Film Review Thread

[MightyWhite]

Ugh, I found Whistleblower really fucking boring, though my mrs quite enjoyed it too. Perhaps the director is really a genius and has single handedly invented the gritty chick flick genre?

Saw Avatar was on last night but just can't bring myself to watch it. Just doesn't appeal to me, though as someone who quite likes Star Wars I imagine I'd enjoy it once I got into it. Haven't seen Inception either.

[gazurtoids]

M

Avatar was a technology showcase, not a film. I can't imagine why you'd bother watching it on tv.

The original Toy Story was very much a technology showcase but still a decent film with script, narrative, characterisation etc. It is possible to have both.

True, good example.

But that only counters the point about Avatar's content and not the one about how it's viewed. Avatar was designed, at least in part, to make cinema-viewing essential again. I don't think it succeeded, but it was an admirable attempt.

Never watched a 3D film at the cinema and I doubt I ever will. Fuck that wearing glasses shit.

I saw Avatar in 3D but only because I knew it was conceived with that in mind. I was basically giving it a fair chance at achieving what it set out to do. I don't think there's much point in judging it on the 2D version, even if I generally think 3D is a big ol' bag of nonsense.

[Phil LUFC]

I saw Avatar in 3D but only because I knew it was conceived with that in mind. I was basically giving it a fair chance at achieving what it set out to do. I don't think there's much point in judging it on the 2D version, even if I generally think 3D is a big ol' bag of nonsense.

I've only seen it in 2D but I did see a cinema 3D trailer for it ahead of something else (must have been either Ice Age 3 or FD4) and found it difficult to watch, the high amount of glass surfaces (helmets and lab windows) made it very difficult viewing and sort of put me off seeing it in 3D. Saw it in 2D on blu-ray and quite enjoyed it, in a way I regret not seeing it at the cinema, I imagine lots of it would have been even more visually stunning.

[Man Called Sun]

I'm not into them big macho American bullshit films at all, but I was astonished when I saw Avatar at the cinema. It looked totally amazing, enough (for me at least) to excuse the fact that it was, essentially, a shite film.

And Toy Story is the second greatest film ever made, behind Team America, obviously.

[the flying pig]

The most recent installment of the Twilight series. Miserably bad. Can't even bring myself to explain why. Avoid it like the plague.

[Phil LUFC]

The most recent installment of the Twilight series. Miserably bad. Can't even bring myself to explain why. Avoid it like the plague.

Good to know, the missus has all 4 now, but I've managed to only see the first one - I plan to keep it that way.

[Man Called Sun]

The most recent installment of the Twilight series. Miserably bad. Can't even bring myself to explain why. Avoid it like the plague.

Good to know, the missus has all 4 now, but I've managed to only see the first one - I plan to keep it that way.

Mrs Sun is similarly afflicted. I went to one with her at the cinema and didn't know what the fuck was going on, seemed to be some miserable fucking lass being argued over by groups of wolf fetishists and goths. I think I'll have to sit through the DVD with her at some point...

[eric olthwaite]

T'kids say The Hunger Games is better than all the Twilight shit, but Mrs O was made to sit through it and wouldn't have given it more than a 4 or 5, I reckon.

[the flying pig]

The most recent installment of the Twilight series. Miserably bad. Can't even bring myself to explain why. Avoid it like the plague.

Good to know, the missus has all 4 now, but I've managed to only see the first one - I plan to keep it that way.

Mrs Sun is similarly afflicted. I went to one with her at the cinema and didn't know what the fuck was going on, seemed to be some miserable fucking lass being argued over by groups of wolf fetishists and goths. I think I'll have to sit through the DVD with her at some point...

yeah exactly, consistnet with my review of the earlier efforts - http://www.thesquareball.net/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=100397#p100397.

the most recent one is vastly inferior to the others though - nothing happens, well, two of the characters just about get married [having got engaged at some pt during the last film] & manage to have a baby, but that's really it. i thought it was wank but anyone who'd not seen the previous films would be, i'm guessing, really bewildered & angry at the time &/or money they'd invested in this drivel.

the inexplicable thing is that my wife, a grown woman & mother rather than a simpering teen, said afterwards that she thought it was 'quite good'

[Mustafaster]

Why do Americans make films again? You'll have to remind me.

