"The last movie you've seen" thread

Ok, you're perhaps right, quite a few things were really stupid. Also at the end of that jungle race when they jumped with the car on the tree, then were let down and continued in the water to manage it to dive 3 river falls!!

Or when he flies around several miles in a fridge without breaking one single bone :huh:

The movie might be stupid, and even more for the Indy fans, but for me it had some entertainment, but by far away from the trilogy. I can imagine myself that for true fans of the trilogy, it was a huge disappointment. Oz didn't like it either, as he's one big fan himself, but did see it a bit the same like me.

Beowulf

Starring: Voices of Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, Robin Wright-Penn, Angelina Jolie, Crispin Glover, Brendan Gleeson
Seen at: Home, Blu-ray

I've avoided watching this movie for a long time, because I expected it to be crummy. Saw the Blu-ray version in the shop shelves for cheap, though, and thought ... why not give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised. It may not be the most accurate depiction of the classic poem, but it definitely is more entertaining in CGI form.

The motion capturing still needs a bit of work, though. Most of the animation is well-done, but movement appears a bit stiff, and the facial expressions (especially eyes and mouth) seem unnatural.


Score: 7.5 out of 10

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sharingan

Beowulf

I've avoided watching this movie for a long time, because I expected it to be crummy.

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Same here, that's why I still didn't watch it.

Sheitan

Watched it yesterday, it's a french horror movie with Vincent Cassel, whom I like a lot as french actor, but the movie isn't that great, thus it's one of Cassel's worse movies. 4.5/10

The Muppet Show Season 3

I'm back with my Muppet Show DVD's with possibly the strangest season so far. To start off with this can best be described as the country season as a lot of the musical guests are from the Country Music scene from the 70's with the only one I'd heard of being Kris Kristofferson. Apart from that the guests are an eclectic bunch ranging from Alice Cooper to Liberace, Sylvester Stallone to Raquel Welch (Very good looking but having a bad hair day). There are a few classic sketches and some very strange ones (one of the guests Marisa Berenson sings a song called You're Always Welcome At Our House which is a song about killing visitors to her house. If you don't believe me watch it here). Most importantly it features the first appearance of Lew Zealand (Spelt Lew Zeeland on the subtitles on the DVD) who saves Kermit from marrying Piggy and in subsequent episodes appears in musical numbers with his boomerang fish.

Rating:
For over 35's 9/10
For under 35's 6/10

If you want a full view of what's on the DVD's go here.

Angels and Demons

Starring: Tom Hanks
Seen at: Cinema

Plot Synopsis:

Despite his notorious relationship with the Church, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is once again called upon to decipher the clues to a catastrophic conspiracy. The Pope has died, and before conclave can begin to determine his successor, the four preferitti (primary hopefuls for the papacy) are kidnapped. An ominous threat of their hourly demise, along with the complete annihilation of Vatican City, is issued as an elaborate revenge scheme for a persecuted group known as the Illuminati. With their meager time limit steadily counting down, Langdon, accompanied by beautiful physicist Vittoria Vetra, must travel throughout Rome to unravel the carefully hidden signs that will lead them to a terrifying adversary, a harrowing discovery, and the shocking truth.

Verdict:

Somewhat predictable, but decent enough action/thriller, with good actor performances throughout. Probably not worth visiting a theater for, but should be good for a DVD rental or purchase.


Score: 7.0 out of 10

For me I both enjoyed and disliked Angels and Demons.

I really liked the book and still think it was better than the Da Vinci Code. And the film was well made with the majority of the book left intact. However Tom Hanks is still completely wrong for the role and just doesn't fit the character portrayed in the books. And as with the Da Vinci Code they cut the love interest part completely out between Langdon and Vetra. There was also a key character from the book completely removed from the film. But for me the biggest thing that annoyed me was that the ending was changed!

It was a good while ago when I read the book, so maybe that's why I wasn't so bothered with the changes they made. But you're right, the ending was a bit on the ridiculous side.


A couple more movies to add:



Death Race

Starring: Jason Statham, Ian McShane
Seen at: Home, Blu-ray

Plot synopsis:

In the not-so-distant future, the world economy has collapsed. Among high unemployment and general chaos, criminality rises to the point where government-run prisons can no longer handle the massive influx of prisoners. Privately owned, commercial prisons spring up to fill in the void, but as always, when money comes into the picture, evil plots begin to arise.

