seen any good flicks lately?

Tom I absolutely loved Carnage. it was so precise. like a little beautifully crafted piece of art. but funny.

according to 'Rise of the Guardians'....santa is FOREIGN!!

cute movie though

Last night's Lovefilm offering was "In Time" an incredibly original SciFi film. It's written and directed by Andrew Niccol (Truman Show and Gattaca). It's set in a utopian future where no-one ages beyond 25 and the need for money has been done away with....there is however a small catch. Instead of money, people trade in their future life, so a days work earns you a few hours, a ride in a bus costs you a few minutes, a luxury item costs you a few days and against this background the daily minutes of your life are ticking away. It depicts a world where the poor are literally fighting to stay alive for another day whilst the rich have hundreds of years of future life banked and live cosseted lives in ignorance of the lower orders.

It draws some neat parallels between a world where time is currency and our own capitalist world - in particular the danger of living beyond your means! This world also creates an extremely divisive and ghettoed society (nothing new there!) and illustrates how different classes of people's behaviour is determined by their place in society (itself determined by their life expectancy). I'd like to think that its a metaphor for the capitalist world we live in but it's really the basis for a old fashioned adventure...can the gritty lower class guy and the enlightened rich girl unearn the hidden secret that defines this society and bring it down. A bit like Soylent Green without the biscuits.

Notwithstanding its shortcomings I really enjoyed it and would watch it again, even though it's not quite as clever as other hi-concept SciFi offerings such as Source Code.

i enjoyed sightseers.

Tonight I was in Lovefilm no mans land . My recent postal offerings had been sent back, so I was browsing the instant down load options and came across a movie called "Whatever Works". The synopsis looked interesting - cynical, intellectual, New York dwelling, mysogonist has his life perceptions turned around by a young ingenuie. No details of actors, producers or directors....but it looked interesting ,so gave it a go.

Movie starts....jazz sound track, distinctive white on black typeface and there it is ...a Woody Allen directed film - obvious really from the open paragraph's description.

I was a huge fan of his in the 60's and 70's, but somehow I lost interest in his work after "Bullets On Broadway' which was OK, but a bit journeyman, although I'd made a note that "Vicky Christina Barcelona" was as the critics described a "welcome return to form" .

Anyway. I loved this film which was as I described in my opening paragraph. It's got the central relationship between clever guy and "Doolittle" type charactor (Annie Hall), mismatched couples (Hannah and her Sisters), old men discussing stuff (Broadway Danny Rose) and a direct steal off the Radio Days soundtrack.....all this and the charactoristic Allen voice to camera narrative explaining his philosophy underpinning the theme of tthe film. It also has an Oscar Wilde ending with lots of happy couples. Although he lead role fell to Larry David (he, of Curb Your Enthusiasm), it was of course a typical Woody Allen performance.

I loved it for two reasons, firstly the dialogue was crisp and witty and secondly because it reminded me of how good he used to be, though that fondness may be driven by nostagia. Anyway a totally unexpected good night at the movies (courtesy of Lovefilm and the TV).

i really didn't like life of pi.

boring, maudlin, overly-simplistic, worthy nonsense.

there was a tiger in it so 3/10.

Watched Silver Linings Playbook last night. Great original film with fantastic acting from the two leads and another great performance from Bobby Ne Niro. Highly rated and possible female actor Oscar winner.

Agreed with TDA on Life of Pi. The book is heaps better. The film is slow and it wasn't a real tiger.

Hobbit is also slow. Huge blockbuster type film but really dragged. It's faithful to the story ( in a real time sort if way ) and is quite funny in parts. But why 3 films? Cynical attempt to make money?

Pi would have been alright if they hadn't insisted on the Ending for Dummies.

i think peter jackson just doesn't 'do' concise. another director could have done it in one, but not him. I actually quite liked it, especially the 3 stooge-ish ogres.

 

les mis was surprisingly.....limp

hugh jackman is no alfie bowe.

Saw "End of Watch" the other day.  Superb.  Funny, thrilling and sad.

@Tom - agree on "In Time".  Surprisingly good.

Has anyone seen any of the Oscar winners?

I saw Lincoln, thought it was good and enjoyed Daniel Day Lewis' performance. I was expecting him to get Best Actor (which I thought he deserved) but was also expecting the Academy to lap up the patriotism and award the film Best Director and Best Film. Glad there was a bit more diversity!

Sussex Runner (NLR) wrote (see)

Watched Silver Linings Playbook last night. Great original film with fantastic acting from the two leads and another great performance from Bobby Ne Niro. Highly rated and possible female actor Oscar winner.

You picked a winner there! I'm going to see it this week

Yes Xine. Thanks for pointing that out. I'm sure you will love that film as much as me. Oscar winning films I saw were Skyfall and Django. Skyfall is OK if you like Bond I suppose but Django was very entertaining and I liked the guy who won best supporting actor(Christophe Waltz). Have got Lincoln, Argo and Life of Pi to watch yet. Must try to watch them this week. Obviously I will stay clear of Les Mis.

I've seen all of them. Beasts of the Southern wild was my favourite. it was astounding. pleased for jennifer lawrence though. i too enjoyed silver linings playbook.

I can see why they went for Argo. It was a good, solid all-rounder. It lacks the flaws of the others- Lincoln (corny, too long), Life of Pi (religious, too long), Zero Dark Thirty (right wing, too long), Silver Linings Playbook (sentimental, too short), Django Unchained (violent, too long), les Miserables (a musical with crap singers, too long), Amour (foreign).

 

Lots of better films that didn't get anything. Rust and Bone I loved. Sightseers I loved, even thought it freaked me out a bit!.

I hated Rust and Bone but loved Sightseers. great performances.very funny.

i'd have liked to have seen Matthew Mcconaghey (sp?) nominated for Killer Joe.

I've seen Django too, I really liked it but they could have easily cut the scene with the Aussie cowboys. I wish someone on QTs team had the guts to tell him that he cannot act and is just an embarrassment whenever he is in front of the camera.

Christoph Waltz is great, he deserves Best Supporting Actor (but then I haven't seen any of the other films apart from Skyfall). He had a few Hollywood roles after the last Oscar

I'm glad Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for Best Actress too, I think she's really good but was wondering if she'd get hit with the Curse of the Franchise and be forever typecast as that girl from Hunger Games.

Speaking of franchises, I'm glad that Kirstin Stewart got the Worst Actress Razzie for Twilight  Wish more people had a sense of humour about the Razzies and went to collect their awards like Halle Berry and Sandra Bullock

Oh! I really liked Rust and Bone too

I actually sort of liked QT in reservoir dogs but yes, he is bad and that was a dreadful scene. The first hour was wonderful, as was the ending, but it should have come an hour early.

I felt a bit sorry for Zero dark Thirty. A genuinely intelligent thriller. went from favourite to zero because of the negative press.

Ill love christophe waltz forever for his part in Carnage.

pleased for Adele too. i like a big calf.

Yes Django was 35 minutes too long. The big shoot out when Leonardo Di Caprio should have ended with Django being victorious and riding into the sunset with his wife.

Hope springs was really good too.