Peace, grasshopper. Just big money making big dumb shit. Always thus.


Follow the small money and the non-fiction if you want quality US movies just now IMO.

The yanks are turning out some fantastic TV series, much better than their films imo.
Since The Sopranos broke the mould, they have produced: The Wire (greatest thing ever on screen, FACT), Deadwood, Defying Gravity, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Sons of Anarchy, Game of Thrones ... to name a few. The long format of the series allows them to develop a plot and characters in a way that films just can't, for me.
Saw J. Edgar at the weekend, pretty decent by Hollywood standards 7/10 but still not a patch on the above mentioned series.

[gazurtoids]

Maybe. But who has 100+ hours to devote to one story?

[Phil LUFC]

Maybe. But who has 100+ hours to devote to one story?

Spread over a number of years, in 20 weekly installments per year.... most people?

Just can't watch them all. And then its an absolute fucker when you pick one, stick with it for 3 series, think its getting pretty good but they cancel the fucking thing and never complete it.

[MightyWhite]

Just started watching Alcatraz (didn't think much to the first episode, but prepared to give it a chance) and gonna look at Touch aswell. As someone who missed the boat with Sopranos, Lost, Prison Break, etc, I'm determined to get in on the ground floor with these ones.

[Porkchopexpress]

Managed to give Avatar a swerve last night. Thank Christ. And on an even better note, the mrs hates Twighlight like a sickness.

[Mustafaster]

Just started watching Alcatraz (didn't think much to the first episode, but prepared to give it a chance) and gonna look at Touch aswell. As someone who missed the boat with Sopranos, Lost, Prison Break, etc, I'm determined to get in on the ground floor with these ones.

Not seem that one, but with all these things you have to give 'em chance to hit their stride, they pan out over 12/13 hours not 120 minutes.
If you haven't seen The Sopranos or The Wire you really should.

[Porkchopexpress]

Sopranos was the finest thing ont idiot box. Except the ending. Really well written, but as a small child trapped in a larger body, it really narked me.

[MightyWhite]

Just started watching Alcatraz (didn't think much to the first episode, but prepared to give it a chance) and gonna look at Touch aswell. As someone who missed the boat with Sopranos, Lost, Prison Break, etc, I'm determined to get in on the ground floor with these ones.

Not seem that one, but with all these things you have to give 'em chance to hit their stride, they pan out over 12/13 hours not 120 minutes.
If you haven't seen The Sopranos or The Wire you really should.

The Wire, that's enough one that everyone raves about but I've never seen.

Going back 5 years - when I was single, lived at home, and vegetated in my room on my own every night - I could buy a box set and hammer through them all in quick order, but now I'm in with the mrs (who happens to have the concentration span of a goldfish) I struggle to find gaps to watch anything properly.

[Mustafaster]

Sopranos was the finest thing ont idiot box. Except the ending. Really well written, but as a small child trapped in a larger body, it really narked me.

Yeah, Sopranos was ace, from the pilot on.
Have to disagree about the ending, though, it was superb imo.
There was only one way they could end it, just a question of how, and the way Chase handled it was brilliant for me, total shocker.

[eric olthwaite]

Maybe. But who has 100+ hours to devote to one story?

I think that if you watch as it's played it's not a big deal, but if you were now to try and wade thro the Sopranos or the Wire, you'd struggle.

Although the boy managed to get through the entire Family Guy 1-11 box set in about two weeks, I think.

[gazurtoids]

Exactly. However much people rave about The West Wing or The Sopranos or The Wire or any of them, I'm loathe to invest even the 10-or-so hours needed to see if it gets going, never the mind the 100-odd most of the established "greats" take up.

As far as I'm concerned, most stories worth telling don't need that long to be told. It must be the least-compact format of any story-telling medium -- even the most epic books don't take that long to read! I'm sure there must be plenty of filler in there.