Jensen Ames (Statham), a former racing champion, is framed for the murder of his wife and forced to make a choice: die in prison, or take part in DEATH RACE - an entertainment show where prison inmates race each other to the death - with the 'promise' of freedom should he manage to win.

Verdict:

When I saw the trailer to this movie, I thought it would be a dumb film. After having watched it, I STILL think it's dumb, but at the same time, very entertaining. Death Race basically is thin on plot and acting, but more than makes up with adrenaline-pumping, explosive action (and an incredibly hot female co-star!).

Definitely worth a watch if you're into cars and gritty action.


Score: 6.9 out of 10



Ong Bak 2

Starring: Tony Jaa
Seen at: Home, Blu-ray

Plot synopsis:

As a young boy born of nobility, Tien (Tony Jaa) witnesses the brutal murder of his parents at the hands of a renegade warlord. Orphaned, the youth is taken in by a band of mountain bandits who teach him the art of combat. Growing up, he has become content with life as a bandit, but when he encounters a statue in the likeness of his murdered father during one of his raids, memory comes flooding back to him, and he vows to use his skills to dethrone the warlord and free the population from his cruel reign.

Verdict:

Ong Bak 2 is a sequel only in name, for it has nothing to do with the first part (apart from seeing the return of Tony Jaa). Plot-wise, Ong Bak 2 is nothing to write home about, but then again, I don't think anyone is expecting such - people just want to see explosive martial arts action, and that's what you get.

Tony Jaa's fighting skill surely has matured, and he seems to have little trouble using several different styles throughout the course of the movie, from Japanese swordfighting to Chinese style boxing, Drunken Fist and of course, Muay Thai. The choreography is very well done, and fans of martial arts will surely appreciate the fast-paced fights.


Score: 6.8 out of 10

Step Brothers

Starring: Will Ferrell, John O'Reilly
Seen at: Home, DVD

Plot synopsis:
An older man and woman meet and are instantly attracted to one another. It turns out they both have 40-year-old sons who still live at home with them, unemployed and still acting like children. When the couple decide to get married, they all move into the same house and the step-brothers become rivals. Hilarity ensues.

Verdict:
Although a comedy in the main part, it shows you life through another perspective - the child within us all - but also has a "growth" element, where the brothers learn to take charge of their own lives through the decisions they make. I watched it with my wife, who doesn't like "silly" movies, and she really enjoyed it. I didn't used to be much of a fan of Ferrel, but after watching this, and Ron Burgundy, and Bewitched, and Stranger Than Fiction I have to admit he's really good at being both serious and funny, often at the same time. I also like the way his movies make me think about things in my own life, and my own behaviours.

This movie made me laugh. It also made me think, and moved me a little in places. It shows you how easy it is to unknowingly let others affect your life, but that you take charge again and still live a grown-up life whilst having fun and allowing the child within to still be a part of you. And it contains the dialogue "What are you doing??" "I'm burying you alive!" "But I thought you were dead!!" "I know, I used my ninja focus to still my breathing!" right before Will buries his brother alive in the dead of night.

Score: 8.5 out of 10

I've never liked Will Ferrell. In most films he tends to act in that American childish humour way that just isn't funny to anyone with an IQ and just come across that he thinks he is great, which instantly gives me a dislike for him. Others that have a danger of acting this way are Jack Black, Adam Sandler and Jim Carry. When any of them do this it just ruins the whole film and produces complete crap. But I think Farrell has produced more crap than the rest combined.

For me his worst films (that I've seen) have been blades of glory and Talladega Nights.

But when given a good script and a director that can stop him doing this he can be a reasonable actor. Not brilliant though, and definitely not good enough to warrant the number of films he keeps appearing in. Most of which he ruins.

Probably his most interesting film has been Stranger than Fiction. That was surreal enough to be good.

I don't think I will ever like him enough to pay to actually see a film he stars in.

Step Brothers is one of the worst movies I ever saw, just pathetic. The jokes are perhaps good enough if you are 12 years old. Also probably John O'Reilly worst movie.

The Eye

Starring: Jessica Alba
Released: 2008
Watched: At home, Sky Anytime TV.

