Which movie did you watch today and how would you rate it?

[TV and credit cards]

Advantageous 9/10

Somewhat sci-fi. Somewhat dystopian. Sadly realistic. What do you think the world will be like 30-50 years from now? There is nothing outrageous in this film in these regards. Capitalism is still here, only worse. There are fewer jobs. There is just not such a need for us anymore. Technology is advancing faster than human comprehension.
Gwen is a single mother with a good job and a daughter in her young teens trying to get into a good school. Gwen is the face of the Center For Advanced Health And Living. Alas, her face has gotten a bit old and her contract will not be renewed.
Gwen goes through the typical process of searching for a job. The initial assumption that she will be picked up by another company very soon. The frustration of dealing with the job placement agency. Think it's frustrating trying to get a human on the phone? Try coming to the realization that who you are talking to is not human. Gwen is running out of money fast. She need to maintain her and her daughter's lifestyle if Jules (daughter) is to be properly provided for.
Ultimately, Gwen pitches her old company to let her retain her old position by allowing her to be the first to go through the company's latest procedure, basically and quite literally, a new you.
Good movie. No space aliens. No lasers. No massive disruption of world order. Yet it still works, and works well. I would have enjoyed a bit more detail. I think many here would enjoy this movie.

 

[credoconsolans]

One of mine too. That scene of 'Omar Sharif' approaching the well through the heat haze was an unforgettable - and certainly suspenseful - cinematographic moment.

And to get a great feel for Lawrence of Arabia, you can watch Star Wars, where John Williams lifts a lot of the material.

I watched Lawrence of Arabia in 70 mm at a local arts house theater. Wow. The scope was enormous and the first thing that crossed my mind was "This is what Lucas/Spielberg was trying to do...."

 

[Cerberus]

Interesting timing, with Omar Sharif passing away today. One of my favorite films.

One of mine too. That scene of 'Omar Sharif' approaching the well through the heat haze was an unforgettable - and certainly suspenseful - cinematographic moment.

Change that to 'cinematic' - for one thing cinematographic has too many syllables, plus it makes me come across as pretentious! ('pretentieux? Qui moi'??

)

 

[Draconis]

And to get a great feel for Lawrence of Arabia, you can watch Star Wars, where John Williams lifts a lot of the material.

I watched Lawrence of Arabia in 70 mm at a local arts house theater. Wow. The scope was enormous and the first thing that crossed my mind was "This is what Lucas/Spielberg was trying to do...."

Unfortunately it was Jar Jar Binks appearing in the haze

 

[KeepTalking]

Kingsman: The Secret Service
5/10

I had high hopes for this, having read the comic book and because it was directed by the guy who did Kick-Ass (also based on a comic book by Mark Millar) and X-Men: First Class. But somehow, it turned out a bit underwhelming. It's about a secret group of british jamesbondesque agents who save the world with spy gadgets and politeness, investigating a ploy of apocalyptic proportions by an accentric millionaire played by Samuel L Jackson (and he does a jolly good job at it, being as anti-bond as he can be). Also Colin Firth as Galahad is great, but his protege Eggsy played by Taron Egerton doesn't really pull off the suit. Bonus points for Michael Caine's supporting role as Arthur, especially...

Show

Him reverting to a cockney accent for his last words.

I can understand a fan of the comics giving a less than impressive rating, I enjoyed the comics as well, and was slightly disappointed with the translation to the big screen. I, did, however, enjoy it as an action movie in its own right. Most of the fight scenes are exceptionally well done. I would rate it a couple points higher, myself. Bond movies have gotten much too cliche, and Kingsman gives us a new style of spy movie for the 21st century.

The closest comparison point I can think of is Vin Diesel's xXx from a few years back, so if you thought that was fun, I suggest checking this one out as well, just don't expect it to blow your mind.

No matter how much fun you think it is, I must disagree, this movie is most definitely mind blowing, in a very literal sense.

