was questioning whether that kid is actually totally useless or pretty good. After Inception I had him pegged, although he's a slippery one to pin down: he's very much in the average middle bracket, almost the same in both movies, but does this very good routine of laid-backness. Almost like he's not really paying attention to being on a set and just saying his lines, ocassionally looking dapper with the odd eyebrow raise and pout during distant vacant staring.

At some point I was forced to watch him in a romcom by two girls who wanted a bit of Hardy and Pine in a movie called This Means War. Now if I was Tom
(and I am, just a different one) I wouldn't want to give much to such commercial nonsense either, but stone me, he was fucking shit. I was amazed at how useless he was, to the point where Chris Pine (admittedly half-decent anyway) was making him look awful. Well, maybe Hardy was making himself look awful, but talk about non-commital - it was like his mind was somewhere else entirely. The delivery and improvisation was embarassing, and I remember turning to my better half during the film and saying "this guy's shit", to which she said "I know."

But that's not tainted all of his work for me. I'm happy to say he was having an off day/week/month/shooting schedule - until I saw him in an interview. And that's really his undoing. Go watch him in an interview, then go watch him in any film. I assure you, your belief that he's an actor of any excellence will fade, sadly, when you realise how much of little to nothing he does on screen versus his real life persona. There's not too much in the way of effort going on.

That said, Jonny5 recommended Bronson and yes, you're right: it's the best performance I've seen him give. There's expression there and effort, and he does his best to define the character well. I didn't think he was brilliant, but handled the role well enough. He's still basically just being Tom Hardy, just with more snarl, but I'll give you credit for recognising him at his best.

[boagman]

I don't think he's a bad actor. Must straighten that out first. I think he's decent enough, and I quite like him, in-fact, probably owing mostly to a certain real-world character he brings to the screen.

But the above doesn't mesh with what you wrote earlier: "Tom Hardy ain't much of an actor man." You can see why there's confusion.

That being said, what you wrote about him is fine. I myself have yet to see "Bronson", so now it's on the list. I would highly recommend "Locke", too.

[boagman]

I should mention that I went to see "Snowpiercer" tonight, and I think it was pretty good! There are some pacing issues here and there, and Chris Evans is still not *quite* good enough an actor for the role, but he's very much helped along by the rest of the pretty-stellar cast (Tilda Swinton, especially, is quite funny), and for me, the movie worked quite well, even though it's kind of weird. The sound in the theater is *very*, very good, and the movie has a decent sense of humor within its script. The end result is that I was entertained, and I'm glad that I saw it in the (near empty) theater. I'm not rushing out to see it again, but I liked it pretty well for a full admission's price. Good music, too, and while there's certainly CGI, they don't go crazy with it, which I find kind of nice.

[Skykid]

^ Finally an accurate appraisal of Snowpiercer. I agree completely. I saw it when I was in Seoul on release over a year ago (Korean movie and all that). I enjoyed it, bit some people overrate it considerably.

But the above doesn't mesh with what you wrote earlier: "Tom Hardy ain't much of an actor man." You can see why there's confusion.

That being said, what you wrote about him is fine. I myself have yet to see "Bronson", so now it's on the list. I would highly recommend "Locke", too.

Then I mis-interpreted the sentiment. I'm just a bit sick of people saying he's the second coming of Marlon Brando. The guy isn't bad, but in terms of raw talent he has a way to go.

[boagman]

Then I mis-interpreted the sentiment. I'm just a bit sick of people saying he's the second coming of Marlon Brando. The guy isn't bad, but in terms of raw talent he has a way to go.

I can deal with that. It's also worth noting that Gary Oldman's significantly older than Hardy, and so Hardy has a long time to "catch up" to that level of wizardry, if you will. He *could* be the next Hoffman/Brando/Oldman/whoever, and I'd say he's had a lot more hits than misses towards that goal (admittedly, I completely forgot that he was in "This Means War", as I had *zero* interest in seeing two guys do the impossible: fight over Reese Witherspoon...that sounds like the worst possible script I can conceive of, so I've never, and will never, see it), but it's still pretty early in the game to be making those kinds of bold predictions.

Having said that, I fully admit that I'm pretty impressed with what I've seen so far (not exhaustive, but quite a bit).

[Skykid]

Age actually isn't a defining factor in ability. It didn't affect Richard Burton, Donald Sutherland or Martin sheen - all were outstanding in their youth, fine products of drama school. Oldman was terrific from the word go, just watch him in The Firm.

Some actors do improve marginally with experience, but it's rare for average to ever become great - in-fact I can't think of any examples. To that end I don't think it's a bold prediction at all: I'd wager Hardy will never be a exceptional, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

[boagman]

Oldman was terrific from the word go, just watch him in The Firm.

Huh? Don't remember him in anything I've ever seen (or IMDB lists) as "The Firm". Do you mean "The Professional", by chance?

[President_Obama]

Age actually isn't a defining factor in ability. It didn't affect Richard Burton, Donald Sutherland or Martin sheen - all were outstanding in their youth, fine products of drama school. Oldman was terrific from the word go, just watch him in The Firm.

Some actors do improve marginally with experience, but it's rare for average to ever become great - in-fact I can't think of any examples. To that end I don't think it's a bold prediction at all: I'd wager Hardy will never be a exceptional, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

Our (species') expectations are being lowered with every successive generation.

[Skykid]

It's a low budget but very well made Alan Clarke (I think?) movie about organised football hooliganism among the working classes from the 80s.

Oldman's first film maybe, unsure, but it's very good (dark) and he's utterly amazing in it.

John Hurt is another actor who springs to mind who showed superb ability in youth.

