It's the true life story of one girl that escaped the clutches of a deranged serial killer and Nic Cage then leads the investigation. Cusack plays the serial killer. I would recommend you see it as it is released tomorrow but only on limited release
What the feck is this shit? It could be alright, but we have like 7 year olds in a love story, some 7 year old bint sexy dancing on a dance machine... they didn't think this through properly! Will Smith's kid is a shit actor too... watchable, but just seems weird because of the age of the people involved and the storylines they're trying to take from the original. Sure Daniel was older in the original?
Fast and Furious 6 - Wow.....even for a check your brain at the door/popcorn flick this was fecking shite. I don't even know where to begin with this mess. However the action kept me mildly entertained for a couple of hours.
Only God Forgives is brutal to watch. Boring, slow, no development anywhere and nothing to make up for it in terms of fast cars and Bryan Cranston......looking good isn't a redeeming factor for me, 90% of films look good nowadays and a lot while being half decent to watch.
I think he read a few of the critics from Drive and decided to get his anger out with this as a parody pretty much. More Gostaring since he clearly doesn't bother trying to act, might actually be a cutout of him....violence pumped up for no real reason......less development in every area....and no cool support like Cranston, Brooks and Perlman to make up for it, just a Tim Roth lookalike.
I'd recommend just watching the three trailers over and over instead, almost every line of dialogue is in them and they pretty much give the story away without endless nothing scenes filling the gaps.
"'Only God Forgives' is the kind of remarkable disaster only a very talented director can make after he finds success and is then allowed to do whatever he wants."
That's the one, in a nutshell. Producers will have their leashes back on him soon enough. He's not good enough to cut it as a Lynch wannabe.
Only God Forgives is brutal to watch. Boring, slow, no development anywhere and nothing to make up for it in terms of fast cars and Bryan Cranston......looking good isn't a redeeming factor for me, 90% of films look good nowadays and a lot while being half decent to watch.
I don't think it even looked that good. Every frame was minutiously prepared and it was shot with a great attention given to cinematography, with notably a lot of work on lighting, but it just seems too dark for me. I realize that's probably the effect they wanted to go with, as the film is like a descent into hell, but still I just think it doesn't look that good, all things considered.
Saw a few films this weekend:
Really enjoyed Specific Rimjobs, there's a lot of things you could criticize it for (acting not brilliant from most of the cast, dialogue is a bit shoddy), but if you go watch it with just the expectation to be entertained, if you go into the theater almost as a kid, just hoping to see awesomeness on a huge screen, then you won't be disappointed I think. It's maybe 10-15 minutes too long, but altogether I didn't feel it dragged on and I liked its rhythm. The Hong Kong battle is one of the most exceptional action scenes I've seen on big screen, and I liked that the finale didn't last hours, that was kind of a surprise. I don't know, I just really enjoyed it, there were glimpses of Del Toro's personality and his poetic approach (but not as much as in Hellboy II), and it definitely wasn't just a Godzilla or a Transformers, there was something that set it apart from the usual Michael Bay shit.
I was disappointed by World War Z, though reading the reviews I knew I shouldn't expect anything remotely close to the brilliance of the book. All the political aspect has been completely removed (even though I think they probably believed they were addressing that aspect in the film), and there are so many WTF??!! moments in the film, it's impossible to actually immerse yourself in it. You have:
- the fact that when the epidemic breaks out in the US, they're in downtown Philadelphia but manage to get out of the city with hardly any complications;
- the stupid bike ride in Korea, and the phone ringing;
- the moment in Jerusalem, when they get over the wall, that part is so numbingly stupid I don't know where to begin;
- the plane scene;
- the fact that Brad Pitt's wife and children are ugly so it's not really believable they'd be together;
- and probably many other things that I've already forgotten
Some moments of it felt a bit like Last of Us rip-offs as well, but that's probably just because I played the game recently The beginning felt a bit long, and was annoying because of the little girls screaming, and then other parts just felt rushed. Altogether, a bit of a botched job and waste of good material. Though I don't despair to one day seeing a TV series of WWZ where they respect the structure of the book.
Finally, finished off the weekend with Monsters University which was fairly enjoyable though nothing to write home about. It's funny, it's a beautiful looking picture like all Pixar, and it has the usual life lessons of working as a team and accepting who you are and blablaba, but it just lacks a little something to put it up there with the masterpieces of the studio such as Up! or Toy Story 3. Oh, the short film shown before the film itself is stunningly good looking and very poetic, really enjoyed it.
Despite me thinking this will be one of the greatest spectacles ever, I found it quite average. Had some amazing fight sequences and visual effects but was left quite bored for everything in between the fights. Maybe I wasn't in the mood for it or it was too over-hyped but I was yawning quite a few times 6/10
Now You See Me
Quite enjoyed this mainly due to the performances of the magicians and some hilarious moments from super stressed oaf-of-a-cop Mark Ruffalo. The plot became a bit stupid at the end but until it got there, it was really enjoyable 7.5/10
Shadow People
In amongst so much shit horror films, this one stood out for me. It was suspenseful, had a decent storyline and was actually quite intriguing (maybe because I encountered something very similar a few years back). The only flaw was that as it used 'real' footage and had a documentary feel, it only focused on one side of the argument and a documentary is obviously supposed to examine all angles. 7.5/10
Only God Forgives
Despite what everyone is saying about this film, I thought it was not THAT bad. Yes it was pretentious, had a LOT of staring into space, which was led by the ultimate starer (Ryan Gosling), had enough dialogue to fill one sheet of A4 paper BUT the violence was brutal and quite sudden. It seemed realistic and made me turn away from the screen once or twice, but this violence wasnt over glorified like Ichi The Killer or those kinds of films. The score was absolutely brilliant and some of the camera work was pretty decent. 6/10
The Thin Man - really dated but quirky enough for the majority of the film to be good fun. Myrna Loy's brilliant, could probably just watch her making faces at William Powell.
