Last movie watched...

[hazy efc]

Sharknado 2 it was amazing no im just kidding but my girlfriend did make me sit through horrible bosses and it was surprisingly ok.

[Jim_Campbell]

John Wick.

I really enjoyed that. Rather like Dredd, in as much as it has a lean running time (1hr 41), an —ahem— uncomplicated plot, and lashings of violence. Stylish, cool, relentless. And, like Dredd, somewhat redolent of a kind of film they don't seem to make much any more.

(I have to note the slight distraction of recognising literally every actor from some damn thing or other I've been watching on TV recently, which is hardly a significant criticism of the movie itself...)

Won't change your life, but entertained the hell out of me.

Cheers

Jim

[radiator]

I really need to see John Wick - sounds like it would be right up my street.

[Theblazeuk]

Second the recommendation, thoroughly fun fighty film.

[Keef Monkey]

Seems like every day I hear another glowing recommendation for John Wick, hoping it appears on Netflix soon.

Watched some movies at the weekend -

Columbiana - This was Bea's pick and we both enjoyed it in a dumb nonsensical way. It's pretty much just Zoe Saldana looking incredible and killing a lot of people, I tuned out of the plot a bit at points and wasn't really sure why most things were happening.

There's one of those attempts at a Bourne fight scene where she's grabbing improvised objects as weapons that didn't really work for me [spoiler]because I wasn't convinced that toothbrushes would be more effective than punches[/spoiler] but it's all a bit of silly fun. Highlight is the finale, [spoiler]because the frontal assault made us laugh a lot. She'd been all about crafty infiltration throughout the film and, spotting there were only 15 minutes to go and a lot of bad guys still to kill I wondered how they could possibly wrap it up. Then the bazooka fires and you realize she's just going to run in and tear through them quicksmart. Didn't see that coming, and it was the kind of gag that made Punisher: War Zone a good laugh, although this film isn't a patch on that masterpiece.[/spoiler]

Can't really recommend it much, the action doesn't have much flair and it's largely a bit dull but if it's on telly and you just want to see Zoe Saldana shoot guys and can't be bothered reaching for the remote then batter in.

Avengers: Age of Ultron - Commented on this in the other thread, but a quick summary is it was alright, one of the weaker Marvel films I reckon.

20,000 Days On Earth - Absolutely loved this, but then I'm a pretty big Nick Cave fan so it's hard to tell how engaging it would be if you weren't. I do think it works really well as an exploration of creativity and writing and performing, that it stands as a great film in its own right. Plus even if you're not into Cave's music he's a fascinating guy to hear talk about these things. Looks beautiful too, a really great film, loved it.

[Link Prime]

Seems like every day I hear another glowing recommendation for John Wick

Yeah, looking forward to seeing it.
Out tomorrow on Region 2 DVD, though I think I'll wait for a price drop.

[IAMTHESYSTEM]

Mad Max.

Still brilliant with Mad Mel before the drink and anti Semitism helped him push the self destruct button. I was a little shocked at the violence, intimidation and rape [both of males and female victims] which they indulged in. The bikers really were vermin and I'm sure the bronze badge the Law men wear must have been inspired by Dredd's.

Still an Action classic despite the years.

[Professor Bear]

Pride - if you know the premise for this, you know the entire story already.  A slight and inoffensive political fairy tale with neither grit nor meat to it, though you may be offended by the twee representation of the British working classes, here portrayed as alien life forms visited by cosmopolitan middle-class gays to be taught a thing or two about community spirit.  Pointless.

Black Sea - Jude Law goes Ahab for some lost Nazzi gold.  One of those stories that relies upon the viewers' familiarity with its tropes to fill in the blanks left by the script, so familiar is the path it treads.  Not good, but not terrible, either.  Nice production design, and the sub feels like a real place rather than a fancy set - otherwise not worth bothering with.

