Latest offering from the Luc Besson School of Brash, Arrant Nonsense, and in all fairness one of the better ones. Once again Scar-Jo shows she can do the action thing to satisfying effect, which was doubtlessly instrumental in this entertaining, R-rated, slicked-up tosh's alarming box-office success ($459m on a $40m budget. Boom!) 7/10
The Bay
Above-average found-footage horror hampered by an abrupt conclusion that suggests they'd simply decided to stop - that or the money ran out. A shame, as there's some decent creepy chills along the way, and it's broader in scope than others of its ilk. 6/10
The Place Beyond the Pines
Cooper, Liotta & Gosling all do sterling work, but can't stop this lengthy, three-act Sins of the Father-type drama from eventually collapsing under the weight of its faux-profundity and soapy plot contrivances. But its pretentions are at least ambitious, and there's a strange fascination to it - the sort films so fundamentally flawed sometimes possess. 6/10
House of 1000 Corpses. God almighty is Sheri Moon annoying in this. It's a good thing for her that her husband is a filmmaker, I doubt she'd be acting otherwise.
Mr Turner (2014) Started poorly but picked up and did have some humorous sequences but by the time Turner was on his deathbed i was relieved to know it wouldn't be long before the credits appeared.On the positive you could say it has some sort of educational value, it does provoke an interest in the subject. On the negative, its just cobbled together anecdotes, cinematography is poor (in a film about an artist!!) Spall was ok, but i am not too sure whether he played an accurate Turner.
6/10 ( historical/subject mainly).
Under The Skin (2014) (Very) Low Budget sci-fi horror as Scarlet Johansson plays a white van woman picking up Scots for alienish purposes. Johansson is actually quite sexy in this, normally i find her as sexy as a plank of wood so i would say that this is probably her best screen performance. This is a fair bit better than the average indy films that are touted, that's not too difficult though.
6.5/10
Mr Turner (2014) Started poorly but picked up and did have some humorous sequences but by the time Turner was on his deathbed i was relieved to know it wouldn't be long before the credits appeared.On the positive you could say it has some sort of educational value, it does provoke an interest in the subject. On the negative, its just cobbled together anecdotes, cinematography is poor (in a film about an artist!!) Spall was ok, but i am not too sure whether he played an accurate Turner.
6/10 ( historical/subject mainly).
I endured this first time round and I hated the figure of Turner. Since then, I've watched a few interviews with Spall who says that apparently Turner was like a "rough pig farmer" and quite inarticulate at times which is why he communicated in those grunts. I thought the female characters were great. I agree about the cinematography - I thought it was the quality of the film but having seen trailers, it really IS like that. I did think though that it got some of the scenes across well so we looked through the artist's eyes at land/seascapes.
My "last movie seen" was last night: "Theory of Everything" which was my second viewing and my science son's first (reluctantly for him). He loved it.
Think Logan Lerman should be one of the names being thrown about in this awards season, his acting was fantastic in this film.
I agree, he was amazing in this film. He's a fantastic actor - he was phenomenal in The Perks of Being a Wallflower as well - I think he's definitely one to watch in the future.
Chabrol's first film and the first feature of La Nouvelle Vague. Shot on location in the village where Chabrol was evacuated to during the war. A young man returns after many years to find that his best friend has become a hopeless alcoholic.
*****
Les Quatre Cents Coups [1959]. Director: François Truffaut
9/10
After a couple of shorts Truffaut makes his feature debut, a semi-autobiographical tale of a delinquent teenager in Paris. One of the great films about childhood which spawned 4 sequels over the next 20 years, all starring Jean-Pierre Léaud.
A family saga sets in Texas where cattle and oil don't mix too well.
Saw this as a kid. Decided to watch it as I couldn't remember much about the film after all that time. Got bored and stopped watching (at the part where Hudson got drunk on the Christmas morning). I might finish it later, but I doubt it.
Chabrol's first film and the first feature of La Nouvelle Vague. Shot on location in the village where Chabrol was evacuated to during the war. A young man returns after many years to find that his best friend has become a hopeless alcoholic.
