Last movie watched...

TordelBack · 24 December, 2013, 01:24:24 PM

Frozen: What an incredibly beautiful film, lovely composition and colour, truly amazing costuming and architecture Simon Fraser would be proud of. Textures on clothes, ice and trolls in particular were extraordinary. The only jar(-Jar-)ring note in the design was ~~Donkey~~ ~~Sid the Sloth~~ Olaf the snowman, otherwise it was genuinely entrancing.

Yes, it was another big-eyed tiny-waisted Disney princess movie, but it had a half-decent plot reversal and a feminist 'twist' ending that I so desperately wanted to happen that I was quite moved when it did. The songs are dull to the point of vanishing, with the exception of the opening ice-cutting number and the troll's 'Fixer-Up' piece, but the singing is nice and moves the plot along. I thought it a bit too long, but the visuals really carried me along, and both of my kids loved it. An excellent Christmas Eve outing!

Hawkmumbler · 24 December, 2013, 02:16:57 PM

Just setting out to watch that now. Bodes well indeed.

Ghost MacRoth · 24 December, 2013, 08:16:39 PM

Outpost 11

SHIIIIIIIITE. It's like the worst combination of 'the thing' and 'outpost' you could imagine, re-written to remove any form of credibility. Utter waste of time.

HOO-HAA · 24 December, 2013, 08:38:03 PM

Minority Report.

Late to the party with this one but really enjoyed it. Very similar vibe to AI, I thought. Usual Hollywood tick boxes apply, but at its heart, this is something truly great. Sci-Fi Noir at its very best.

Mardroid · 24 December, 2013, 08:50:25 PM

Yes, Minority Report is a good 'un. i like the fact that there's an interesting mystery plot at it's heart too.

And a couple of gross out scenes which I found rather amusing (sick puppy that I am).

Hawkmumbler · 24 December, 2013, 09:37:33 PM

Are you referring to the taser induced vomit? Yes, that is amusing indeed.

Frozen: The "playing on popular tropes to lull you into a false sense of boredom" that I see so many critics going on about lasts waaaaaaay to long for my likening, and the film only really picquet my interest in the second half. I found the four leads rather bland at first[spoiler], only when Hanz played his cared did I really start to get a sense things where moving forward, and the reveal that it was sisterly love not a soul mate that cured Anna of her curse was obvious from the blooming start.[/spoiler]

Fair does, it is indeed VERY pretty to look at and was clearly a labour of love from the animators, with even the standard disney aesthetic looking lovely for a change. And all that snow! Brilliant!

And I found Olaf to be way less annoying than he had any right to be and had me belly laughing several times.....then I discovered he was voiced by Josh Gad and I liked him a little less.

HOO-HAA · 24 December, 2013, 11:24:04 PM

Followed Minority Report up with Solaris (the Clooney remake). Now, this one I have seen already but it's well worth a revisit. A beautiful and heart breaking movie with a very simple and well-trodden concept at its core. Brilliant performances across the board and, although at times showing heavy-handed direction, on the whole very well shot.

Tried Aeon Flux after that. Oh dear...

Ghost MacRoth · 25 December, 2013, 12:24:42 AM

Hummingbird

Not the usual fare from Jason Statham. Rather than kicking lumps out of folk to bad rock/techno, he actually does a fair bit of acting in this one. As well as knocking lumps out of folks on occasion of course!! Dark, moody, bleak, and a touch sad. Well worth a watch.

von Boom · 25 December, 2013, 02:06:21 PM

Elf.

We're currently running through some films related to cold weather for some reason.

Mardroid · 25 December, 2013, 10:00:59 PM

Quote from: Hawkmonger on 24 December, 2013, 09:37:33 PM
Are you referring to the taser induced vomit? Yes, that is amusing indeed.

More the scene with the [spoiler]rotton sandwich after the eyeball transplant operation[/spoiler] and the following bit where [spoiler] he dropped the originals, which he was hoping to swap back at a later date, down a drain (if I remember correctly).[/spoiler]

I, Cosh · 26 December, 2013, 01:48:50 PM

I'd heard a lot of good things about Troll Hunter but found it rather disappointing. I hadn't realised it was going to use the found footage thing so I was initially a bit annoyed by all the running and screaming which goes with that, although it's always a good way of getting around the limitations of the FX budget.The Trolls themselves are great: quirky designs and well realised on a budget. Once I'd got over that though, the film didn't really seem to go anywhere. In between the fun Troll bits it just consists of some screaming and long sequences of driving around pretty(,) bleak landscapes while Hans exposits which neither the script nor the cast are strong enough to carry.

Not the film's fault but I was also a bit irritated by description of it in the TV listings as "bone-chilling horror", when "fun fantasy romp" would be a lot nearer the mark . Anyway, I guess there was enough good stuff in there that I'd watch another from the same people.

Mardroid · 26 December, 2013, 11:48:18 PM

Cabin in The Woods.

Interesting in that it plays with classic horror tropes... yet manages to be original. Not over sure of the ending, although it did work.

TordelBack · 26 December, 2013, 11:53:42 PM

Quote from: The Cosh on 26 December, 2013, 01:48:50 PM
Not the film's fault but I was also a bit irritated by description of it in the TV listings as "bone-chilling horror", when "fun fantasy romp" would be a lot nearer the mark .

I really enjoyed it, and it's quickly become one of my favourite monster movies, but yeah: fantasy romp is right.

HdE · 27 December, 2013, 10:15:58 AM

I finally saw Elysium last night. Having been warned by a good few people that it was 'crap', with the proviso added that 'you'll probably enjoy it', I realised it was going to be one of those movies I really had to take a gamble on and sit down to watch with no preconceptions.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. But one thing: WAY too much swearing, to the point where it got grating and made the characters come across as morons. I CANNOT STAND movies where strong language is peppered through the dialogue as liberally and artlessly as this, without any thought given to how it alters the flow and impact of what's actually being said.

Yeah - I said 'artlessly'. Because swearing IS big and clever. At least, it is in writing. It can be used to tell us something about the characters who do it, and it can add humour. Simply chucking an f-bomb into a sentence wherever you like isn't good enough, and these characters toss it around like schoolkids who have just learned the joys of effing and blinding without consequence.

TordelBack · 27 December, 2013, 10:47:57 AM

Quote from: HdE on 27 December, 2013, 10:15:58 AM
Yeah - I said 'artlessly'. Because swearing IS big and clever. At least, it is in writing. It can be used to tell us something about the characters who do it, and it can add humour. Simply chucking an f-bomb into a sentence wherever you like isn't good enough, and these characters toss it around like schoolkids who have just learned the joys of effing and blinding without consequence.

Good observation! As an old person I hate gratuitous swearing in media, but (for example) I love Deadwood.