[Film] Film 2015

[herecomesaregular]

Kingsman: The Secret Service. Currently at 100% on rottentomatoes which amazes me. Packed preview. Disappointing. Enjoyable trash maybe but it could have been so much better. Some good laughs here and there but many,many purile and frankly stupid ones too. For fans of Kickass maybe. Tiresome. If it was written by and for teenage boys then for me personally it was too violent and too misogynistic (which I know may be the point so I must be getting old). 5.5/10, what a shame, a wasted opportunity for Colin Firth who played it well. And at the end I realised Mark Hamill had been in it but I hadn't recognised him, bless him.

 

[Acker79]

Whiplash
Given the great reviews, I went in with highs expectations. Too high, it turns out. I enjoyed the film, but didn't feel it was as good as the hype. I really like jk Simmons, but felt his performance wasn't quite as him as I had hoped from the trailers. The main kid just annoyed me, and the end felt too sudden, and too cliche.

Into The Woods
I'm not generally a fan of Sondheim musicals, it's not a style I enjoy. But I actually quite enjoyed it in this, some moments, some choruses, some verses, some hooks here and there were actually quite fun. It's not without flaws, but I found the film to be more pleasing than I had expected. Chris pine and his in screen brother have a rather entertaining duet, made all the funnier because the singing seems like it doesn't fit pine and his lip movement (like he was miming to someone else's voice). The first hour did feel quite slow.

 

[Norman Potting]

I cannot agree about Paddington. I thought it was a Triumph. From start to finish. It could not have been possible to make a better first film imo. The added bit with Kidman as the Taxidermist was done to make it edgier and keep people on their toes and it worked, for me and judging from the reaction every person in the sold out cinema. The stories in the original 14 books are all very slow paced and gentle. It has a very strong cast, Michael Bond endorsed the film and was in an early scene raising a glass of wine to Paddington as he walked past, nice touch. The cgi was magnificent and the bear, perfect with the voice inspired as well. It ran along nicely for 96 minutes with a seamless flow of great scenes and gags for young and old, it is a film for 4 - 94 year olds. Lovely 8.7

With you all the way on that US, hope there will be a sequel and that they may even film "Olga Da Polga" - Michael Bond didn't just write Paddington. Scary to learn that the first Paddington book was published 6 months before I was born, nice to see that Mr Bond is around still and the film cameo was a nice touch.

For 2015 I eagerly await "Sean the Sheep - the Movie" and "The Minions Movie".

 

[Tarpon]

I know it's from last year but I finally caught up with The Homesman last night. Very downbeat but engaged me throughout and some of the scenery is stunning. Thought Hilary Swank was excellent too.

 

[Simster]

The Theory Of Everything is absolutely magnificent. Incredible acting from Eddie Redmayne in particular, who is surely nailed on for an Oscar.

Really want to see The Birdman now.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

With you all the way on that US, hope there will be a sequel and that they may even film "Olga Da Polga" - Michael Bond didn't just write Paddington. Scary to learn that the first Paddington book was published 6 months before I was born, nice to see that Mr Bond is around still and the film cameo was a nice touch.

For 2015 I eagerly await "Sean the Sheep - the Movie" and "The Minions Movie".

Paddington has taken £ 35 000 000 at the UK Box office and $ 25 000 000 in its first 4 days release in the USA so a sequel is guaranteed

 

[Meade's Ball]

So I finally saw Birdman, when I should have been in the arms of a victorious Albion. Last evening it were, of course, and in Hoxton I decided to see it. Two odd things occurred. The first was on the journey there when a young black chap pedalled at a pace along the pavement, crashing into this young woman, who was of course shocked by the collision, although seemingly physically undamaged. The young chap alighted the bike and stuttered a "sorry, er er sorry, you racist white bitch!" to the woman as she sort of staggered off down the road. And on the bike he jumped again for a few metres, before stopping to shout at me that I was a racist too! A strange episode.

The next strange thing was the film itself coming to a halt about 80 minutes in thanks to a damned powercut, having me, the girlfriend and around 15 other comfortably-seated people sit there for around half an hour waiting for them to calculate how to restart. One couple walked out after a while, and the girlfriend wanted to too, but I insisted we stay, not wanting to have to go to another screening soon and sit through the first more than an hour again just to catch the final 40 minutes.

Anywho, the film was, um, it was good. I don't class it as a mad masterpiece as perhaps some claim it to be. It was interesting in the non-stop-ness of the shooting style as it danced through the increasingly scatty and convoluted memories of a man in mid-breakdown, and comical in its increasing bitchiness, but I didn't fully accept the mix of farce and gravitas. Keaton was good, but even in a part-parody of himself and his own falling star, I didn't wholly believe him or feel for him. Something about Keaton and his eyebrows I have never warmed to, and now he has the voice, at times, of Sly Stallone.
Still, it was different and an intriguingly entertaining enough watch and got better toward the end. I wouldn't, from what I've seen thus far, give it any of the major awards though.