[Skykid]

Our (species') intelligence is being lowered with every successive generation.

Fxd.

[President_Obama]

Trufax

[boagman]

It's a low budget but very well made Alan Clarke (I think?) movie about organised football hooliganism among the working classes from the 80s.

Oldman's first film maybe, unsure, but it's very good (dark) and he's utterly amazing in it.

John Hurt is another actor who springs to mind who showed superb ability in youth.

Can't find any info on the film in question. Maybe it's just too small a production or something.

I like John Hurt quite a bit...but it's pretty hard to forgive *anybody* who was in the atrocity that is IJ4.

[Skykid]

Dunno what that is.

You can find The Firm man (and you should). Just google for it, it's not that obscure. Alan Clarke is quite well recognised as a good director, in a similar vein to Mike Leigh.

[Some-Mist]

watched the beat that my heart skipped yesterday

incredible recommendation by Moniker. I love the gritty film style which seems to have bled off onto the very similar looking "A Prophet". the pace flows very well. I was kind of scared the the intro was going to be too action-packed for the rest of the movie since the second half focuses on Thomas Seyr's return and newfound interest in the piano and becoming a concert pianist, but that wasn't the case. It was basically about a son who works as the muscle in his dad's real estate business - strong arming squatters and past due residents. When he bumps into his old piano teacher (who also used to guide Thomas's mother as a concert pianist), Thomas sees that there's more money and satisfaction to be gained from being a professional musician. It was a very entertaining watch throughout and I found myself hoping that Thomas would succeed.

One part that really stuck with me is when

Spoiler

he was stuck with his partners the night before his big audition, and he was practicing/mouthing the notes while waiting for his partners to take care of business.

I actually used to do that with guitar so it felt very familiar and authentic. I think it was also the defining point of the movie for Thomas because you could really tell where his heart was.

It seems like Audiard really likes using Niels Arestrup (also from A Prophet) whom I didn't recognize at first, but the Arestrup + Duris combo is impeccable. Romain Duris is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors after seeing him in both Mood Indigo and now The Beat That My Heart Skipped... and I'm looking for more films with him. It looks like The Big Picture has the same Niels + Romain combo so it'll probably be added to the bottom of my "to watch" list.

I was also looking at Audiards other films but it doesn't seem like they're easily available with the exception of Rust and Bone. Any Audiard recommendations would be great.

gonna try and attempt to get Locke in tonight but I just got my roommate into The Wire and we've been cruising through that. we're already in season 4 and my second watch-through has been even better than the first.

[rapoon]

^^ Mist, if you liked A Prophet and The Beat That My Heart Skipped, check out the Mesrine films w/ Vincent Cassel

[Some-Mist]

thanks :>

did a wikipedia search and it looks like exactly what I'm looking for. haven't watched a trailer - I think I'll go in blind

[Moniker]

Some actors do improve marginally with experience, but it's rare for average to ever become great - in-fact I can't think of any examples. To that end I don't think it's a bold prediction at all: I'd wager Hardy will never be a exceptional, but I'm happy to be proven wrong.

In recent years, I think several actors have aged like fine wine: primarily, Viggo Mortenson & Leo DiCaprio. To a lesser extent, Collin Farrell and Hugh Jackman.

As for Scarlett Johannson (sp?), she's below average at best. Discounting directors who can really handle their actors (in her case, Woody Allen and Sofia Coppola... and, for an extreme example, cf. whoever directed Precious.. Monique, Mariah Carrey and Lenny Kravitz [wow I'm doing horrible with names today], fell right in line), she strains credulity. This is including the unexpectedly awesome Avengers.

I also still have a boner for Bronson and everyone in it. An agree-to-disagree moment, I sappose.

[boagman]

In recent years, I think several actors have aged like fine wine: Leo DiCaprio. To a lesser extent, Collin Farrell.

Absolutely with you on Leo, as I used to despise him, and now I can watch him and enjoy him from time to time. His time spent under the auspices of Scorcese has definitely helped him be a better, far more believable actor, and not just a pretty face. Is he perfect? No, but he's a much, *much* better actor than he was a decade ago, for sure.

Colin Farrell, well...we'll just have to agree to disagree without being disagreeable on that one. It is beyond the scope of my knowledge how that guy has stayed employed in Hollywood as an (and I absolutely need to put this in quotes) "actor". He's just *terrible*.

[rapoon]

^^ he's great in "Tigerland",one of his first films.

edit: he's pretty good in "In Bruges" and "The Way Back" as well. also the "Fright Night" remake until Tennant appears, he steals the show.

[BIL]

Under The Skin

Timely reminder! This got some enticing buzz in the UK press last year, then I forgot all about it. Now the BRrip is up, woohoo.

Creepy, minimalist horror filtering human banality, tragedy and grotesquerie through an alien predator's POV. Convincing absence of warmth creates a consistently unsettling air, apparent from the discomforting title sequence. First half is more strongly disturbing, reaching a hallucinatory terror at one memorable point. Second is more contemplative, turning the focus onto the central character's awkwardly sympathetic development, and is where the movie will bore some. I found the trading in of fantastically alien for grimly human atrocity ultimately just as discomforting, but the tonal shift will inevitably jar for some.

Quite excellent, though the uncompromisingly downtempo pace and transition away from the first half's overt horror makes me attach a small caveat.

[chempop]

BBoy for Life - A documentary that juxtaposes Guatemalan gang life with the breakdance scene. Pretty heavy stuff, much more serious and mature than other hip-hop docs before it. I thought it was extremely well done. I could reflected personally since I've been part of the street dance scene for 20 years now. The documentary really conveyed what drives Bboys and how positive the whole scene is.