Last film you watched and your rating: The Directors Cut

This is radio, not television wrote:La La Land 8/10 That was really, really good and not at all what I was expecting, espceially after the high energy opening number. Thought it was gonna be this twee, colourful, sweet musical, but oh boy. You can tell it was from the director of Whiplash.

This is radio, not television wrote:

Rocsleddy wrote:Can anyone do me a solid and recommend a film for tonight that's uplifting but not Blind Side-esque bullshit schmalz?

I've heard La La Land is supposed to be quite uplifting.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are both fantastic. Those final 10 minutes Such a great ending. Probably not worth all the awards it's already picked up and the Oscars it will inevitably sweep, but it is quite good.

Partridge Iciclebubbles wrote:10 Cloverfield Lane - 8/10

Really enjoyed this and thought it was far better than the first movie (not that they are very similar!). John Goodman was amazing.

Pan wrote:
Fantastic Beasts: loved it. And fancied the pants off Tina.

Partridge Iciclebubbles wrote:10 Cloverfield Lane - 8/10

Really enjoyed this and thought it was far better than the first movie (not that they are very similar!). John Goodman was amazing.

Jenuall wrote:I had to go to Australia for work just before Christmas so managed to watch a fair number of films in the 40 odd hours worth of time I spent on various planes, obviously not the ideal way to experience a movie but either way here are my thoughts on those that I watched:

National Lampoons Christmas Vacation - 7/10

Watched this in an attempt to maintain my Christmas feeling when leaving the UK winter for the Australian summer. Never seen it before but it was the only Christmassy film that I could find on the in flight entertainment system (I was flying Emirates which I would rate highly - there was a huge list of movies and tv shows to watch, including quite a lot of new releases). Cliched and pretty dumb for the most part, but it did it's job of being a festive and fairly fun way to spend 90 minutes. Also I hadn't realised that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was in this - that woman has aged well, she still looks practically identical now in Veep! Also not sure what the rating was on this, but there was a suprising amount of flesh on display for a family movie from the 80s!


Captain America Civil War - 8/10

I've got a few gaps in my Marvel Cinematic Universe watching list before this one (not seen Avengers Age of Ultron, or Ant Man) but didn't particularly feel like I missed out on much as a result of that. Found this to be a very enjoyable movie for the most part, but probably a weaker film than Winter Soldier (and I have a real soft spot for The First Avenger as well - Marvel need to find a way to go back to that period of history for a film!). The idea of turning the Avengers against one another was a good concept for a story, but it never really felt like enough was done to justify the extent to which each side opposed the other - particularly the fight between Bucky, Cap' and Stark toward the end. Why couldn't they all just get along!

Oh and I thought the new Spiderman made a good debut - anyone know how much control have Marvel actually got over his involvement going forward?


The Nice Guys - 6/10

This was fun, but I must admit I was a little disappointed after seeing some pretty glowing reports of this on here and other places. Gosling and Crowe are both great in it, but everything seems to fall a little short - the story was fine but wasn't particularly exciting or imaginative, and it was funny enough but not exactly hilarious. Would probably have enjoyed this more if I'd had lower expectations.


Jason Bourne - 5/10

More Bourne, not much else to say really. They've been doing the same thing for 5 films now with diminishing returns. Ticked all the usual boxes of fights, vehicle chases, Matt Damon looking vacant, nonsense techno babble etc. Essentially there was nothing wrong with it on the whole but it's all been done better before. Oh and it's getting increasingly difficult to suspend disbelief when they flashback to Bourne's past and we're faced with crusty old Damon face.


The Kings Speach - 9/10

Classic. Only the second time I'd watched this since it was released, was worried it wouldn't be as good as I remembered but it's an absolute belter. Phenomenal performances all round and particularly from Firth.


Interstellar - 4/10

This was basically "Deus Ex Machina - The Movie", the resolution was so contrived that it pretty much undermined any good work that had gone before it. I must admit to finding most of Nolan's stuff to be overrated, and this was no different.


Mad Max: Fury Road - 7/10

Another one that I think people had got my expectations too high for. It was a really enjoyable movie, but I know I would have enjoyed it more if I went in without having read so many glowing reports. Hardy and Theron do a great job in it, getting across a suprising amount of depth despite the relatively limited amount of dialogue in the script.

Also, it's been a long time since I watched any of the Mad Max films, but was the world quite as desolate as it is in this one? Obviously it has always been a sort of post apocalyptic, resources running dry, everyone's going a bit crazy kind of vibe, but I seem to recall things being a touch more civilised than what is shown in Fury Road.


Batman Vs. Superman - 3/10

This is not a good movie. The initial premise seems to be trying to go for a something similar to Captain America: Civil War - i.e. are super heroes actually more trouble than they're worth, but this is even less well put across than it was in that movie, and unlike Marvel DC also forgot to make it enjoyable. It's a shame because Cavill, Affleck, and Adams all do a fine job, the've just been given nothing good to work with. Jeremy Irons is class as always.

There are obviously a huge number of problems with it, but probably the key for me is that there just doesn't seem to be anywhere near enough justification for Batman to want to take down Superman. To the point where a very short conversation between the two should have ended with a handshake and them agreeing to be on the same team.

Also what happened to Batman not killing people, I know that hasn't exactly been a universal thing for a while now, but this film seems to really go out of it's way to let the Bat rack up kills!

Oh and the brief intro to all the other "Justice League" members has me worried as they all look a bit... B-List? Hard to explain what I mean, and it's not necessarily a useful comparison, but when you look at the Marvel Cinematic Universe each of the characters seems to have a larger than life presence to them. Obviously we've only seen snippets of Aquaman et al. but it all looks a bit TV movie level to me.


Sherlock Holmes - 7/10

Not sure how I'd never got around to watching this as it's been a while but I definitely enjoyed this one a lot. Downey Jr and Law are both very good as Holmes and Watson, and Mark Strong is as great as ever. The plot was a bit "meh" but all in all a good way to spend a couple of hours. Downey Jr. looks strangely young in this as well, in a way that he didn't in Iron Man - which is odd because presumably there would have been filmed at similar times...


The Highlander - 4/10

Another film that I'm not sure how I've avoided all these years. I know the franchise is generally seen as being a bit gooseberry fool, but I thought the first film was supposed to be fairly decent? This is a mess of a movie with some pretty terrible acting throughout. Still, Sean Connery does a great Sean Connery as always!

Irene Demova wrote:

Pan wrote:
Fantastic Beasts: loved it. And fancied the pants off Tina.

You should watch Inherent Vice

Godzilla wrote:La La Land - 10/10 - an actual masterpiece of cinema. Beautifully filmed and the two leads were perfect. Nearly cried at one point. Just perfect.