What movie did you watch last night? (16 Viewers)

[Jerry Twig]

I'm surprised you haven't made it your avatar already

 

[washingcattle]

Larry for life bro.

 

[Jerry Twig]

 

[washingcattle]

That could be the new Meh Button.

 

[Deleted member 3435]

Just saw Iron Man 3.

I enjoyed it loads but some stuff annoyed me. There's too much of everything...something good happens...and then happens ten more times. I felt the same way about the Avengers movie...very good and very smug.

 

[Unicron]

Iron Man 3, really good as far as these things go. Ben Kingsley is great in it.

 

[xsteox]

Street fighter. Hadn't seen it in years. What a car crash. Roul Julia is hilarious as M bison, eats up every scene.

 

[washingcattle]

50/50

Joseph Gordon Levitt is diagnosed with cancer, Seth Rogan is his best mate since school and he has trouble with girls mainly a flighty girlfriend and a young therapist who's been assigned to his case. Midway through 50/50 Levitts character looks at this therapist and asks why can't people just say you'll probably die ? Why all the positivity and kid gloves when in reality you're dancing around the issue of the fact that everyone dies in the end and it's just a matter of time. Well..... yeah ...but that's exactly what this film does repeatedly. Dealing with death and disease at any age is awkward and in your mid twenties it seems, for most, like an absolute impossibility, an absurdity if anything. So yes, on paper the idea of making a comedy/drama about cancer is a good idea in fact it's probably the only way of dealing with both that absurdity and the seriousness of the subject. However, 50/50 falls flat because it never fully manages to engage with the reality or absurdity instead it focusses on the same lame one note sex and drugs jokes which any film with the words Seth Rogan involved usually entails. 50/50 has it's moments. Scenes between the 27 year old Levitt and his much older Chemo therapy pals played by Matt Frewer and Phillip Baker Hall strike a fittingly sardonic tone but there's too little of this gallows humour and far too many moments of Seth Rogan playing Seth Rogan sitting on a couch packing a bong. What's more whenever the film does manage to hit it's target and do anything close to genuinely affecting, it then follows this up with a quick utterly pointless montage accompanied by one of the worst musical scores I can ever remember hearing. It's a cheap cop out,

"here's the tough moment of realisation, but worry not, here take a breather while we show you some IVs or shots of earnest contemplation accompanied by some plaintive Beck tune and when you're ready Seth Rogan will say something pointless and "hillarious" while high...Yay!"

The main issue I have with 50/50 and with most films which try to deal with such a serious topic is that they do so with one eye on the market. If they made a film about the possibility of dying of cancer in your 20s which was truly honest, it would be a pitch black comedy and at the same time a film of nerve wracking tension and utter discomfort, sure it could still have a happy ending, but that's not something films like this want to actually deal with. No one would watch that film (I would), it might win 10 oscars but it sure as fuck won't sell popcorn. This film reminds me of the depiction of mental illness in hollywood where every autistic person lives a "quirky" life and can count fucking cards in Vegas and manic depressives eventually just pull themselves together for the sake of their families, if you're not going to at least explore the subject fully why bother making the film in the fucking first place ?.

50/50 is not all bad. Firstly it's not quite "Superbad Get Cancer" which is good. The performances from the cast are good, but to be fair there isn't a massive amount for them to do except laugh and cry when required. Levitt does a fine job keeping as much of his doubt and angst internalised without ever becoming the kind of withdrawn wooden presence which often happens. You get the feeling that considering how strong this central performance is the films writer Will Rieser and Director Johnathan Levine could have pushed the film a bit further into the darker corners which folks don't want to think about and rarely discuss where some real insight could have been garnered and expressed. Instead what you end up with is probably exactly what you'd expect.

 

[Jill Hives]

The main issue I have with 50/50 and with most films which try to deal with such a serious topic is that they do so with one eye on the market. If they made a film about the possibility of dying of cancer in your 20s which was truly honest, it would be a pitch black comedy and at the same time a film of nerve wracking tension and utter discomfort, sure it could still have a happy ending, but that's not something films like this want to actually deal with. No one would watch that film (I would), it might win 10 oscars but it sure as fuck won't sell popcorn. This film reminds me of the depiction of mental illness in hollywood where every autistic person lives a "quirky" life and can count fucking cards in Vegas and manic depressives eventually just pull themselves together for the sake of their families, if you're not going to at least explore the subject fully why bother making the film in the fucking first place ?.