 

[Jayjay]

Who ever said 5 out of 10 is bad? It's average. And it's not so much about being disappointed by the adaptation (I wasn't that big of a fan of the comic either) as it is that these days the bar for really good action movies is pretty high. The last two movies I saw were Fury Road and Age of Ultron.

 

[KeepTalking]

Who ever said 5 out of 10 is bad? It's average.

I didn't say it was bad, and my exact quote was "less than impressive", which is another way of saying average. I also noted I would rate it a couple of points higher.

And it's not so much about being disappointed by the adaptation (I wasn't that big of a fan of the comic either) as it is that these days the bar for really good action movies is pretty high. The last two movies I saw were Fury Road and Age of Ultron.

I really enjoyed the comic myself, and had hoped the movie would be better, but still think it was better than average. I don't think any action movie is going to touch Fury Road for quite some time. Age of Ultron was great in it's own right, but they almost over did it with the opening action sequence. But those movies are different thematically as well, being in the post-apocalyptic and superhero genres respectively. I think Kingsman has done much to move the spy genre forward, and in a way that movies like the Mission Impossible franchise have not been able to do, at least for me. YMMV, and that is cool, I really just wanted to make the 'literally mind blowing' reference in my initial post while sticking up for a movie that I thought was better than rating given.

 

[TSwizzle]

Colors, 2/10: Dear oh dear. Sean Penn and Robert Duval star in this movie about gangs in LA. Penn's character is the young upstart rough cop, Duval's character is on the verge of retirement and is a wise sage and mentor to the thuggish Penn. I typically avoid Sean Penn movies and well, this is another of example why. The guy just grates on me. Anyway, the movie was released in 1988 and it has not aged well. The gangs, the members and their behavior are just bizarre and don't make any sense. And I know it was the eighties but the fashion, ugh. Plot ? I'm not sure there was one. And when the credits started to roll, I could not believe what I was hearing as Ice-T sort of rapped a load of nonsense about k-k-k-k-colors.

 

[Daioh]

The Imitation Game
7/10
I think we all know what this movie is about so I'm not gonna summarise it at all
Now on the plus side I found the acting all top notch, the whole thing is very well put together and presented and is overall a very slick production
But I did find the script a little weak, and it seems at times to jump around a little much and I could have liked it to develop some of the key scenes a bit more
It never is a bad script, but I just felt like it could have been tigtened up more
But overall a good movie and well worth a watch

The Theory Of Everything
7/10
I have almost the same opinion as The Imitation Game
Well acted and presented (Redmayne was very very good in this movie)
But the story felt a little rushed and sometimes I wished it could have stayed and focussed more on certain scenes
But overall again it is definitely a movie to watch and I enjoyed it alot

 

[MarkW]

He Walked by Night

7/10

A noirish police procedural B-movie from 1948, this isn't a classic but has some points of interest. The story--about the Los Angeles PD's hunt for a ruthless cop-killer--is straightforward, and the acting is routine, other than a very intense Richard Basehart as the villain. However, it's tightly-paced (possibly due to uncredited co-director Anthony Mann), and John Alton's cinematography gives the film a rather striking appearance. The final sequence, an almost dialogue-free chase through the LA storm drain system, is worth sitting through 70 minutes to see. This one also had a cultural impact--Jack Webb, who played a supporting part as a police forensic expert, derived a lot of the style of his "Dragnet" radio and TV series from elements of this film (such as Reed Hadley's semidocumentary style narration).

 

[credoconsolans]

The Theory Of Everything
7/10
I have almost the same opinion as The Imitation Game
Well acted and presented (Redmayne was very very good in this movie)
But the story felt a little rushed and sometimes I wished it could have stayed and focussed more on certain scenes
But overall again it is definitely a movie to watch and I enjoyed it alot

A friend didn't know much about Stephen Hawking and went with her BF to see this, thinking it was a great love story because that's how the trailers sold it. She was disappointed and when she called me, I had to admit I didn't bother seeing it because I knew Hawking was a dog and was on his 3rd or 4th wife.