Road Wars - another Asylum knock-off, this time trying to glom onto the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road, and as usual, the budget lets the side down as the three cars they could afford to make look rusty are too expensive to blow up or risk driving over 15mph, so they film in a way that doesn't quite obscure the wheels or the ground so you can always tell they're going about 8mph doing PEW PEW PEW at each other for like three minutes, and then they stop by some abandoned building and get out and wander around it for ten minutes before driving at 8mph again, sometimes at night where the director forgets the story is post-apocalyptic and he shouldn't be getting highly-illuminated nearby cities clearly in shot.  I don't know why I keep coming back to The Asylum because they've made something like 2 half decent films out of the 50 or so that I've seen, and this is a typical duffer that doesn't even have some of the reassuring physical effects or inventive action or gore of earlier efforts.  Straight-to-video vapor that's not worth your time.

[Dandontdare]

Pride - if you know the premise for this, you know the entire story already.  A slight and inoffensive political fairy tale with neither grit nor meat to it, though you may be offended by the twee representation of the British working classes, here portrayed as alien life forms visited by cosmopolitan middle-class gays to be taught a thing or two about community spirit.  Pointless.

At last we were allowed to know it was about gay stuff - unlike american DVD consumers who may have freaked out and shot up their local Walmart if they'd spotted the G word: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/06/us-distributors-pride-accused-removing-gay-references-dvd-cover

[Satanist]

John Wick - I read the above reports and thought I'd give it a go even though I never really fancied it. Its  shit. I agree with Jim above though that every single character in the film has a face you will know from that show you used to watch. TBH I enjoyed it much more when I started pretending his name was Frank Castle. I would've probably been kinder to this one if I hadn't just watched Kingsman the night before...

Kingsman - Brilliant! Loving spoof/tribute to the 70's Bond movies. Theres a fantastic scene where Mr Darcy knocks fuck out about 40 folk at once. Might actually watch this again at the weekend.

[Buttonman]

Kingsman was great - did you pick up that [spoiler]the keypad code at the end spelled out 'Anal'?[/spoiler] I thought this was a kid's film - the gruesome deaths, swearing and bum love references changed that perception!

Watched 'The Salvation' last night - cracking Danish western that follows a familiar murder and revenge plot. Lots of 'Oh the humanity' moments - thought it was like 'The Quick and the dead' mashed up with 'Blazing Saddles' well worth checking out.

[Satanist]

Didn't notice that butt its a nice touch 

[ThryllSeekyr]

Sharknado 2 it was amazing no im just kidding but my girlfriend did make me sit through horrible bosses and it was surprisingly ok.

Isn't strange how a lot weird shark movies are being made lately and shown as cheap sci-fi with added gimmick with something based on supernatural or some thing natural like tornado's or ghost sharks.

When I'm willing to except the that these movies have always been around....

Mainly about zombies, vampires and werewolves.

It think a lot of these a being made by the same people for that small chunk of profit until they can afford to make something worth-while.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

The Harry Hill Movie

If you like Harry Hill, you'll probably lap this up. Bright and fun absurdist comedy without any meanness - it's just purely, beautifully silly. It does drag a bit around the hour mark but the cast are clearly having fun and unlike other "populist Brit comedies" it doesn't rely on twatty stereotypes to get its laughs which is worth applauding particularly. The "Magic Numbers B&B" bit is great.

Likely a bit of a flat experience in the cinema but at home it was a hoot. Not at all terrible.

[Famous Mortimer]

Pride - if you know the premise for this, you know the entire story already.  A slight and inoffensive political fairy tale with neither grit nor meat to it, though you may be offended by the twee representation of the British working classes, here portrayed as alien life forms visited by cosmopolitan middle-class gays to be taught a thing or two about community spirit.  Pointless.

I thought it was amazing, maybe my favourite film of the year. Disclosure: I know someone who was "in" the film (she was part of the original group and one of the characters is based on her) and she says the meat and drink of it is remarkably honest, although the actual group was much larger and spent more time arguing politics.

I mean, I don't think it's unfair to say the two sides were fairly alien to each other at the time, which is why the struggle of the strike is so important, bringing those people together and allowing them to learn from each other. And, as you've seen the film, I've got no idea why you'd call them middle-class - look at the squalid accommodation they had. They were oppressed people helping other oppressed people.

It's hilariously funny and heartbreakingly sad in equal measure, and I can't recommend it highly enough.