Movie review thread...

JC

Caught Coraline at the weekend. Don't be put off by the fact that this is an animated "kids" movie. A very good adaptation of an outstanding story from Neil Gaiman. 8+ out of 10.

red terror

[quote name='JC']Caught Coraline at the weekend. Don't be put off by the fact that this is an animated "kids" movie. A very good adaptation of an outstanding story from Neil Gaiman. 8+ out of 10.[/quote] 
 
I caught it at the cinema in 3D when it came out and was very glad that I did, there was superb animation and some entrancing sequences where I felt like I was floating through botanic kaleidescopes. I never thought of it as a kids film at all, in fact I was worried it might scare a few kiddies. 8/10 sounds about right.

Cormac

Went to see State of Play a couple of weeks back, stars Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck and Rachel McAdams. Adapted from a BBC mini-series from a few years back and relocated to Washington DC. Pretty decent film, extremely well shot and the acting is decent but I think they probably tried to fit in too many threads to the story in too short a time with the feeling that some parts of the plot were under-explored. Still a little confused by the ending and not really sure the ending tallies with the rest of the film. Anyway it's still pretty watchable and gets a bonus point for featuring Rachel McAdams. 7.5/10

taniwharugby

Saw Defiance last night, pretty good flick, well acted. 7.9/10

Scorz

I got out Crash with Don Cheadle and Sandra Bullock and a bunch of others including that poof from Cruel Intentions. Good film kept me watching but I picked the "miracle". Still a solid 7/10.

Tim

[i]The Girlfriend Experience[/i]. 8/10 - dry and somewhat affectless, which suited the subject material. I suspect that Soderbergh has drawn on personal experience ... Sasha Grey was well cast. (WARNING: her movies are NSFW normally, so be careful when googling her.) 
 
Best thing he's done since [i]Sex, Lies, and Videotape[/i].

MajorRage

Angels and Demons. 
 
Hadn't read the book, which meant I was surprised at few thigns which made it good. Lots of twists/turns and pretty fast paced. I got lost in a lot of it, I don't know anything about religon/vatican etc etc but still thought it was worth a look. Reckon it's a solid 7/10.

Nepia

[quote name='Tim'][i]The Girlfriend Experience[/i]. 8/10 - dry and somewhat affectless, which suited the subject material. I suspect that Soderbergh has drawn on personal experience ... Sasha Grey was well cast. (WARNING: her movies are NSFW normally, so be careful when googling her.) 
 
[b]Best thing he's done since [i]Sex, Lies, and Videotape[/i][/b].[/quote] 
 
Out of Sight, The Limey, Oceans 11, Traffic, Erin Brokovich - The Girlfriend Experience must be some awesome movie. Or is it his best arty film since then?

Scorz

Valkyrie, good. Cruise is a nutbar but he's a bloody good actor. Wish they would do a movie about the North African campaign though, the bit at the start is awesome. My mate who is a toal geek for all things Nazi Germany reckons they got it near enough to accurate too. I couldn't spot many flaws.

Nepia

[quote name='Scorz']Valkyrie, good. Cruise is a nutbar but he's a bloody good actor. Wish they would do a movie about the North African campaign though, the bit at the start is awesome. My mate who is a toal geek for all things Nazi Germany reckons they got it near enough to accurate too. I couldn't spot many flaws.[/quote] 
 
I enjoyed Valkyrie as well, it seemed to get panned by critics (but what the hell do they know?) 
 
Agree a North Africa campaign movie would be good though. I always hoped that Peter Jackson would do a movie about the NZ Division break out at Minqar Qua'im. The entire Div was encircled by the Germans but after some time punched a hole in the German lines and managed to mostly escape. Basically the NZ army would have been f#%ked if they hadn't, as it was the entire fighting force we had at the time.

Scorz

[quote name='Nepia'][quote name='Scorz']Valkyrie, good. Cruise is a nutbar but he's a bloody good actor. Wish they would do a movie about the North African campaign though, the bit at the start is awesome. My mate who is a toal geek for all things Nazi Germany reckons they got it near enough to accurate too. I couldn't spot many flaws.[/quote] 
 
I enjoyed Valkyrie as well, it seemed to get panned by critics (but what the hell do they know?) 
 
Agree a North Africa campaign movie would be good though. I always hoped that Peter Jackson would do a movie about the NZ Division break out at Minqar Qua'im. The entire Div was encircled by the Germans but after some time punched a hole in the German lines and managed to mostly escape. Basically the NZ army would have been f#%ked if they hadn't, as it was the entire fighting force we had at the time.[/quote] 
Any Cruise movie will get shat on because he's a nutcase. 
 
Yup, Nth Africa is a huge opportunity for someone like Ridley Scott to CGI up with all those wide open spaces and running battles with motorised infantry. Alas what we'd be likely to get is a "we rescue the Brits again" line of bollocks from Hollywood.

Nepia

[quote name='Scorz'][quote name='Nepia'][quote name='Scorz']Valkyrie, good. Cruise is a nutbar but he's a bloody good actor. Wish they would do a movie about the North African campaign though, the bit at the start is awesome. My mate who is a toal geek for all things Nazi Germany reckons they got it near enough to accurate too. I couldn't spot many flaws.[/quote] 
 
I enjoyed Valkyrie as well, it seemed to get panned by critics (but what the hell do they know?) 
 
Agree a North Africa campaign movie would be good though. I always hoped that Peter Jackson would do a movie about the NZ Division break out at Minqar Qua'im. The entire Div was encircled by the Germans but after some time punched a hole in the German lines and managed to mostly escape. Basically the NZ army would have been f#%ked if they hadn't, as it was the entire fighting force we had at the time.[/quote] 
Any Cruise movie will get shat on because he's a nutcase. 
 