Election - entertaining for every moment Reese Witherspoon was onscreen. The shared narration was awful.
Three Colours: Blue - heavy handed but still enjoyable. Needed a truly great soundtrack.
Love Me If You Dare (Jeux d'enfants) - watchable, though I think I liked the idea more than seeing it play out.
Fast and Furious 6 - Wow.....even for a check your brain at the door/popcorn flick this was fecking shite. I don't even know where to begin with this mess. However the action kept me mildly entertained for a couple of hours.
Only God Forgives - Poor, nonsensical nonsense. Only clueless hipsters can really like this one. When are they gonna realize that Gosling isn't talented enough for these kind of roles.
I didn't even think Drive was that good. It was a decent film, but it wasn't a masterpiece, and it was very pretentious. And taking into account that pretentious is probably the most wrongly and overused word in this thread, thats some achievement. Half of it was a straight faced version of the One Track Lover bit from Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. And when you tell a very pretentious director that his very pretentious film is a masterpiece, he's going to make something even more pretentious.
Only God Forgives - Poor, nonsensical nonsense. Only clueless hipsters can really like this one. When are they gonna realize that Gosling isn't talented enough for these kind of roles.
Not sure where you're getting that from, Gosling has displayed quite a bit of range in a variety of roles - certainly talented enough to take on challenging ones (though I've yet to see this new one... he may wel be bad in it, but I wouldn't say that alone is reflective).
If anything, I'd say its more hipster-ish to get on the blokes back after he's become rather popular over the past two years.
Who gives a feck whether a film is pretentious or not? If it's good, it's probably entitled to be at least a bit 'pretentious'? And what do you use to define it as pretentious? The fact that Refn likes to make long, contemplative shots, that he seems to balance every frame, that his camera work seems to be scientifically prepared? (so stuff from the film itself) Or elements outside of this, like interviews by the cast and/or director?
If it's the first part, then sure, Refn is probably a pretentious guy and it's reflected in his filmmaking, but it's part of his style and always has been, as far as I can tell. It's just about getting his characteristics as a filmmaker to a right balance, which he did with Drive I feel (which is more than just a 'good' film, it's a very good film I feel, but then again everyone is entitled to his or her opinion) but didn't with Only God Forgives, which was the archetype of an arty film gone wrong.
Pretentious = Affecting greater importance, talent, culture, etc., than is actually possessed.
Drive falls into this category for me. The story & character development is virtually non-existent (for a film at any rate) and almost all of it's "importance" is conveyed through it's style.
I can mitigate it with "in my opinion" if you like, because obviously it is. I liked it, but increasingly less so on repeat viewings.
I like Drive fine, but Only God Forgives sounds like all the cons of Drive with none of the pros. I'll check it out but I'm skeptical. Did anyone see The World's End? Is it any good? It's taking a beating at the box office.
I like Drive fine, but Only God Forgives sounds like all the cons of Drive with none of the pros. I'll check it out but I'm skeptical. Did anyone see The World's End? Is it any good? It's taking a beating at the box office.
Not sure where you're getting that from, Gosling has displayed quite a bit of range in a variety of roles - certainly talented enough to take on challenging ones (though I've yet to see this new one... he may wel be bad in it, but I wouldn't say that alone is reflective).
If anything, I'd say its more hipster-ish to get on the blokes back after he's become rather popular over the past two years.
Not as good as Shaun of the Dead, but better than Hot Fuzz. If you're a fan of the other two you'll enjoy it. If not, then you're an idiot for paying to see it.
It's witty, funny and very much what you'd expect from Pegg and Frost's portrayal of an alien/robotic invasion. The only downside was the somewhat weird final scene(s) - but this does not detract from it being a great British comedy, and definitely worth the entrance fee.
What can I say? That heist scene still stands up against everything that's come since. I found it strange that I still rooted for the main character, even though he took the belt to his woman!
Not as good as Shaun of the Dead, but better than Hot Fuzz. If you're a fan of the other two you'll enjoy it. If not, then you're an idiot for paying to see it.
It's witty, funny and very much what you'd expect from Pegg and Frost's portrayal of an alien/robotic invasion. The only downside was the somewhat weird final scene(s) - but this does not detract from it being a great British comedy, and definitely worth the entrance fee.
Looking forward to going to see this. I was sceptical at first when I heard the concept and thought they'd perhaps done one too many together this time, but it seems to be getting really good reviews. Hot Fuzz is probably my favourite film of their's comedy wise.
It was OK nothing special, much preferred the original with Stallone.
The guy playing Dredd, I thought was trying to hard to pull off the Stallone face and voice, he should of just done it his way and not tried to copy.
How exactly do you pull off a Stallone face on film? And besides you realise Dredd is pretty much a direct screen conversion of the comics, hence he never removes his helmet, I thought Urban nailed it.
Saw Drive. I found it quite boring and irritating. Style over substance film making and even the style wasn't up to much. I thought The American with Clooney did the counterfeit Melville antihero stuff much better.
The beginning felt a bit long, and was annoying because of the little girls screaming, and then other parts just felt rushed. Altogether, a bit of a botched job and waste of good material. Though I don't despair to one day seeing a TV series of WWZ where they respect the structure of the book.