 

[Mowgli37]

Saw Whiplash last Sunday, won't write a full review given it's not entirely fresh in my mind but I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. The picture crackles with tension every time Fletcher is on screen and his brutal chemistry with Neiman is a thoroughly engaging centre-piece for the film. Personally, I thought The Theory of Everything just shaded it for me as the better film but this comes in at a very respectable 8.6

Unsure as to what to see next, Ex Machina or American Sniper, can anyone offer some guidance?

 

[vegster]

So I finally saw Birdman, when I should have been in the arms of a victorious Albion. Last evening it were, of course, and in Hoxton I decided to see it. Two odd things occurred. The first was on the journey there when a young black chap pedalled at a pace along the pavement, crashing into this young woman, who was of course shocked by the collision, although seemingly physically undamaged. The young chap alighted the bike and stuttered a "sorry, er er sorry, you racist white bitch!" to the woman as she sort of staggered off down the road. And on the bike he jumped again for a few metres, before stopping to shout at me that I was a racist too! A strange episode.

The next strange thing was the film itself coming to a halt about 80 minutes in thanks to a damned powercut, having me, the girlfriend and around 15 other comfortably-seated people sit there for around half an hour waiting for them to calculate how to restart. One couple walked out after a while, and the girlfriend wanted to too, but I insisted we stay, not wanting to have to go to another screening soon and sit through the first more than an hour again just to catch the final 40 minutes.

Anywho, the film was, um, it was good. I don't class it as a mad masterpiece as perhaps some claim it to be. It was interesting in the non-stop-ness of the shooting style as it danced through the increasingly scatty and convoluted memories of a man in mid-breakdown, and comical in its increasing bitchiness, but I didn't fully accept the mix of farce and gravitas. Keaton was good, but even in a part-parody of himself and his own falling star, I didn't wholly believe him or feel for him. Something about Keaton and his eyebrows I have never warmed to, and now he has the voice, at times, of Sly Stallone.
Still, it was different and an intriguingly entertaining enough watch and got better toward the end. I wouldn't, from what I've seen thus far, give it any of the major awards though.

Surprised you saw it like that MB, and, a review which is considerably less surreal than normal ! However, we should all be uplifted that currently we seem to be experiencing a rich vein of quality releases at the moment. In fact I was heartened by the huge amount of Oscar nominations for The Grand Budapest Hotel, it seems an age since I saw it but that was an incredibly well shot film. Looks like it's between Birdman and that with maybe American Sniper pinching a few.

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

American Sniper - Bradley Cooper is great as Chris Kyle as he deals with his moral compass on war, family, friendship and his idea(s) of patriotism. Sienna Miller gives a steady performance that just about holds up.

I watched this film with (roughly) 200 hundred Americans. Who all cheered when Cooper finally took out the Al-Qaeda sniper but were left in a stunned silence at the end of the film. The mood leaving the theater was very somber. A mood that seemed to offered up great reflection on the conflict in Iraq. A weird cinematic experience for me.

Can I say one thing about Chris Kyle that was not covered at all by Clint Eastwood in the movie. There were some very controversial things that Chris Kyle did between the time he got home from Iraq and the end of the movie that did not appear in the movie. Go to Chris Kyle's wikipedia page and read about these incidents. I think you will see there is more to this man than the movie presents. I'm not saying he was not a military hero and his service to his country should make all Americans very proud.

I was in the DFW area in December of 2012 on a work assignment--helping other criminologists and heard some news stories about Chris Kyle.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

American Sniper

Brighton Marina
Attendance 80%

This is a good film without making it to any notable war lists, for example is it considerably inferior to Fury imo but Eastwood is a good director and Bradley Cooper has the looks but also the talent to be one of the best actors plying his trade in Hollywood at the moment. It is almost completely taken from the side of the Americans and they have lapped it up over there taking over $ 200 000 000 in less than 2 weeks and receiving standing ovations. It got a respectful silence at the end in Brighton. I would give it 7.1

 

[Mowgli37]

Has anyone subjected themselves to the pain of Mortdecai yet?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Has anyone subjected themselves to the pain of Mortdecai yet?

It looks absolutely dreadful

 

[Mowgli37]

It looks absolutely dreadful

As if the trailer wasn't stonkingly unpromising enough the film got the first proper Kermodean rant in a while on 5Live. Will be giving it a wide berth.

