What was the last movie you saw?

[clovis-man]

Re the Hitchhikers movie:

Originally Posted by JunkMonkey

'Epic' it was not.

I don't think it was meant to be epic. Just amusing. In that sense, I think it was successful. If nothing else, the Busby Berkeley treatment of the dolphins departing the Earth was entertaining.

[Rodders]

I went to see Silent Running at the cinema last night. It was a double bill with 2001. Unfortunately i had a 03:00 start this morning so i couldn't stay for 2001.

[Alex, The G and T]

I hadn't been too worked up about seeing yet another heist movie, and a bit weary of Ben Stiller. But the GF brought home a rental of Tower Heist and it turned out to be hilarious throughout.

Great sneaker cast. Alan Alda starts out so Hawkeye sweet, then turns so evil. Matthew Broderick... always funny. Judd Hirsch?!? (In case you wondered whatever happenned to Judd Hirsch) Eddie Murphy has some moments. And some very funny unknowns.

Pretty good heist flick, too.

Fun.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Rodders

I went to see Silent Running at the cinema last night. It was a double bill with 2001. Unfortunately i had a 03:00 start this morning so i couldn't stay for 2001.

Wow! That's a great double bill! Pity you had to miss half.

[Connavar]

The Artist

I just saw this film which i thought was hyped because the nostalgic story,being a silent film but i forgot about that when the film started. The lead actor carried his role so well that i totally forget he was an actor playing George Valentin, its easy to get lost in the wonderful story, the music,the atmosphere and in the quality acting.

It was hard not smile through the whole film with Valentin and to feel sad in sadder parts of the story. The black and white visuals, camera work was stunning in away that only the best black and white films could be.

Im a believer now this film is special and not hyped because of a sappy silent actor story and the nostalgic feeling.

[clovis-man]

Good testimonial, Conn. Now I'll have to see it.

[JunkMonkey]

She Freak (1967) - Whoohoo! Total grade A WTF? paydirt. The story is minimal, gold-digger waitress from a small town joins the carny and marries the boss of the Freak show. He gets killed by her roustabout lover and in revenge the freaks carve her up and put her in the show - the end. (It's a rehash of Tod Browning's Freaks - a film which still has the power to disturb and gave The Ramones some of their most meaningful lyrics.) The style here is incredible. Short bursts of dialogue sometimes rendered inaudible by lousy on-location recording and other times by inappropriately loud music slapped on in editing, interspersed with long (sometimes very long) silent 'sequences' (I'm being generous here) of documentary-style footage shot in a real carnival with whole catalogues of almost not terrible jazzy library music filling up the soundtrack. It's insane. Over half of this movie is silent footage of people putting up tents, eating candy floss, or riding the waltzers, occasionally our heroine appears and wanders around past these real fairground punters - in one shot she takes 50 seconds! to aimlessly wander across from one stall to another - and occasionally she interacts with other characters in that under-rehearsed, 'we have no real lines to say here' way that people used to do in cheap holiday commercials. Overly large gestures, smiling and nodding, Catalogue Man style pointing and uncomfortable body language. Everything screams,"We don't know what we're supposed to be doing but we're getting paid to be here and the camera's running so we had better do something!" an insane delight. The director went on to make several other films, only one of which I have seen: the gloriously awful Space Thing!

She Freak makes Space Thing look like quality goods.

[Foxbat]

Slade In Flame (1975) Glam rockers Slade star in this excellent and gritty film about the rise of fictional band Flame. Very good performances from the band (considering they are not known for their thespian abilities). Great music and pretty good cinematography. The only let down is the poor sound quality. This film has been under most radars for far too long and it really deserves a bit more exposure. Recommended

[Foxbat]

Whiled away the time waiting for F1 Quali highlights by watching

Batman: Under The Red Hood. Watching this film, that famous Nietzsche quote came to mind - When you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you. This animated movie is very dark and gripping. Frankly, I enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I thought it better than any of the live action Batman movies

[Mouse]

I watched The Monkees film Head today. Weirder than I remember!

[clovis-man]

Went to see John Carter yesterday. I figured I should see if the bad reviews were justified. While not one for the time capsule, I thought it was reasonably good. It tried to preserve some of the world view of ER Burroughs, which turned out to be something of a mixed blessing, i.e., commendable for the attempt, but unfortunate in some of the execution. Overall, however, I found it enjoyable.

I could hear the loud sounds of The Hunger Games coming through the walls at the multiplex. Somehow, despite the YA fervor about this one, I doubt if it's ten times better than John Carter as the hyperbole would lead one to believe............... Just my snarky comment for the day.

[Geddon's Wall]

Last film at the cinema - Sherlock Holmes 2 - readily recommended.
Last film on DVD - I've just watched Jonah Hex. An antidote to the wisecracking of Wild Wild West. Very dark, but a good film nontheless.

[Geddon's Wall]

I believe that the 'official' shorthand for the hitchhikers guide is either HHGG or H2G2 (I used to be a member (Researcher) before the Beeb kicked it into touch).

[Interference]

The movie, though, satisfied on more levels than it disappointed, I think. I watched it with someone who knew nothing about the origins, nor anything about its various other incarnations, and they enjoyed it quite a lot.

[Alex, The G and T]

The Rum Diaries.

I really wanted to like this movie. I'm a big fan of Hunter S Thompson.

I've excused any negative remarks about the movie: "Well, the novel is one of the first things he wrote... he wasn't able to get it published until he had become otherwise famous. It is what it is; from it's own time and place."

The novel is an interesting period piece regarding weird American/Puerto Rican politics in the sixties and an interesting insight into the development of Thompson as a fledgling journalist; especially looking back through the perspective of his later works.

The novel is, more or less, a series of vignettes, on a reasonably coherent theme. Most of the episodes are very powerful, emotionally and thematically.

The movie is so chopped up, that I thought I had fallen asleep, or the disc was skipping. So I watched it again another evening.

The movie skips across the novel like a stone on a pond, and utterly fails to gather any sense of the intensity of the writing.

Read the Book.