Film 2010

[Meade's Ball]

i foolishly and somewhat sleepily went to see The A-Team the other day in Brighton's high-flying cineworld of dreams. i had a sneaky dark-chocolate Bounty in my rucksack to keep me going, which i chewed on avidly. I suppose just like the throwaway tomfoolery of the original series itself, there was no backstory to these 4 buffoons being quite as they were, and i suppose for an all-out commercial action adventure without heart that's to be expected and gotten over. I also suppose general awareness of the original series, to which i remember watching the pilot episode on ITV as late as 9pm back in the silver-suited 80s and feeling temporarily awe-struck, meant no history was necessary to explain.
I never expected it to be an indepth study of the cattling of the brutal and brave in an unwinnable warzone, but nor did i expect it the action to be quite so unbelievable in a bad way. Part of the charm of the series was that they were 4 out-of-place men who could get on with no one making do with the backwater instruments they found to get out of trouble and save the day for the bullied man. This time there wasn't really that. It was just them proving their own innocence. And their enemies seemed evil for no reason.
I grew bored at times.
This wouldn't have happened if they gave more time to Howling Mad Murdoch. He was underused and should have come up with the zany plan at the end with them all dressed as red indians or women that saw them and the needy who relied on them through, and for Colonel Decker to roll up in the last moment cursing that they only just got away by a whisker.
Hannibal was annoying in the series, and they repeat that unlikeable cockiness here. The Face was a failure in love in the series despite his obvious male perfectitude, but in this he wins every woman over with a glance. Crass. And the new Mr T had some dialogue and buddhist thoughts of enjailed peace and love. Strange. Could have done better.

I didn't completely fall asleep, so it wasn't all rubbish, i try to say complimentarily.

 

[New Carpet?]

I went to see this at the beloved Dukes on a whim after reading it had a high score on rottentomatoes, knowing little about the man (apart from J'taime obviously) but thinking perhaps he was a bit similar to leonard cohen...

what a mistake. A dire film full of truly abysmal music, crap acting and irritating use of alter ego. And learnt very little about the man. Hated it, 1/10.

Saw Gainsbourg last night. Had some good and quirky elements about it, and the choice of actors seemed to work well, but I just felt they tried to do way too many things and cram it into two hours.
I knew a bit about Serge Gainsbourg ahead of the film, and good job that I did - there was too little explanation about things, and I had to make so much assumption watching it. It must have been so confusing for anyone viewing who'd never heard of him. The first hour or so was okay, but the film, like the great man himself, went really wayward towards the end.

4.6

 

[Nibble]

watched Shutter Island this evening. I can't figure out if I liked it or not. Dicaprio was more tolerable than usual and Mark Ruffallo is always watchable. Max Von Sydow showed up which was a treat and Ben Kingsley was great. Can't fault the acting at all but the plot just sorts of loses structure and gets a bit flabby in the middle after a great and intriguing start to what I though was going to turn into a cracking little thriller. The reveal at the end was obvious and diappointing and I found the film to have quite a depressing atmosphere which I was not keen on. It's by no means a bad film but slightly odd and I don't think in a great way. Actually depressed me slightly. I am going to award this film a 2/5.

 

[Meade's Ball]

The internet tells me that Down Terrace, a Sopranosesque film set in Brighton, has two cinemas showing it in the UK.The ICA in London and a cinema in Belfast. Something doesn't seem quite right. The film itself, however, generally does. I went today to the ICA, obviously, and sat through a moving and comical 90 minutes of film, that only in the last halfhour loses its edge. Of Brighton you don't see an enormous amount,most of the action going on in the relationships in the one house, but there's snippets of the downs and the beach and some bits of Whitehawk, which is labelled pretty much the home of gangland evil. But you can tell it's Brighton form the tones of voice and the hippyish people that find it a perfect residence.
The first hour has the experienced mother and father dealing lightly with the aftereffects of a court case we never know much of. It's quickly apparent that the family is involved in some decidedly shady dealings, but look to remain anonymous as all good gangsters should. The tensions continuously rise as love and similarity, the common factors of the majority of family relationships, are never really expressed; a dark and relentless banter and believable threats of harm seemingly bond them instead. There are regular knocks on the door for the son to answer, making sure whoever is someone they know, and inviting them in with purpose. The visitor generally has an envelope with a pocket of wealth inside that we're never to know the reason of or how much, like the mafia at weddings. But the father and son, played by real-life father and son Robin and Robert Hill, want to know who snitched to get them in court,and obviously want someone to pay with their lives.
Overall it didn't work as a thriller to find out the grass, but did in the false and paranoic closeness of the members of the family. The son, Karl, has teenage emotional outbursts with thunder behind them despite being 34, all probably thanks to never being allowed to move away, to get out of being a member. The dad, Bill, has an unforgivingness to him no matter who you are, and relies on instinct. Both like to smoke lots of gear to get them through the day. The mum, Maggie, is intensely uptight and shouldn't be upset, but softly motherly behind her dragonish appearance. Maggie and Bill remember for a moment what it was like running things in Brighton before Karl was born, the good old days.
The humour is generally spot on to lighten the mood, the caricatures of modern life with a tool in their pocket rightly wound up and full of cheeky one-liners. But the evil of them all shines through constantly.
The last half hour descends into an unsuitable bloody mayhem though, and loses it's naturality. Still, a top bloody-kitchen-sink drama with an excellent backing track to it.
If Brighton decide to show it at length if they haven't already, then i recommend. Good entertaining stuff.

