What films have you watched this week?

[MisterBubbles]

Watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, enjoyed the darker theme , though it was a little slow in some places and a bit more action wouldn't a went a miss, but i guess this was more story and character based.

[prinnysquad]

Last night, being Christmas and all, I watched the much maligned StarTrek V: The Final Frontier. It's a far better movie than it gets credit for. It's known as the worst Star Trek movie but easily beats the cheap no-story nothingness that is Search For Spock and it has a lot to offer.

For a start, it is a movie that captures the friendship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy better than any of them. It's their movie and it is the one that really pays off that long relationship. It's actually quite heartwarming in that sense. Of course, it's a long time friendship here so it's not something they could have in the new movie but it did highlight something missing in that new one - a real sense of any bond. Even in the end of the movie, it wasn't there yet and didn't look like they were going to include McCoy in it if it ever developed. But it's there in buckets in Star Trek V and it's rather well written.

And the story is very true to the original series and gives Kirk an opportunity to philosophise his way out of a situation, or into one. That Kirk is a thinker is something that many forget and, again, was lacking in the new movie.

Unfortunately there are some real cringe moments. That Uhura dancing bit is plain embarrassing and shouldn't have made the final cut. And the actual end confrontation and climax of the movie is a real let down. It looks poor, plays out badly (post-Kirk's questioning) and is over in a flash. It's possibly that that really taints the movie because that's what it all led to and what likely is remembered.

Still, overall, I don't feel it deserves the bad rep it has.

Old quote-me-do. Just watched this on C4, and this film has really grown on me over the years. Years ago, it was always a plot-heavy bore, with one exciting scene in the middle when the Klingons attack the shuttle.

But that's an unfair assessment that misses the point. The characterisation is, like you say, well formed, and with a point. The dynamic between the three mains is one of the things that made the original series so good, and it's quite refreshing to see that the complexities between them actually keep them together. And what's more, they realise this, commenting that they get on each other's tits yet end up on holiday together.

The story thinks big, even though it doesn't quite pull it off. But I quite like the idea behind it. The ending is rather abrupt, though I personally found it ok. Good soundtrack too. The bloke playing Sybok does so rather well, I thought. Not anywhere near as bad as I remember. I found it all quite pleasant and fascinating.

[kernow]

Shutter Island - 7/10

[Baseley09]

12:01 (1993 TV movie). Groundhog day meets Office Space sci-fi time travel loop affair, Supergirl Helen Slater and Jeremy Piven pre hair op feature. Good stuff this.

[Jebus]

Rewatched the first 3 of the Harry Potter films on blu-ray. Such lovely charming films. They are all kind of the same film, but enjoyable nonetheless. My only complaint is the horrible saccharine moments at the end of the first two.

The third one felt directed in such a different manner though!

[JP]

Just been watching Fishing With John on DVD, it was a US series in the '90s directed by and starring John Luire of the Lounge Lizards.

In each episode he toured what was considered to be a dangerous fishing spot with a different person, he went with Jim Jamusch, Tom Waits, Matt Dillon, Willem Defoe & Dennis Hopper.

He doesn't actually know anything about fishing or directing and yet he manages to produce a brilliant series. This is an excerpt from an interview with Luire which pretty much sums up the whole experience better than I can.

The catches with Tom were fake. We bought them from some other fisherman because Tom was throwing up and just wanted to get it over with. But we did catch a lot of fish that we don't show; fair play to me as a sportsman. But catching fish wasn't in those scripts! Willem and I were supposed to be starving to death. Matt and I theoretically couldn't catch anything because we hadn't yet done the magical dance. And Jim and I actually caught three big sharks but I edited it down to one shark to look more dramatic. We threw 'em all back. It seemed immoral to keep 'em.

The good news is that it seems that most, if not all of the show is available to watch on YouTube.


EDIT:
Also just finished watching On The Waterfront on the telly, it's still a shockingly good film 54 years after being released.

[Darwock]

Rewatched the first 3 of the Harry Potter films on blu-ray. Such lovely charming films. They are all kind of the same film, but enjoyable nonetheless. My only complaint is the horrible saccharine moments at the end of the first two.

