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A real gem for the 100th post of this thread!

Edit: Oh balls, its the 100th reply but the 101st post. ah well.

Went to see The Last King of Scotland at the weekend. What a film. Forest Whitaker is outstanding and its surely an Oscar winning performance by him. Its never boring and Whitakers presence in the role makes sure you're on the edge of your seat for the whole film. Also, the music is great, there are some great supporting performances, the settings are great and its nicely shot. Really good stuff.

 

I watched I Heart Huckabees at the weekend. What a funny film, I really enjoyed it. I love Mark Wahlberg in this type of role, I think it really suits him. Its a nice original little film with some good performances.

 

I've always shied away from this film precisely because of Leonardo, whom I knew only from "Titanic". However, I borrowed it the other week and was really quite impressed by it. Leonardo did an excellent job (and even looked passably like the real thing).

Howard was so bananas and so well known for it that, when the CIA hatched a plot to recover a Russian nuclear submarine (and its codebooks, missiles, etc.) 4 miles down on the floor of the Pacific and built a ship to do it, the "Glomar Explorer", they put it around that Howard Hughes was going mining for manganese nodules on the ocean floor. Apparently the Russians believed it!

 

I think I must be one of only a handfull of people who haven't seen Titanic.
I'd not let it put you off Leonardo though. He's done some good stuff. Off the top of my head I've seen and enjoyed, this boys life, what's eating gilbert grape, the beach, basketball diaries, and gangs of new york.

 

We watched The Jacket a few nights back and without knowing anything about it beforehand, I was very pleasently suprised.

Well worth watching, and the fact Keira Knightley is in it has nothing to do with it

 

Avoid like the plague. Although the visual effects are spectacularly well done, the story is ridiculous cornball. The best film on the subject remains the old B/W filming of Walter Lord's classic book on the subject, "A night to remember", with Kenneth More as Second Officer Lightoller, the most senior officer to have survived.

 

Recently seen:

• Casino Royale on DVD - good transfer, a whole disc of extras, and as good as I remembered, good sub workout.
• Snow Cake on DVD - hypnotic score (in the same way that Solaris is) excellent acting by Sigourney Weaver, suitable for the SO, some good Canadian small town shots, great 70s locations and set dressing.

 

I watched Casino Royale a few days ago and whilst I enjoyed the movie, certain inconsistencies bugged me a bit. I.e. the movie is supposed to be a prequel and yet it is set in post cold war era (M even said that she missed the cold war days), despite around half of previous Bond films being set in cold war and the recent ones referring to the breakup of the Soviet Union. Also, M became a woman in Golden Eye I believe.

On the plus side, I liked Bond's new cold and dark character. Much more suited to the role than some previous efforts.

 

saw Pan's Labyrinth today on dvd - absolutely superb, and wish I'd bought rather than rented as it 's the kind of film you'd watch several times.

 

Watched Dead Mans Shoes last night. British film about a guy returning home from the army to get revenge on a bunch of guys that tormented his special needs brother. Bit brutal in places so was pleased I decided to watch it on my own rather than subject housemates to it. Pretty good film though, a couple of good performances, some lovely shots of Derbyshire and a really good score. Well paced and with some laughs in there aswell to lighten the mood. Not brilliant but worth a watch.

 

"Goodnight, and good luck". A salutary reminder that the USA goes through periods of complete barminess (such as the present one) every now and then. In the 1950s, a junior Senator from Wisconsin (famous for dairy products and the Green Bay Packers and precisely nothing else), name of Joseph McCarthy, sought to make a name for himself by finding Reds under nearly every bed. Nobody dared say boo, in case they'd be accused of being unpatriotic or even treasonous (sound familiar?).

It's the story of how famous CBS broadcaster Ed Murrow took on and exposed McCarthy for the utter cable salesman he was. It starts when Murrow and his team take up the case of an Air Force officer dismissed without being allowed to see the evidence against him (sound familiar?) - but he could keep his job if he turned in his father as a Communist.

Filmed in black and white, and using authentic television footage of McCarthy instead of an actor, it's a short, tight film. The actor who plays Murrow is excellent, and the other players (including director George Clooney) are also good.

I also enjoyed Clooney's dark little "Syriana". He clearly has the makings of an excellent director.

 

This last weekend I watched Hot Fuzz, sort of sequel/folow on/same writer as Shaun of the Dead. Superb, absolutely loved it, laughed all the way through really good sit at home with pizza/nachos and watch.

Last night watched Worlds fastest Indian, a wonderful film, I really enjoyed this. I would say this has to be one of my favourites of recent times. Anthony Hopkins stars as Burt Munro the famous motorcylce speed champion from New Zealand.

I would definately recomend both films.

 

By coincidence, I watched that last week. It plays somewhat fast and loose with the facts of Burt Munro's life, but it is indeed nicely played by Anthony Hopkins (with a distinct twinkle in his eye) and is a thoroughly enjoyable film. He even gets the Kiwi accent reasonably right. The film captures the atmosphere of the Antipodes in days gone by very nicely.

 

I saw Open Water last night. Awful acting and pretty bad generally but because you could imagine yourself in that situation it was actually quite good to watch. Based on a true story so easy to imagine it actually happening.

 

The last king of Scotland

A somewhat improbable tale, even given the fact that it involved Idi Amin, and apparently deviating some considerable way from the (fictional) book, so much so that the actor who played the young Scottish doctor was dissuaded from reading it before he made the film. The film has many implausibilities. The young doctor, who has just come from the UK and who presumably has never held a handgun in his life, abruptly takes Idi Amin's automatic and very competently and unhesitatingly puts an injured cow out of its misery - no hesitation, no fumbling for the safety catch.

It's worth seeing for Forrest Whittaker's brilliant portrayal of Idi Amin, truly worthy of its Oscar. he captures the bizarre mixture of aimable buffoon and murderous monster beautifully, occasionally managing to be both at the same time.

 

Superman Returns.

Seemed to get a bit of a slating from what I remember, so didn't expect much from it. It's not great, but suprisingly better than expected. A bit predictable and obvious in places, but still worth watching.

 

I watched 28 Weeks Later last night. Dreadful waste of time, it's crap.

The last trip to the cinema was to see The Simpsons Movie, which was much more like it. Not up to the standards of the Simpsons in their prime, but much better than the average flick.

-- Ian

 

I went to see 28 days later in the cinema, it was ok, very gorey in an English no holds bared type of way.

So I guess I will be buying something else with that £15 !

Dare I ask did anyone see Transformers ?

 

I'm yet to hear a good thing about 28 weeks later. Which is a shame as I really liked the 28 days.

I loved The Simpsons MOvie! I think I've watched it about 4 times now.

 

My wife saw it and said definitely best of the summer superhero/scifi/etc blockbusters.