list/discuss/rate - your recently watched movies

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story

Didn't really expect much from this biopic of one of Britain's legendary record producers (only really caught it by accident) but really quite impressed & hooked right to the end. Good cast, writing goes from comedic at the beginning to considerably darker during Meek's descent into violent paranoia (both extremes handled very well).

A solid 7.5/10

Edited by Jim Garten - May 12 2014 at 11:19

Toaster Mantis wrote: Interesting how it plays like a cross between a Jean-Luc Godard-ian road movie (taking a lot of visual cues from Breathless) and a more traditional Hollywood action movie, with a few Western elements to it as well, pulling off quite the balancing act in the process. I also liked how it built up the exciting and romantic aspect, only then to pull out the rug from the viewer when showing the consequences of the protagonists' lifestyle. Have been told it's rather historically incorrect, though.

Haven't seen that one in years......I liked Dunaway but didn't really care much for Beatty's performance but then I have never been a fan of his work.

Her

Mopey and maudlin slice-of-life from Spike Jonze about a withdrawn layabout who finds deeper meaning with an artificially intelligent computer "entity".   Translation: Scarlett Johansson talks to him every night longingly and sympathetically while serving as his secretary, social adviser, and eventually lover--  or Jonze's own creepy little fantasies played out for us to watch and endorse.   And of course we will, because it is close enough to our real future to be believable but fantastic enough to titillate.   Yet the film does move us, even challenges our concept of love in a way that will strike a chord in many.   In certain ways, Her is the 'Hal' relationship from 2001, just with a caring woman instead of a psychotic man.

^ well said that man. Having watched her 'method school' portrayal of a leather catsuit that learned to talk in Iron Man 2 it seems her least erogenous zone is the one between her ears.

Splice is worth seeing: a kinda 'human DNA mixed with animal DNA will always end in tears' salutary horror flick from 2009 starring Adrien Brody. Young scientists who are an item get impatient with the legal impediments to their research and end up creating a hybrid critter that looks like ET crossed with a completely bald kangaroo. Funny, touching and in places disquieting re where this sort of contemporary science will lead to even if prohibited by law i.e just like in A Serbian Film, you only need a paying customer for all moral constraints to be jettisoned out the window. I enjoyed this hugely.




Edited by ExittheLemming - May 17 2014 at 07:39

^ She was at her best in things like Eight-Legged Freaks and Ghostworld.   But then people probably started telling her she's the most beautiful woman in the world and a fine actress too.   I actually thought her voice-only performance in Her was the best she's done in years.

ScarJo's one of those actors who are only as good as the direction they're given. I really liked her in some movies like Lost in Translation but she's given some pretty bad performances too.

ExitTheLemming, what's your opinion on Cube? Same director as Splice which I haven't seen yet, but I really liked Cube. Supposedly he's working on bringing Wm. Gibson's Neuromancer to the big screen together with the author himself, but frankly my ideal adaptation of that book would have been done by David Cronenberg in the mid/late 1980s.


Edited by Toaster Mantis - May 18 2014 at 03:28

Toaster Mantis wrote: ScarJo's one of those actors who are only as good as the direction they're given. I really liked her in some movies like Lost in Translation but she's given some pretty bad performances too. ExitTheLemming, what's your opinion on Cube? Same director as Splice which I haven't seen yet, but I really liked Cube. Supposedly he's working on bringing Wm. Gibson's Neuromancer to the big screen together with the author himself, but frankly my ideal adaptation of that book would have been done by David Cronenberg in the mid/late 1980s.

I haven't seen Cube but if you rate it at all, it must be worth a look. The trailer gave rise to some suspicions it might be some sort of Saw puzzle meets the Matrix hybrid but that's just my habitual cynicism at play. Will report back once I've seen it.

Nice one Iain:-)

The Cube is duly noted.

How do you guys feel about Clint Eastwood's latter day movies? I think it's rather clever how he starts off with one theme, say boxing, and then it suddenly is women in boxing, poverty, family that isn't bloodline and last but not least the no no subject of human euthanasia.
I love his debut just as much, 'Play Misty For Me', but for entirely different reasons. May just be his best.

Cannibal! The Musical - eh, I've always had trouble with Troma flicks, this one was slightly above average, enjoyed some of the musical numbers, some fell flat, the "Indians" were the best part, by 1:15 into it, the ending couldn't come fast enough 5.9/10

Friday and Saturday, we watched:

'Don Jon' 9/10
Really liked this one. Great characters, good fun, leading to a very satisfying money shot, I mean ending.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt wrote and directed this. Great job!

'The Possession' 8/10
I'm an shameless sucker for devil/possession movies and this one hit all the right marks. Some pretty creepy imagery, along with a fresh take on which religion handled the exorcism that actually should've been done to death by now, but hasn't. Anyway, it was a good surprise.

'Sightseers' 7/10
I'm guessing this satire of caravaners hits home much more effectively in the UK where this was made and where that's a much bigger recreational thing to do, but it still wasn't lost on me. Odd story about a newly-dating couple who take a road trip together to see the least interesting things in the country, which I'm guessing is a national in-joke about caravaners over there. From the very start of their travels, they manage to leave a trail of bodies in their wake as things get more complicated between them.

'You're Next' 4/10
Just another home invasion movie, but it's done just well enough to stay interesting to the end. Predictable, and the family does some horrendously stupid things. It was just super annoying after the attack began and the family started having a dysfunctional breakdown while dying and having arrows stuck in them. Cringeworthy, meant to be comedic, it was forced and stupid. But it didn't last. Other than that, fun and gory.

'All the Boys Love Mandy Lane' 2/10
All the boys were pathetic rapists-to-be, and the girls provided the boys every potential excuse to avoid being labeled as rapists, by being such incredibly willing sluts. Are high school kids really this casual now about sex? Cripes, I sound like a fuddy duddy. The "twist" was predictable and silly, and the whole thing felt like one really long awkward moment of silence. It was nicely shot though, and there were a few good killin's, so there's your 2 rating. Otherwise, meh.