The third one felt directed in such a different manner though!

Is the third one the one with the best wizard competition? That was a really good movie - The ones before it were just setting it up and the ones that came afterwards were too up themselves and focused on the 'epic' story, which was boring (IMO) so there was very little entertainment value. The third had some great funny moments and an engaging story.

[Number45]

Is the third one the one with the best wizard competition? That was a really good movie - The ones before it were just setting it up and the ones that came afterwards were too up themselves and focused on the 'epic' story, which was boring (IMO) so there was very little entertainment value. The third had some great funny moments and an engaging story.

That's the fourth, Goblet of Fire.

Watched 2012 on Saturday night. Some wonderful effects, but my god what a terrible, terrible film. They couldn't even sort out a decent Arnie impressionist.

[Bort]

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. It's been a good while since I've seen it. Still excellent.

Currently watching Team America again. I really didn't like it when it came out. Enjoying it so far.

[JP]

Just finished watching Clint Eastwood's Invictus.

I'm quite a fan of Eastwood's films and a really big fan of rugby so have been waiting a while to see this. Wasn't a particularly interesting film as it repeatedly went over the same points.

The rugby side of things was particularly disappointing as it seemed so tame, so lifeless and filmed by somebody who's not really got any understanding of the sport.

I seem to remember that Chester Williams had some sort of advisory role in the film. he's coached in real life and obviously

->Open Spoiler<-

won the World Cup with The Bokke

as a player which the film shows but there just seems such a gap between the film and the sport even though it's technically spot on.

Perhaps I'm being too harsh due to knowing the changes they made to the story as I know what really happened. I didn't like the way Eastwood changed the

->Open Spoiler<-

747 incident

in the final. Yes it did happen but not quite as the film showed.

->Open Spoiler<-

It was very simply a pre-arranged fly over by one of the sponsors of the World Cup. There were no worries when this happened from the people with Mandela as they knew it was happening but I can imagine that the crowd unexpectedly seeing a Jumbo flying less than 20ft above the stadium had a bit of a fright.

Another thing that I didn't like about the film was that it seemed to completely ignore all the negativity that was happening around the collapse of Apartheid. Eastwood seemed determined to just make everything nice.

I thought Morgan Freeman was OK but he his pretty strong accent broke through a few times which easily shatters the illusion. He was also wearing some bloody awful fake skin stuff on his face later on for some reason.

I can't stand Matt Damon as an actor, I find him as bland as Tom Cruise to watch, it's almost like he's playing a dead person most of the time. He was OK in this in that he didn't have to say that much. He was OK in that he represented Fran?ois Pienaar fairly well apart from looking about about 2ft too short.

I may watch the film again when I'm feeling like I'll be a little more forgiving of it's problems.

[Btang84]

Shutter Island - found this to be better than expected. Found the ending to be better than the beginning but also found myself emotionally detached. Not quite as good as Hitchcock but a very nice soundtrack to it though.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - really rather regret not having seen this in the cinema. Wasn't quite prepared for a few of the scenes. I must have not taken notice of reviews at the time, but found the main mystery to be absolutely invigorating, enough that the film didn't seem quite as long as it did. Great performance from the lead actress, though it does feel as though they would answer more questions in the next films.

Inception - Great film, though probably best to talk more about this in its thread for fear of spoiling. Saw it at BFI IMAX, my first viewing there, and it was suitably amazing.

Che - Very good performance from del Toro, although it was fairly long. Really did feel like an epic, but didn't quite delve into the character as much as I would have liked. Motorcycle Diaries was probably better in that respect.

[buster_broon]

Watched invictus and even though I'm not a rugby fan it was pretty good

He didn't say crackabis once though - gutted

[Sane]

All 3 Pirates movies, excellent entertainment.

[Dennoman]

Watched the EU/US re-cut single part version of Red Cliff today, now I see why Chinese people think a mediocre film has been butchered even more. The excessive cutting has led to massive plotholes and general confusion if you haven't seen the two-parter first. Should've just stuck to the 2 part release fellas!

[eastyy]

saw the matrix today still looks great..what the hell did they do with the sequels