Last film you watched and your rating

The Fighter - 9/10

The Prestige - 8/10

The Fighter - 8/10

Black Swan - 7/10

Catfish - 7/10

Sherlocke Holmes... I enjoyed it, I thought it was a new spin on a classic. But narratively it made not a single lick of sense. Without the bullet-time fights and obvious gayness between the main characters it would have been forgettably shite.

The American

Had a curious feel to it, almost as if it was originally planned as a standard assassin thriller and then along the way it got hijacked and became something closer to an arthouse drama by virtue of an unusual location, some classy direction, gorgeous cinematography, and a lean, almost minimalist script.

Despite - or perhaps because of - the lack of action, I found it incredibly tense at times. You got the sense that Clooney's character was constantly looking over his shoulder, and his perma-frowned killer was both hard-edged but still touchingly, recognisably scared shitless. As such, despite an almost monosyllabic performance, he managed to elicit sympathy for a pretty irredeemable character.

I really like films like this - slow-burn dramas that might take a while to go anywhere, but whose surprises and revelations are all the more effective for their infrequency. It didn't outstay its welcome, either; 90 minutes is perfect for this kind of film. It almost felt like it was from a different era, as there was something slightly retrograde about its unhurried pacing. With most modern thrillers adopting the ADHD approach, it was refreshing to watch a gripping character piece that took its own sweet time, and threw in plenty of gorgeous scenery to gawp at throughout the journey.

And I'm not just talking about Violante Placido.

8/10

chalkitdown wrote::wub:

You were right.

Man, I love Clooney's work. Oddly, this reminded me of Solaris in places - Clooney reining back the charm and that 1000-watt Hollywood smile for a more contemplative performance in a slow but gripping film.

Syriana is a decent Clooney flick.

I've still not seen that, annoyingly. Will have to rectify that soon.

Preezy wrote:Syriana is a decent Clooney flick.

I've started to watch that like 4 times and never finished it.

I also watched The American over t'weekend
Really enjoyed it!
Cloontang

How to Train Your Dragon - 8/10

I wasn't sure what to give this. I did really enjoy it, but started to wonder where a lot of the love was down to the artwork and cgi . But I settled on the 8 because it was a rather good film when I think about it. Quite a fun and imaginitive story with a likeable "hero". You could see what was going to happen a mile off, but hell, it's a kids film so I won't judge it on that.

It really did look absolutely stunning in places, and I loved the designs of all of the different types of dragons. I wish I had that job

Moon (DVD)



What to make of Moon..? Echoes of Bruce Dern's lonely adventure aboard the Valley Forge in Silent Running...Kubrick's silent, operatic 2001 magnum opus...Scott's utilitarian Alien set designs... It's all here. Everyone is here.

Sam Rockwell pulls it off. Playing multiple versions of himself, he's a well-cast actor playing out a note-perfect performance of a script Duncan Jones wrote specifically for him. He owns the part of Sam Bell, a tired astronaut all but at the end of his three-year contract on this lonely Lunar harvesting station. With the action taking place against a 360 degree enclosed (and fully-realised) set beautifully designed to look the part of a working moonbase, the film explores themes of loneliness, loss, memory and identity.

Jones (son of Mr David Bowie, no less) directs with admirable restraint. Perhaps it was something dictated by the indie-film's meagre budget, and if so all to the good. The film retains a quiet melancholy throughout and never, even when the unthinkable happens, descends into trite cliche. Jones keeps it simple, keeps it focused - mostly on Rockwell whose unavoidable on-screen presence dominates without chewing the scenery. Kevin Spacey rolls into view as the voice of Gerty the on-base robot (with more than a whiff of Kubrick's HAL) - but again, audience expectations are pleasantly surpised here. Spacey plays it low-key and turns in a very complimentary act.

Model miniatures and CG effects are similarly restrained - but almost always wholly acceptable, invoking fond, nostalgic memories of 70's and 80's shows like Space 1999, films like Alien. Jones maintains that he wanted to go for a hybrid of mechanical (model) effects and some CG 'polish'. It works, lending the film a unique, almost charming look.

Now a cult movie enjoyed by successive generations of Sci-Fi film enthusiasts, it was Doug Trumbull's mid 70's masterpiece, Silent Running, that seems to set so much of the mood-music for Moon. And that's really no bad thing. A Silent Running for the Moon generation.

7.5/10

Wishmaster - I've already seen it many times before but picked it up on DVD for £2 the other day. One of the best films ever made. 10/10.

Anyone ever seen Pontiac Moon? I accidentally recorded half of it about ten years back and I never got around to seeing the end. I got really engrossed in what I saw though. Think Mary Steenburgen's in it.

I have a LOT of films that I own but haven't seen. YOU decide which one I watch first

American Beauty
Blue Valentine
Children of Men
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Following
The Goonies
The Host
Insomnia
Into the Wild
Monsters
Network
No Country for Old Men
North By Northwest
Psycho
Rabbit Hole
Rear Window
Shutter Island
Stand By Me
There Will Be Blood
Vertigo
Winter's Bone

Watch:
American Beauty
There Will be blood
Shutter Island
No Country For old men.

Psycho

The Goonies, seeing as it's the best film ever made.

The Goonies or Rear Window.