 

[Nibble]

Saw The Road this evening. it's a good film but not great thing to watch if you want a cheery antidote to a hangover.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Saw The Road this evening. it's a good film but not great thing to watch if you want a cheery antidote to a hangover.

When Sherlock finishes, you should have a Road movie evening with Red Road and Road House, that perfect mix of thistled sexodrama and a Swayze roundhouse.

 

[Acker79]

Knight and Day
M'eh. It has some cute moments for an action film but just didn't feel like anything special. Just ok.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Shutter Island

Started promisingly, flagged in the middle, went very weird, ended dissapointingly. Di Caprio was as ever very good, Kingsley was good. The story , plot and tension was not as good as I had hoped. Not one of Scorcese's best.

6.8

From Paris with Love

Travalto does a decent job as a rogue cop, shaved head, goatee, earing and looking f***ing cool as usual. Rhys Meyers plays ambitious rookie shadowing Travollta and is out of his depth. Some decent action scenes and a twist, all fairly formulaic and predictable but decent enough fun for 85 minutes for a no brain watch.

6.9

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

The Blind Side

Sandra Bullock won this years Oscar for this. She put in a good performamnce but Oscar winner, I think not. I quite like Bullock but it was the most ridiculious OScar decision since Shakespeare in Love won the Oscar over Saving Private Ryan and Judi Dench won ann Oscar in the same film for an 8 minute performance. The story is of a huge Black boy who is orphaned and lost and Bullock takes him in, gets him educated and gets him into a top College and successful at American Football. It is hotch potch and is neither a sporting film or anything in particular. It did not really move me as a true story like this should and I am sure the director did not do the source material justice.

Dissapointing.

6.2

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

The Blind Side

Sandra Bullock won this years Oscar for this. She put in a good performamnce but Oscar winner, I think not. I quite like Bullock but it was the most ridiculious OScar decision since Shakespeare in Love won the Oscar over Saving Private Ryan and Judi Dench won ann Oscar in the same film for an 8 minute performance. The story is of a huge Black boy who is orphaned and lost and Bullock takes him in, gets him educated and gets him into a top College and successful at American Football. It is hotch potch and is neither a sporting film or anything in particular. It did not really move me as a true story like this should and I am sure the director did not do the source material justice.

Dissapointing.

6.2

I completely disagree. It was a heartwarming and fun film where Bullock put in a great performance. My film of the year so far

8.7

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Each to their own. It didn't do it for me.

 

[MattBackHome]

Drag Me To Hell

Just terrific - very funny, very creepy, very gross-out and very likeable.

8.0

 

[Wilko]

The internet tells me that Down Terrace, a Sopranosesque film set in Brighton, has two cinemas showing it in the UK.The ICA in London and a cinema in Belfast. Something doesn't seem quite right. The film itself, however, generally does. I went today to the ICA, obviously, and sat through a moving and comical 90 minutes of film, that only in the last halfhour loses its edge. Of Brighton you don't see an enormous amount,most of the action going on in the relationships in the one house, but there's snippets of the downs and the beach and some bits of Whitehawk, which is labelled pretty much the home of gangland evil. But you can tell it's Brighton form the tones of voice and the hippyish people that find it a perfect residence.
The first hour has the experienced mother and father dealing lightly with the aftereffects of a court case we never know much of. It's quickly apparent that the family is involved in some decidedly shady dealings, but look to remain anonymous as all good gangsters should. The tensions continuously rise as love and similarity, the common factors of the majority of family relationships, are never really expressed; a dark and relentless banter and believable threats of harm seemingly bond them instead. There are regular knocks on the door for the son to answer, making sure whoever is someone they know, and inviting them in with purpose. The visitor generally has an envelope with a pocket of wealth inside that we're never to know the reason of or how much, like the mafia at weddings. But the father and son, played by real-life father and son Robin and Robert Hill, want to know who snitched to get them in court,and obviously want someone to pay with their lives.
Overall it didn't work as a thriller to find out the grass, but did in the false and paranoic closeness of the members of the family. The son, Karl, has teenage emotional outbursts with thunder behind them despite being 34, all probably thanks to never being allowed to move away, to get out of being a member. The dad, Bill, has an unforgivingness to him no matter who you are, and relies on instinct. Both like to smoke lots of gear to get them through the day. The mum, Maggie, is intensely uptight and shouldn't be upset, but softly motherly behind her dragonish appearance. Maggie and Bill remember for a moment what it was like running things in Brighton before Karl was born, the good old days.
The humour is generally spot on to lighten the mood, the caricatures of modern life with a tool in their pocket rightly wound up and full of cheeky one-liners. But the evil of them all shines through constantly.
The last half hour descends into an unsuitable bloody mayhem though, and loses it's naturality. Still, a top bloody-kitchen-sink drama with an excellent backing track to it.
If Brighton decide to show it at length if they haven't already, then i recommend. Good entertaining stuff.