 

[MarkW]

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion

7/10

One of Woody Allen's lesser films, to be sure, but I find it fairly entertaining and enjoyable. There's a plot, about a string of jewelry thefts, and an unlikely romance, between Allen and Helen Hunt--but mostly, this is just Allen playing around with genre conventions: 1940s PI movies and film noir along with screwball comedies, to be specific. But I'll take Allen playing around over a lot of other directors trying their best to produce great art.

 

[Cerberus]

Speaking of Woody Allen - Mighty Aphrodite. It's a bit rude, but it's hilarious.

 

[Jayjay]

I didn't bother seeing it because I knew Hawking was a dog and was on his 3rd or 4th wife.

So, there is more material to make it at least a trilogy!

 

[MarkW]

Dog Day Afternoon

9/10

This 1975 film is a tiny bit dated today but still a compelling drama. Today a film with this sort of basic story would most likely be an action thriller, rather than Sidney Lumet's character-driven tale. Al Pacino is a terrific lead--it's always nice to revisit the days when his action was filled with quiet intensity, rather than bombastic scenery-chewing. John Cazale and Charles Durning highlight the supporting cast, and among this one's other virtues, it's one of the films that really captures a slice of what America was like back in the 1970s.

 

[The Colourful Jester]

Minions: 7/10 - a movie made of skits, but it is alot of fun.

Ant Man: 6/10 - Not terrible, but could be better. The audience I was with seemed to enjoy it, and an isher said it was better than Age of Ultron, but I disagree.

 

[Bacillus anthracis]

Area 51 ... Something-something

If the found-footage genre were a boxer it would have gotten knocked the fuck out in the first round of its last 10 fights. It would be in the hospital with its head swollen to the size of beach-ball and the doctors would be begging family members to pull the plug.

But I'm a sucker for alien movies.

Here's what happens: Inside the first two minutes of the movie, something happens to one of the main characters and they find him dazed in the middle of a road. Then him and his two friends hatch a plot to break into Area 51 to find aliens.

For the next 45-50 minutes, nothing interesting happens. Stupid things happen, but nothing interesting. I actually fell asleep and had to go back 25 minutes or so. Turns out that wasn't necessary. But I purchased it off of DirecTV which means I felt obligated to watch the whole thing rather than turning it off like I would had I been watching it on Netflix.

Anyway, they get dressed up in suits filled with freon to avoid being detected by heat sensors and one of the guys knows how to defeat the other electronic sensors. To save time and sum that part of the movie up, apparently Area 51 has the shittiest security system ever found on a super-secret, highly guarded military installation.

Over an hour into the film, we're finally inside of Area 51. For lack of anything better to do, the film-makers come up with a potpourri of alien cliches for the characters to observe, including what has to be the least interesting flying saucer ever put on film. The old 1950s flying saucer interiors lined with tin walls studded with little half-dome lights blinking on and off with the little inset TV screens were, and are still more interesting.

Fuck it. Just avoid this film.

2/10

 

[4321lynx]

The Candidate with Robert Redford. Made in 1972. And very well made; 8/10 IMO. Things don't change much in politics in California it seems.

Saw it on Turner Classic Movies, so does it belong here or in TV thread?

 

[credoconsolans]

I didn't bother seeing it because I knew Hawking was a dog and was on his 3rd or 4th wife.

So, there is more material to make it at least a trilogy!

And the Theory of Everything 2 will be the same kind of deep, true love story...until the divorce and then the Theory of Everything 3 will be the really really true love story...until the divorce...

Meh, but by that time, the hazy love soft focus is worn off.

 

[4321lynx]

So, there is more material to make it at least a trilogy!

And the Theory of Everything 2 will be the same kind of deep, true love story...until the divorce and then the Theory of Everything 3 will be the really really true love story...until the divorce...

Meh, but by that time, the hazy love soft focus is worn off.

So, as they say in Texas and other border States : 'Asi es la vida; corta y jodida.'