 

[Meade's Ball]

Well i've caught up a little more over recent cinema in the last couple of days.
The first was Wild, with Reese Witherspoon. Now, i've seen Into the Wild, and was a fan of its lyricism and style, with Emile Hirsch's departure from standard life both tragic and uplifting. This film, though, Wild without the Into the, is watchable, but wields none of the human depth or sense of wonder over an environment that it's predecessor had. On a lengthy hike through the American wilderness goes Witherspoon, with incident and memory combined to show cause of isolated journey and her redevelopment as she waddles and strides. It was all rather typical though, without much of a surprise administered or delve into character that enriched the drama.
The most shocking thing of the film for me was the casting. Laura Dern as Reese Witherspoon's mother in flashback. That is 6ft 3 Laura Dern, with her parsnip head, being the mother of 4ft 6 Gremlin-faced Witherspoon. Only around 30 minutes in, in flashback number 8, did Withers announce Dern to be her mother, and for me to know it so for sure. Then we meet her brother, who looks not a thing like any of them. The basics of casting have to be, when so much of it is about family and human connection, that the people look the slightest similar or as if they could likely meet.
It was alright at best. Witherspoon puts in a reasonable innings, but the film itself wasn't one to blissfully or fascinatingly remember.

Today i saw A Most Violent Year. One friend told me it is a film in which so much almost happens, and another said it was a homage to the films of the late 70s early 80s that doesn't continue to carry the power of some from that potent era from the start. And they are both right, really. You get a strong whiff of Pacino in his prime with Oscar Isaacs performance, which was good but hardly original, and moments you await to finish with a bang but never do. A little frustrating the further in you go. A good enough watch though, if not great, this tale of not very murderous fuel-delivery Godfathers in New York.

 

[KingstonSeagull]

Oscar Nominated Films

The Theory of Everything - 9.0
The Imitation Game - 9.0
The Grand Budapest Hotel - 7.9
Gone Girl - 8.1
Lego Movie - 6.8

 

[Meade's Ball]

What an unpleasant experience i had this evening watching American Sniper. The wonderful story of the record-holder for most successful sniper-fire in Iraq, killing hundreds of verminous Iraqis, who are up to nothing but looking to destroy our precious American families and ways of being. This is a musclebound rodeo champion and memorable mater of amoral chicks who decides to throw himself out there and grab those rotten Arabs by the balls, beating a high blood pressure condition and his wife feeling his complete disinterest in life with her in the name of god and country. This legend is faultless and guilt-free.
What a horrid film, badly made by Clint Eastwood, and vapidly scripted, with of course Bradley Cooper proving once more that outside of playing the bouyant haired pretty boy in a run of identikit comedies he's a characterless actor. Ok, he might be admired for testing his capabilities in a few different roles, but surely he must consider himself unworthy to be experimented on further or continue to expose his inability.

The worst of the Oscar lot. Only Selma to see of the main ones now. It won't be as accidentally sickening to watch as this bobbins with less political depth than Hot Shots Part Deux.

 

[Surf's Up]

Quite looking forward to seeing "Inherent Vice" soon - looks right up my street.

 

[Meade's Ball]

At my work there's some special offer allowing for tickets at a non-central London Vue cinema for £6 a pop. Normally it's about £13. The one nearest to me anyhow. I generally dislike going there. It's the Islington branch and the general filmgoer there tends to be the chatty twatty sort. To counter the irritation, i now choose seats there around 3 rows back, so that the botherings are behind me rather than in front, where innumerous people check their phones or tablets when thoughts of themselves take over. So there i am, this evening, watching Ex Machina, with the screen rather closer to me than i wish, but at least only accompanied by the sort of idiots who say "I told you so" in a film to a friend when the obvious happens.
The film itself was ok. The kind of film that is limited in ways because of budget, the cast eating up a chunk of it, leaving less funding to too much of a set and a great deal of action itself. It speaks a little of the invasion of privacy via the internet and megalomania from the isolated rich, but this little sci-fi piece doesn't deliver it's messages with consistent weight, or wield suspense as it might hope, the drama sped through and the twists rather shockingly clunky. The graphics were decent when called upon - the realism of our "sexy" AI lifeform was both in its facial features and her eyecatching camel-toe - and the acting not too bad - Oscar Isaac seems a rightly wanted man throughout Hollywood at present. Entertaining enough, but a bit too throwaway the further in you go. If anyone else sees it, can you let me know if you kept thinking of Willy Wonka at times?
Cheers.

 

[Stat Brother]

We saw Paddington at the weekend.

Aside from the film someone could have warned me the usually smokin hot Nicole Kidman looks particularly smokin hot in Padders.
WE enjoyed the film a good 8/10.

I'M looking forward to Shaun the Sheep.