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

Jimmy Higgins said:
Toni said:
Knowing adult fans of both Twilight and 50 Shades, I can feel safe in stating that the big attraction is the sex, not the storyline.
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Don't they make movies dedicated to sex these days that'd better present that portion of the film... say about 90% of it..
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They've made sex films for a long time. There have been many films and many books, about sex. For a very long time.

Which isn't the point.

I can't really talk much about the specific appeal of either since I haven't read the books or seen the movies. Not my thing. I only know what I have read about the books/movies and what I've been told by fans of both.
 
The Guard

9/10

This excellent Irish crime film has a lot of standard buddy-cop film elements, but the mood is considerably darker than the norm for an American buddy movie, as is the humor. Brendan Gleeson, a Golden Globe nominee, is outstanding as the lead, Don Cheadle is a very good fish-out-of-water as the urban American in rural Ireland, and Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong and David Wilmot are a terrific trio of philosophy-quoting drug smugglers.
 
credoconsolans said:
Mr. Holmes
8/10

Ian McKellan is SUCH a good actor.

He ages in this movie from 65-ish to 93.

The plot follows 3 story lines. Holmes' last mystery which had serious repercussions for him, Holmes' search in Japan and Holmes' relationships with his housekeeper and young son.

I read the book A Slight Trick of the Mind before I realized they were making a movie of it. I realized they would have to make a lot of changes to the book, because the book is mostly the mental meanderings of the aged Sherlock Holmes and a majority of the book takes place in post-war Japan.

Then I saw the trailer which emphasized the goings on in England instead of Japan and a lot of

feel good scenes with Holmes and the young boy of his housekeeper. In the book, Holmes barely interacts with the boy, doesn't spend much time with him, and the boy sneaks a look at Holmes last manuscript, he's not invited to view it or discuss it with him. The book's Holmes does not change who he is and as such the book is much more bittersweet and poignant. So the director did Hollywoodize the book and the ending and made the production and this Holmes

a lot more forthcoming and warm.

So, 2 points off for making a kindler, gentler Holmes and the above but the rest is well done.
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I'd agree. I haven't read the book, but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie.
 
The Gunman, 4/10: Stars Sean Penn as a member of a security firm operating in the Congo that performs a political assassination. This results in Penn's forced retirement from the firm and he disappears. Sort of. His past catches up with him as his former employers want to tidy up loose ends that would connect them to the assassination. What unfolds is a rather pedestrian walk through the usual hunted becomes hunter cliche crap that is so frequently produced these days. An unremarkable movie that includes yet another tedious performance from Ray Winstone.
 
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem

It sucked. Much of the action that you watch a film like for takes place in scenes so dark you can't tell what's going on. Dumb/indecipherable plot? Fine. You watch this kind of flick for special effects, gore, and action. But when you can't actually see those three things when they're happening, you might as well not even be watching the movie.

1/10
 
Kingsman: The Secret Service
8/10
I found this movie to be alot of fun to watch
It has a great cast across the board and every actor puts in a great performance while looking like they are having alot of fun
And the actors all have great characters who are well written and likeable
I would have liked the villain to be given a little more before the final act to establish himself as a threat but it is a more minor quibble
The action in this movie is all fast paced and exciting, with some fun moves and gadgets that are all used well
In the end if you want a great action movie then Kingsman is definitely worth a watch

Mrs Browns Boys D'Movie
2/10
Ok so I enjoy the T.V series Mrs Browns Boys as it is funny, silly and weird
But this movie has none of that
Most of it is just boring, with people going around doing stuff that isn't fun or interesting for almost no reason
And the rare attempts at humour just fall flat with most being too stupid
Now occasionally it gets a chuckle but overall I would just skip this mess even if you are a fan of the show
 
Million Dollar Baby (2004)

The portrayal of the poor white characters was pretty bad.

And Eastwood was the same cranky, old guy he always is.

And the boxing veered into Rocky-quality reality.

But the story was interesting and moving and heartbreaking.

7.5/10
 
The Bourne Legacy

6.5/10

This semi-sequel to the trilogy starring Matt Damon suffers from weak writing; the messy plot seems at times like it was cobbled together at some point after Damon bowed out of appearing in this film. The attempts to tie this one directly to the events of The Bourne Ultimatum are particularly clumsy; meanwhile, the business with the green and blue "chems" brings back memories of midichlorians, and that's not good. On the plus side, the action sequences are generally well-staged and exciting, although at times a little "shaky cam chaos" breaks out. Better, the leads are Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weisz, both weighty enough screen presences that the audience can invest themselves in the characters' fates.
 
One said:
DrZoidberg said:
Christian Grey's brokeness is a yawnfest IMHO. 50 Shades basically equates BDSM with mental illness or being the broken victim of sexual abuse. I have a hard time believing anybody can relate to that?
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Yes, many people can relate to that in real life. To deny that there is also a propensity in the community for self-harm, depressive/anxiety/personality disorders, and abusive histories is to sweep such things under the rug. It's not a secret. It's just that nobody wants that label extended all across the board.
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According to current research mental problems of kinksters are exactly the same as non-kinksters. There is no difference, neither by degree or type. The only difference is that pervs who have been traumatised early in life AND who are into BDSM tend to make a causal connection between the trauma and the interest in BDSM. But there's just as many traumatised who aren't into BDSM, and just as many who weren't seriously traumatised who are. So basically, there's no connection.

I agree that in the 90'ies your belief was upheld as true. But that was because there was virtually no research in this field then. It was pure assumption. Pervs were seen as weird and odd, and were looking for reasons to explain their own weirdness.

But now we have plenty of research. We don't need to guess any longer. Sex researchers have conferences and everything now. Psychologically pervs are just the same as everybody else, except this one single little interest.