This is now showing at the Duke, think I may have to check it out, does Brighton feature in it quite a bit?

 

[brightonlass2009]

Eclipse
Just don't bother. Once again more Twilight Saga drivel that shouldn't be in existence (opinion only).
Giving it a 1 out of 10, but only because a couple of lines made me laugh.

 

[Acker79]

The Sorcerer's Apprentice
M'eh. Not bad, not great.

 

[BHAFC4EVER]

Inception 9.3

 

[Wilko]

I saw inception last week and to be honest it bored me a bit, with half hour to go I was looking at my watch. It also seemed to take itself far too seriously and reminded me of the Matrix in that you know they are going to churn out another two that will have 5 or 6 levels of dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams.........yawn.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Ok i have two films to add.
Firstly i went last night to the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar-winner 'Secret in Their Eyes" last night. 2 hours of watchable cinema that didn't break any rules and in some ways was Hollywoodianly formulaic. I squirmed in a couple of places, but most enjoyed it. Ricardo Darin is an Argentinian film-legend with a face that slyly fills the screen, his eyes dottish but bedevilling. He's our main character here, a legal counsellor in Buenos Aries who is struck by the rape and murder of one young woman in the 70s, but now thinking of writing a novel about the case, and looking to tie up the loose ends of what seemed to be slightly unsolvable. He talks through his memories of it with lawyer Irene, who was in charge of him, supposedly, during the case. We watch their desperate hunt for the wrongdoer as Darin and his lawyer rater speedily, and tacitly, fall in love. The unspoken romance is a little corny at times, but the film overall is unflashy in general, and works well enough. It has got "Oscar-winner" written all over it though. Flashbacks, retrospections, matured men and women, heartstraining choruses of stringy soundtracks, a keen love at its heart. You know.

The other one i saw today was Black Dynamite, the ticklesome mocking of the blaxpoitations of the 70s. I found it a one-joke wonder by the middle, but was still funny enough in places to keep me hooked. The look of it made it seem a relatively accurate homage to the whole scene, and the dialogue was suitably ridiculous, but straightly played. Afros, unrealistic explosions, kung fu, women with their breasts out, and men saying nasty racist swearwords.
When seeing it, there were about 7 people in the cinema. 5, including me, chuckled, but two individuals walked out waving their fists at the screen unjoyously.

 

[Nibble]

Chopper. Seen it before but watched it again on Sunday. Still an absolute career best performance from Eric Bana . A total powerhouse of a performance. Just the right blend of comedy, pathos and violence in his portrayel of a notoriously paranoid and pathological liar.

 

[Meade's Ball]

The Expendables has a scene near the start that i think 80s and 90s action fans are supposed to gawp at amazedly: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis all in one room chatting about a mission. Wow, i thought, what a strange and unmanly sight these three delapidated henchmen have become. You've got the bald one who always lacked menace because he was the struggling, bloody-soled everyman and not a he-man. There's the wrinkled heart-attackee still clinging to life and a sense power gained by being voted into a position which has him plastered onto everyone official californian website. And then there's Sly, who has a catalogue of cinematic disasters behind him largely because he is in them, and also has the fakest natural hair colour of any 60-something man alive. There they were. In a church. Talking about something other without any style or authenticity to them. Willis is the best actor of the three, as we know, and that's saying something.
Of course this triumvirate of old-timers is matched up for a moment to make it the biggest action-star-classico of all time. Statham is hairlessly in there with his weird American-geezer accent. Jet Li is a little stoic and unpleasantly wrinkled, when he was the spriteliest little kung fu wizard had seen since Chan. He also has a lady's voice, which i found off-putting. Dolph Lundgren is the suprisingly good mentalist on the loose in it all, possibly the star of the piece. Stone-Cold Steve Austin is on the baddies side, throwing some wrestling shapes to satisfy the murderous needs of Eric Roberts.
Not a bad rundown of people. Just a shame the film was so ridiculous and poorly-scripted. Sadly it was half-written and fully-directed by Stallone himself. I know he did well with Rocky, but this is turd. Hilariously bad at times. Chunks of it make no sense at all, and there are sudden over-emotional philosphical tales of manhood painted by the quivering plastic lips of special-guest-star Mickey Rourke. It's possibly been edited down out of Sly's bulky, inartistic hands, but still he has name on many parts of it and it's turd.
See it for a few wrongful laughs though and a gun toted by one of the expendables (name never explained) team that blows humans up as soon as it pierces the skin. Bloodsplatteringly stupid.