Yup, Nth Africa is a huge opportunity for someone like Ridley Scott to CGI up with all those wide open spaces and running battles with motorised infantry. Alas what we'd be likely to get is a "we rescue the Brits again" line of bollocks from Hollywood.[/quote] 
 
Or the Brits win the war single handedly again bollocks that the UK film industry has pumped out over the years. (Ridely Scotts a brit isn't he?) 
The Brits and Europe in general do have a lot to thank the US for though in reality - lend lease (basically give) of arms and equipment, the Marshall Plan which basically rebuilt Europe. And to be fair Hollywood made some good combined films in the 60s A Bridge Too Far, and The Longest Day. 
 
As long as they don't have the Aussies coming to our rescue then I'm happy either way (Brit or US emphasis) if it's a good film.

dogmeat

[quote]The Brits and Europe in general do have a lot to thank the US for though in reality - lend lease (basically give) of arms and equipment,[/quote] xzxrofl 
 
The Brits borrowed about 1 billion pounds of aid from the yanks. 
 
In return they got bases in perpetuity, they got equipment and food for free (reverse lend lease) and as far as I know the Brits were still paying back the original loan - charged with interest - this century.

Tim

[quote name='Nepia'][quote name='Tim'][i]The Girlfriend Experience[/i]. 8/10 - dry and somewhat affectless, which suited the subject material. I suspect that Soderbergh has drawn on personal experience ... Sasha Grey was well cast. (WARNING: her movies are NSFW normally, so be careful when googling her.) 
 
[b]Best thing he's done since [i]Sex, Lies, and Videotape[/i][/b].[/quote] 
 
Out of Sight, The Limey, Oceans 11, Traffic, Erin Brokovich - The Girlfriend Experience must be some awesome movie. Or is it his best arty film since then?[/quote] 
 
[i]The Limey[/i] was alright, the rest of those were pretty dreadful. It is an "arty" film. It's a quiet, small movie, but it is effective.

Nepia

So I'm uncertain if anyone has posted about the rugby movie Forever Strong, but here's my thoughts. 
 
As a movie first and foremost I found it ponderous and slow compared with other movies of it's type (sports, troubled teen etc). I'd give it a 5/10. 
 
Haka 
They do the Ka mate haka a bunch of times - not very well, and with bad pronunciation. At one point they do a translation that seemed a bit off. I don't mind too much that they do the haka, as that's what the actual school does, but it did make me cringe and they used it way to often. I was disappointed that didn't have a scene that showed where the haka originated from. The teams inspirational phrase was kia kaha - Forever Strong. I've never heard it mean this (would probably use ake tonu or ake ake myself) but that doesn't mean that it can't be translated like that. Th pronunciation of kia kaha wasn't too bad, I've heard worse over here. At the very end of the movie after the credits the team is shown doing a haka which is better than any from the movie. 
 
Rugby 
The rugby was weird and kind of stupid in parts. The main character is a winger, looks like one to he's pretty skinny, but he's put into hooker by the guru coach just before a game. The hooker is called the 'hook', I guess they can't use hooker in the US. The game play shots were pretty terrible, mostly just close in shots or shots of tackles. I think they missed an opportunity to show wide running play which would have made the game scenes better. They often spoke in American football terms about team plays and illegal hits/plays. It could have worked better if the main guy was a 1st 5 who they transferred to fullback. The try scorers often just flopped over the line when they could have dived in or they placed the ball when they would have to of dived. The movie culminates at the US high school champs and comes across all American Football ish. They even have the clock counting down and the guy trying to score before it does. 
 
I don't think it was a good advertisement for the game. Although I think the producers etc had the best intentions. 
 
Sid Going has a cameo in the movie as himself at the championships! I assume he's well known in the rugby community over there due to the Mormon influence.

LAKiwi

Nepia - I posted about the movie when it first came out at the Thearters - saw an advanced screening. 
Said the same thing about too much close in camera angles for the rugby games. 
 
Not up to the standard of other 'highschool/college' sports movies that seem to be the norm here. But the fact it was about Rugby - and got some exposure out there about the game - I thought was good.

Nepia

[quote name='LAKiwi']Nepia - I posted about the movie when it first came out at the Thearters - saw an advanced screening. 
Said the same thing about too much close in camera angles for the rugby games. 
 
Not up to the standard of other 'highschool/college' sports movies that seem to be the norm here. But the fact it was about Rugby - and got some exposure out there about the game - I thought was good.[/quote] 
 
I had a feeling someone had posted on it. An overhead camera would have been good - or they could have just filmed a school game from multiple angles and then inserted the various players in. But you're right about the exposure. 
 
The one thing that did annoy was how many times they said rugby, made worse by their accent, they just said it all the time - I can see they they wanted to emphasise the sport but they went a wee bit overboard.

LAKiwi

We'll see how much Clint improves on this one then!

red terror

[color=#FF0000][b]SIN NOMBRE[/b][/color] (2009) 
 
Honduran film by a first-time director, won a pile of gongs at this years' Sundance Festival. 
 
I knew nothing about this and was dragged to see it last night by my father. I think I liked it a lot more than he did - it was brutally violent and kinda disturbed him. 
 
If you like "City of God," "Laws of Gravity," and "The Wire" - and I know that you do - you'll enjoy this. When it was over I swore it had only been playing an hour, but it's longer than that and flies right by. 
 
[color=#FF0000][b]9.5/10.[/b][/color] 
 
Youtube trailer here: 
 
[youtube:3d0ztdga]iyXJpDiXrr4[/youtube:3d0ztdga]

Scorz

Having seen a trailer now I can't wait until Terminator: Salvation comes out. It's so great that Bale can do action roles, I thought we were going to be stuck with Vin Diesel and his shitty Arnie movie rip-offs.

The Silver Fern

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