What sets pervs apart above all is simply that we talk more about our various sexual dysfunctions more, because we talk about sex more in general. This is down to necessity. It's hard for us to find people we're fully compatible with. So we just have to be more open. So we end up talking about everything more. This is in a world where it's customary and expected to hide sexual problems and issues from partners and suffer in silence. But like I said... that's not down to pervs being better people in any way. That's simply down to the realities of dating in this world.

My condolences to not being special any more :) The fact that a film like the secretary was made at all featuring A-list actors proves that much, I'd say. And since mental disease is normative, ie what normal people do defines what is healthy, and normal people engage in BDSM... yeah...

And how normal. If I remember the numbers correctly, numbers are pretty high. About 50% of all sexually active have had an experience with BDSM. That's the mean. Something like 3% engage in BDSM on a regular basis, at least monthly. That's a really high number considering that the 30 - 50 % of all people have sex about once or twice a month. That's the group of people who have the most amount of sex. This is off the top of my head. But I had a reason to read up on this earlier this summer. I guess it's a derail. Start a new thread if you want to discuss this more.
 
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Selma 4/10.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1020072/

About Martin Luther King and his pivotal march from Selma to Montgomery. The thing is that I love slow films. I love when they take their time. A good director can build tension even though nothing much happens. But I think they failed in this film. Lots of mumbly acting and blank stares into the abyss. But they failed to get me to care. I think the goal was to show MLK as human and full of all the regular human foibles. Ok... not news though. The result was a boring film. It tried to portray the people around it. Ok. Fine. But still not interesting. It's bizarre how they manage to make a film about these actually highly dramatic events be boring. I guess that's some sort of achievement.

Tom Wilkingson did a great Lyndon B. Johnsson. A president who was a suporter of MLK, but had his hands tied because of politics. You could really see his frustration of not being able to help MLK as much as he wanted. Tim Roth was a great Gov. George Wallace. Came across as just the racist bigot as he really was. Oprah Winfrey so-so as Annie Lee Cooper. I don't think Oprah was the problem. She is a fantastic actor. I just think they gave her shit dialogue to work with.
 
Coherence

This is one of those great hidden gems you hear about.

Several yuppie-ish couples get together for a dinner party on a night where a comet passes overhead. Then strange things start to happen. The events are based on Schrodinger's Cat thingy/whatever experiment, which is a cat imagined as being enclosed in a box with a radioactive source and a poison that will be released when the source (unpredictably) emits radiation, the cat being considered (according to quantum mechanics) to be simultaneously both dead and alive until the box is opened and the cat observed.

Now, I don't really know what this^ means except to say that there appear to be infinite possibilities for people and events. But it doesn't really matter. You don't have to understand it to enjoy the movie.

Anyway, soon after dinner starts, the lights go out and several members venture over to another house to use their phone because all cellphone and internet service goes out. That's when the strangeness begins. You never really know who is who and the ending is great. That's all I'm gonna say because I don't want to spoil things.

See it.

8/10
 
credoconsolans said:
Mr. Holmes
8/10

Ian McKellan is SUCH a good actor.

He ages in this movie from 65-ish to 93.

The plot follows 3 story lines. Holmes' last mystery which had serious repercussions for him, Holmes' search in Japan and Holmes' relationships with his housekeeper and young son.

I read the book A Slight Trick of the Mind before I realized they were making a movie of it. I realized they would have to make a lot of changes to the book, because the book is mostly the mental meanderings of the aged Sherlock Holmes and a majority of the book takes place in post-war Japan.

Then I saw the trailer which emphasized the goings on in England instead of Japan and a lot of

feel good scenes with Holmes and the young boy of his housekeeper. In the book, Holmes barely interacts with the boy, doesn't spend much time with him, and the boy sneaks a look at Holmes last manuscript, he's not invited to view it or discuss it with him. The book's Holmes does not change who he is and as such the book is much more bittersweet and poignant. So the director did Hollywoodize the book and the ending and made the production and this Holmes

a lot more forthcoming and warm.

So, 2 points off for making a kindler, gentler Holmes and the above but the rest is well done.
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A lovely film. Agree they softened Mr. Holmes a bit but I enjoyed all the actors, even the kid, and it was a story well told. Ian McKellan was brilliant. I usually don't go to the cinema to see smaller films like this but I found myself enjoying it more than some of the superhero films I caught on the big screen.
 
I look forward to the porn parody of Mr. Holmes where aging John Holmes ailed by occasional impotence is asked to do one more movie.
 
Odd Thomas - 7.5/10

Supernatural thriller about a young man whose 1st name is ODD who can see the dead which allows him to identify their murderers. He stumbles upon a plot that will kill 100s of people. There is a subplot of his romance with a girl since 2nd grade. For some reason, I found the movie rather engaging. Willem Dafoe has a supporting role, which is the reason I watched in the first place.
 
The Most Dangerous Man in America

9/10

The title of this Oscar-nominated, Peabody Award winning documentary refers to Daniel Ellsberg. Whether you are familiar with the events it recounts, or are too young to recall them, this is worth watching.
 
Cold Comes the Night

7.5/10

A modestly-budgeted rural film noir, this one doesn't do anything terribly original but it is executed quite effectively. It also benefits from a very strong lead performance from Alice Eve as a woman who finds herself in a very dangerous situation, but sees a way to turn it to her advantage; the veteran Bryan Cranston (as one of the ones putting her in that tight spot) is also quite good.
 
MI 5 - 8/10

This was a really fun movie with good action and an interesting plot. A lot has been made about Cruise doing his own stunts and not using a double or green screen or anything and it really is noticable (maybe because I was looking for it) and adds a lot to the film by having it there.
 
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