"The last movie you've seen" thread

[Tiago]

Cloverfield

Starring: Michael Stahl, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Odette Yustman
Seen at: Cinema

Very much hyped through a massive viral marketing campaign carried out over the past months, but does it live up to the expectations?

I'd say, partly it does. Producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves managed to portray the chaos, destruction and panic of a city under attack by the unknown very effectively. There are some set pieces that are simply breathtaking. It's just a shame, though, that in trying to be as 'authentic' and 'realistic' as possible, the camerawork is truely nauseating, to the point of it being incredibly difficult to focus on anything at all. If you thought the shaky camera in The Bourne Ultimatum was bad, be prepared for an over-the-top experience here.

All in all though, I thought Cloverfield was a well done, tense film. It definitely could've done with a bit more background information, and the movie's ending might seem a tad abrupt, but I've enjoyed it nonetheless. Worth a look, if you don't have motion sickness.

Score: 6.8 out of 10

the camerawork is truely nauseating

Yes it's quite difficult sometimes to see the details, the camera in one minute is still and after it's moving a lot.

I saw the movie last saturday, i enjoy it a lot, it's quite diferent from normal movies, as the entire movie was "recorded" by the characters, very interesting to watch, it was not the first one, i remember blair witch....
but it is very well done, with good special effects.
but look, dont drink alchool before the movie.... you can ...

[Demon Cleaner]

I am Legend

Seen on: TV
The movie isn't all too bad, but has a very disappointing and boring ending. I give it a 6/10 for being a good watchable movie.

Looking forward to: The Mist, Cloverfield

[J T]

Ugh, mega-shakey cam makes me angry (when it's overused). I've never walked out of a film but came close during Premonition with Sandra Bullock when the facial-closeups (no, not in that sense.... dirty boy) were done with jerky(fnarr)-cam. It made me feel sick.

-----

Film: Last King of Scotland Forrest Whittaker, James McAvoy
Seen on a bumpy BA flight from Bangkok

Very very good film. Story told around some actual events and people (but with major artistic license taken for some of it, obviously) during Idi Amin's rule of Uganda.

Well made, interesting story and really quite gripping. The music and camera work/crowd scenes/scenery are all top and work really well together. The word is overused a bit, but this is a powerful film - as the film progresses the mood and feel change brilliantly. Highly recommended.

4.5 stars out of 5.

[LowercaseE]

Watched the HDDVD of THE BOURNE IDENTITY last night. I can't stand Matt Damon, but the movie came as a free pack in with my HDDVD player so I figured what the heck. Movie was ok, but it looked fantastic! The level of detail was nothing short of astounding. Ran it in full 1080p at 24fps.

[Harrison]

The Bourne Identity is a brilliant film. I love the music too.

Shame you bought into the soon to be completely dead HD-DVD format though.

[Demon Cleaner]

Agreed, the Bourne trilogy is pretty decent.

[v85rawdeal]

Last film I saw was Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

And while musicals are not considered to be a great format, especially in this day and age, where films tend toward the gritty, the gruesome or the funny.

This film does one major thing, it brings musicals kicking and screaming into the 21st century, all in all a great way to keep the genre going. The film is dark, both in story and in lighting. This darkness is bought all the more into perspective when you see the only truly sunny scene in the movie.

The roles played are stunning, with outstanding performances from all the cast, even to the point of the singing sequences (which take up a huge amount of the film). There is blood, but it is not overdone. I actually found a certain other sequence quite disturbing in comparison to all the slit throats.

With the regards to individual cast performances: Johnny Depp performs to his usualy top quality, his singing voice has shades of Bowie, which can never be a bad comparison. He gets into the role, and gives a truly creepy, and yet moving, performance.

Helena Bonham Carter at first does not seem to be the ideal choice for the role, but quickly dispels that image as the movie rolls on. Perhaps not quite so a distinct singing voice as Depp's, but still a solid performance.

Alan Rickman suffers a little bit from the usual 'he's English... he can be the bad guy', but at least this time it makes sense. And again he shines, as he normally does, in his role. With shades of 'The Sherriff', he plays Judge Turpin with a cold hard attitude.

Timothy Spall is utterly despicable as the Judge's lickspittle-type servant. He is morally depraved and obnoxious. Overall, a great role from an actor who so deserves to be recognised for more than just 'that series from the 80's'

Sacha Baron Cohen is not someone who I get excited about, in fact, I generally avoid projects with him in. However, this movie has certainly made me rethink his ability as an actor. His role is one of the stand-out performances of the movie and even managed to raise some genuine chuckles from me.

Overall, if you liked something like Rocky Horror Picture Show, this is truly a worthy film to go see. The performances are wonderful, the feel of the movie is depressing and yet not so depressing as to take away other aspects of the film. The songs/soundtrack is not quite as maudlin (my odd word of the day, there) as I would have expected. The opening sequence is a bit patchy on the CGI but only if you are really picky about these things, and the final few scenes are beautifully shot.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film, and it was even better when I got to see it at the cinema. 8.5 out of 10

[Sharingan]

Looking forward to seeing Sweeney Todd too. Ought to be great.

[LowercaseE]

The Bourne Identity is a brilliant film. I love the music too.

Shame you bought into the soon to be completely dead HD-DVD format though.

The movie itself wasn't actually too bad, I just don't like Matt Damon and his shxte eating grin.

As for the format, I figure even if it does die (which is certainly looking the case), for $150 for the player and 7 free movies, it's a pretty good deal. If/when the war is over, there will be used HD-DVDs for sale everywhere for cheap and there's at least 30 or 40 movies already on the format that I want. I picked up BLAZING SADDLES and LAND OF THE DEAD yesterday for $15 each used. Both are in basically new condition.

[Harrison]

True, but I would personally rather own films on a format I know I can buy a compatible player for years down the line.