Sidney is a concert violinist who lost her sight aged 5 and has been completely blind every since. She is given an operation to restore her sight using the corneas from a donor.

However the donor corneas belonged to a Mexican witch. And as soon as Sidney starts to regain her sight she starts to see things that are not there. These start off as shadows and movement, but soon become clearer as she realises it is the dead she can see, reliving their moment of death, or having just died, being taken away.

Later into the film there is also a nice twist in the story as Sidney looks at her "own" reflection in the mirror.

Verdict:

Normally remakes of JHorror films don't tend to be as good as the originals, but I normally still enjoy them. However I've not seen the original of this one so can't comment on how closely it follows the original, but I enjoyed it. While the story wasn't really anything new and we have seen this sort of JHorror inspired plot, it was done well and remained quite gripping and suspenseful to the end.

The last part of the film reminding me a lot of the beginning of Final Destination 2.

Score: 7.5/10

I didn't see the remake yet, but I like the original from the Pang Brothers, very good. But forget about the 2 sequels, The Eye 2 and The Eye 10.

Transformers 2

Watched: Cinema

The content of this film doesn't really need much introduction. Following on from the first film, the US military have joined forced with the autobots to hunt out and eliminate the remaining decepticons hiding on earth.

Meanwhile the rest of the deceptions are orbiting Earth and observing transmissions, searching for something hidden somewhere on Earth, lying in wait for the right time.

Events happen which alert the deceptions to the location of the artifact they have been searching, and a race is on to stop them activating it and destroying our sun.

Verdict:

The action is great and all the additional transformers on both sides are great to see in action. However they didn't spend any time introducing any of the new ones, and hardly any letting the main autobots talk or do anything except combat, which was a little disappointing.

The original couple also don't seem to have quite the same spark as the original film, and apart from a section near the beginning where she saves his life, Megan Fox's character doesn't seem to have much purpose in this film other than to keep a mini transformer under control.

Worth watching if you enjoyed the first film. The action is great, as is the transformations. However it just doesn't have the wow factor of the first film and feels like a bit of a franchise cash in.

Score: 7/10

The Day The Earth Stood Still
Synopsis
Keanu Reeves is an alien representing a collection of races intent on preserving life-sustaining planets. He comes to Earth and sees how Man is driven by war and hate and is destroying the Earth, and starts a cleansing process to rid the Earth of man so that it may survive. A female doctor tries to show that mankind has another side, that of loving life and living selflessly, and that the current situations of war and environmental damage are at the turning point for man's evolution to becoming a peaceful, superior race. She shows it's not as simple as making a judgement, and he learns what it means to be human.

Verdict
I enjoyed this. It only has a few key scenes in, spread throughout the film, but you need the space in between for them to have their full effect. I'd probably only watch this once as it's more of a learning/journey film, but it's worth watching.

Score
7.5/10

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Starring: Shia LeBoeuf, Megan Fox
Seen at: Cinema

Plot synopsis:

Not much of a plot, actually. Megatron is brought back to 'life' and is more pissed-off than ever. On top of that, another, even more angry Decepticon is hiding out there somewhere, out to exact his revenge. Again, it's up to Sam and the Autobots to save the Earth from total annihilation.

Verdict:

I like my share of action, but Transformers 2 was a tiny little bit over the top when it comes to that. Basically, out of the 150 minutes of running time, at least 140 minutes was action. I'm not even kidding here. Coupled with the insanely LOUD soundtrack and bombastic music, I found myself suffering from ringing ears and headache after an hour had passed.

The special effects were top notch (again), and Megan Fox hot as ever, but that alone isn't going to make a good movie. I really hoped there would be a little more character development. How about, for example, properly introducing the new robots, as well as having more than 5 minutes of screentime for the rest, save Optimus Prime?

And again, in the battle between good and evil, the humans seemed to be doing quite well against the supposedly all-powerful Decepticons. In fact, during the final confrontation save for the very 5 minutes, the Autobots hardly seemed to contribute anything against the dozen+ Decepticons, yet the humans still held their own. I expected more out of the bad guys, honestly, especially considering they were numerically superior.

All in all, I thought it was an entertaining enough flick, but sadly, a missed opportunity to develop the franchise into something more than a mindless action romp.


Score: 6.2 out of 10