*****
Les Quatre Cents Coups [1959]. Director: François Truffaut
9/10
After a couple of shorts Truffaut makes his feature debut, a semi-autobiographical tale of a delinquent teenager in Paris. One of the great films about childhood which spawned 4 sequels over the next 20 years, all starring Jean-Pierre Léaud.
Fabulous!
How/where did you see them? Don't tell me they've been on TV and I missed them!
Comments
6/10
Moderately amusing road movie with Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand.
Latest offering from the Luc Besson School of Brash, Arrant Nonsense, and in all fairness one of the better ones. Once again Scar-Jo shows she can do the action thing to satisfying effect, which was doubtlessly instrumental in this entertaining, R-rated, slicked-up tosh's alarming box-office success ($459m on a $40m budget. Boom!) 7/10
The Bay
Above-average found-footage horror hampered by an abrupt conclusion that suggests they'd simply decided to stop - that or the money ran out. A shame, as there's some decent creepy chills along the way, and it's broader in scope than others of its ilk. 6/10
The Place Beyond the Pines
Cooper, Liotta & Gosling all do sterling work, but can't stop this lengthy, three-act Sins of the Father-type drama from eventually collapsing under the weight of its faux-profundity and soapy plot contrivances. But its pretentions are at least ambitious, and there's a strange fascination to it - the sort films so fundamentally flawed sometimes possess. 6/10
(listed under films on iplayer - short film tho)
Cracking - 9/10
Whiplash - 8/10
Birdman - 4/10
6/10 ( historical/subject mainly).
Under The Skin (2014) (Very) Low Budget sci-fi horror as Scarlet Johansson plays a white van woman picking up Scots for alienish purposes. Johansson is actually quite sexy in this, normally i find her as sexy as a plank of wood so i would say that this is probably her best screen performance. This is a fair bit better than the average indy films that are touted, that's not too difficult though.
6.5/10
Surprisingly good film.
The Policeman's Wife (Die Frau des Polizisten) (2013) 7/10
Big Hero 6 - 2/10
Think Logan Lerman should be one of the names being thrown about in this awards season, his acting was fantastic in this film.
I endured this first time round and I hated the figure of Turner. Since then, I've watched a few interviews with Spall who says that apparently Turner was like a "rough pig farmer" and quite inarticulate at times which is why he communicated in those grunts. I thought the female characters were great. I agree about the cinematography - I thought it was the quality of the film but having seen trailers, it really IS like that. I did think though that it got some of the scenes across well so we looked through the artist's eyes at land/seascapes.
My "last movie seen" was last night: "Theory of Everything" which was my second viewing and my science son's first (reluctantly for him). He loved it.
Brilliant film
I agree, he was amazing in this film. He's a fantastic actor - he was phenomenal in The Perks of Being a Wallflower as well - I think he's definitely one to watch in the future.
Le Beau Serge [1958]. Director: Claude Chabrol
8/10
Chabrol's first film and the first feature of La Nouvelle Vague. Shot on location in the village where Chabrol was evacuated to during the war. A young man returns after many years to find that his best friend has become a hopeless alcoholic.
*****
Les Quatre Cents Coups [1959]. Director: François Truffaut
9/10
After a couple of shorts Truffaut makes his feature debut, a semi-autobiographical tale of a delinquent teenager in Paris. One of the great films about childhood which spawned 4 sequels over the next 20 years, all starring Jean-Pierre Léaud.
A family saga sets in Texas where cattle and oil don't mix too well.
Saw this as a kid. Decided to watch it as I couldn't remember much about the film after all that time. Got bored and stopped watching (at the part where Hudson got drunk on the Christmas morning). I might finish it later, but I doubt it.
We watched that over Xmas, twas good I must say.
Last Movie watched - Non Stop - well worth watching
Big Eyes (2014) 7/10
Really good to start with but the got a bit boring towards the end.
Fabulous!
How/where did you see them? Don't tell me they've been on TV and I missed them!