I agree completely.

 

[xsteox]

Idiocracy again. Sure mentioned it here before, still holds up, is pretty funny.

 

[Anthony]

Where The Wild Things Are - cryfest
Ratrace - like an updated Cannonball Run. A couple of really funny moments. Kids loved it.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

The Baby (1973). A group of women, led by Ruth Roman’s terrifying matriarch, keep a mentally disabled grown man dressed as a giant infant in their house. Weird as it sounds. Mostly played for sick laughs. Great ending.

Ganja & Hess. Blaxploitation vampire film in which a doctor gets stabbed by a cursed dagger and becomes addicted to human blood. Intense. Full of strange sounds and arresting images.

 

[pete]

Iron Man 3 in that Imax 3D

Enjoyed it far more than my brain really should have allowed. Ben Kingsley = Amazing

 

[Unicron]

Ben Kingsley = Amazing

YES!

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Jack Reacher. Pretty average. Too much misogyny and not enough Werner Herzog.

 

[therealjohnny]

Twice this week I started watching Watership Down only to be made switch the channel..because "the poor rabbits''

 

[Cormcolash]

Dead Man Down

Colin Farrell plays a Hungarian dude out for revenge. In the process, Noomi Rapace blackmails him to kill someone for her. But they both fancy each other at the same time.

This film is actually pretty good. It takes a while to figure out what the fuck is going on. Farrell is a bit like Clooney in the American, the way someone mentioned above, over-acting maybe. The plot is a bit all over the place, but comes together okay. There are a couple of good action scenes - the finale is pretty cool.

The film this most reminded me of is A History Of Violence, with Viggo Morto; it's a different kind of film, but the tone is somewhat similar, trying to build tensions in the characters and give them some depth that generally wouldn't be found in a typical revenge/action sort of film. A History Of Violence is great though - this is just pretty good.
It's overly long too, could have got rid of 15 minutes or so I'd say.

There are Albanians in this. Liam Neeson doesn't go after them, but it seems everyone hates Albanians now.

 

[Kermit McDermott]

Notes on a scandal - seen it before. Really good film.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

The Baby (1973). A group of women, led by Ruth Roman’s terrifying matriarch, keep a mentally disabled grown man dressed as a giant infant in their house. Weird as it sounds. Mostly played for sick laughs. Great ending.

One of my favourites.

The two sisters are hot.

"The sickest ending of any film ever shown on Moviedrome". (Alex Cox, summer of 1994)

 

[Cormcolash]

Olympus Has Fallen.

Gerard Butler is the president's bodyguard, and has to go and rescue him after terrorists attack the White House.

This film is Under Siege, in the White House. It looks like it's been made for people that might not have seen Under Siege. Naturally, the film is fucking ludicrous, which is what you want. It's not quite ludicrous enough in the right ways though, like Under Siege. Gerard Butler is grand, I'd say he good a decent pay check for this one. He doesn't say Sparta though. Morgan Freeman also turns up as the next in command when the President and Vice-President are taken hostage.
This film is amusing if you want to watch a total piece of shit for a couple of hours, and you want to see lots of people getting shot and some stuff getting blown up. Good for me, in other words. This film would definitely have been better if Harrison Ford had played the President, and shouted "MY WIFE!" at some point.
Oh, the terrorists turn out to be North Korean or something. Very topical.

What it has (plus points):
Gerard Butler shooting/beatingup/shoutingat people
Morgan Freeman looking bemused
Loads of people die
The Secretary Of State gets kicked around lots
The actual attack on the White House is quite fun

What it doesn't have (minus points):
Gary Busey being completely mental
Colm Meaney being a Meaney
Tommy Lee Jones being a hippy
Steven Seagal waving his arms around and talking quietly
The Under Siege sound track
Erika Eleniak bursting out of a cake with no top on (major minus point)

Conclusion:
This film is shite, which is to be expected, but it is nowhere near as amazingly shite as Under Siege. I might just watch Under Siege again tomorrow.