Films - 121 to 126

Xander The panda is the evolutionary equivalent of living off benefits. Tue 17th Mar '09 9:28PM 168 Posts Member Since 16th Jul '08

Watchmen 8/10 As a graphic novel Watchmen is unusual in approach to telling what is a fairly complex story using reports and poetry and intermingling another separate stories into its narrative. Not unsurprisingly it’s been long considered nearly impossible to film. Zack Snyder (300) has managed to produce a very faithful adaptation of Watchmen, but it doesn’t necessarily make a great film. For none fans of the graphic novel the plot is simple in an alternative 1985 an ex-superhero is murdered and his old colleagues begin to investigate. This one murder leads onto more sinister plots and the tension mounts as the USA and Soviet Union are on the brink of nuclear war. Visually it’s fantastic and Snyder has done a fantastic job of using every frame to tell Watchmen’s story in a spectacular way. In the style of his own 300 and Sin City Snyder has reproduced in celluloid many of the images found in the original graphic novel. Royschach’s every changing face mask and beaten up coat could have been taken straight from the drawing board Dave Gibson as is Dr Manhattan swinging blue cock included. Gibson’s art has dated somewhat and Night Owl and Silk Spectre get an update. Casting is likewise straight on the ball and Snyder has cast to look like the characters. The main icon of Watchmen was The Comedian with his blood stained smiley face badge and Jeffrey Dean Morgan manages to capture the character perfectly. It must also be pointed out that this is a very violent movie and Snyder has earned his 18 certificate with ultra violence and nudity. Fighting is suitably barbaric and graphic. More disconcerting is the gore as Dr Manhattan liquidizes people. This is a superhero film for grownups. In parts a dark noir and in others a family saga with a dollop of time philosophy, oh and a bit of male impotence and costume sexual fetishism. There is a lot going on and it’s a credit to Snyder he manages to get it to work so well. Even the backdrop is complex; the films set in an alternative 1985 were Nixon is still the president. Here is where the film slightly unravels. Though it’s a great job at time you do get the feeling of being told the story instead of being shown it especially during the Dr Manhattan part of the story. But for an adaptation of a said to be un-filmable graphic novel it’s a great effort. Second opinion by Allen Key on 20th Mar '09 8/10 Haven't read the GN, went to see this because the trailers looked fab and also because Wil Wheaton nearly done a wee when he blogged about it. Was a bit worried I might go all girly at the gore, but there were only a couple of bits where I had to look away (cleaver/buzzsaw - gah). Loved Rorschach and The Comedian, and was quite impressed at how quickly I got over ZOMG glowing blue penis!!1!!! As a noob, I don't think I missed anything vital and I did enjoy it, although I was definitely feeling the nearly-3-hoursness by the end. Will probably get hold of the GN, if only to find out what the pointy-headed tiger thing was.   Average Rating 8

Xander The panda is the evolutionary equivalent of living off benefits. Sun 5th Apr '09 8:56AM 168 Posts Member Since 16th Jul '08

Twelve Monkeys 9/10 Something of a career turning point for everyone involved. For Terry Gilliam it was a film that made money and was yet another film were he directed someone elses script. All his quirkyness and the humor and bizarness are all there. This makes the film hard to fit as it crosses plenty of genres it isn't quite Sci-fi and it isn't quite drama or comedy, but this is it's strength. Bruce Willis delivers the performance of his career, managing to pull off tough guy and sensitive in all the right places. Brad Pitt is also at his best playing crazy and pulling off comedy. Strangely under-rated and deserves more viewing that it gets. Go watch it. If you buy the DVD release and have any interest in how films are made it's worth watching the Hamster Factor documentry on the making of the film. Second opinion by Demian on 8th May '09 9.5/10 One of my all-time faves. Pay particular attention to the final scene to fully appreciate the wierdness. Also have a look at 'La Jete'(sp?), the french short film it's loosely based on.   Average Rating 9.25

Xander The panda is the evolutionary equivalent of living off benefits. Thu 7th May '09 10:52PM 168 Posts Member Since 16th Jul '08

X-Men Origins: Wolverine 0/10 I can't emphasis what an absolute dog turd of movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine turned out to be. This film should be great and who knows what went wrong in pre-production. The script is aweful and full of horribly predictable turns and twists. It actually feels like each scene was writen by a different writer then stuck together and not very good writers at that. If you don't see the twist coming a mile away For an origin story not a lot happens to our main character or changes him in any way. Gets adimantium claws, check. Vengeful vendeta against half brother, check. Actuall development as a character, none existent. Poor Hugh Jackman, he's actually a very likeable actor and must have put himself through a lot of grueling gym work to play Wolverine. The other X-Men characters are either boring or underused. The blog has a pointless scene with some really crap jokes in it. Deadpool played by Ryan Reyonlds starts of as a great quirky character then disapears about 10 minutes in. When Gambit appears you just don't care which is a shame for such a popular character, doesn't help that the actor is frankly a bit crap as Gambit. Even the action is pretty dull and low key considering how much money they must have spent. Annoyingly this has topped the box office and sequel is even as I write in the pipeline and a Deadpool spin off. Something the movie does not deserve.

Xander The panda is the evolutionary equivalent of living off benefits. Sun 10th May '09 8:59AM 168 Posts Member Since 16th Jul '08

Star Trek 9/10 A fantastic bit of re-imaging and works really well. JJ. Abrams has done the impossible and managed to produce a Star Trek film both fans (Trekkies) and lay persons can enjoy. What we have is a roller coaster of a movie. The film plunges right in with heavy action and then rolls on from there. Cast are great and show some wonderful chemistry. Zac Quinto and Chris Pine are great as Spock and Kirk respectively. Stand outs performances from the rest of the cast go to Karl Urban as Bones and Simon Pegg as Scotty. Eric Banna as chief baddy is excellent and is the best Star Trek bad guy since Kahn. The retro-1960's look of the set is great and not at all distractnig. The effects are brilliant and manage not to distract from the film. The only flaw with the film is it's pacing which has two speeds fast and faster, blink and you miss the climax. But great fun all the way a sequel is definately on the way. Not everyone is going to be happy some Trekkie is going to take exception to it and the film does mess with the cannon a bit but that's all explained away. Sod the fans though this is a Trek film for everyone.

Xander The panda is the evolutionary equivalent of living off benefits. Fri 20th Nov '09 6:14PM 168 Posts Member Since 16th Jul '08

Harry Brown 10/10 Some have said this is the British Gran torino but this comparison does neither film justice. The film starts with hoodies committing crime and filming themselves on mobile phones. So far so 21st Century Britain. But then become almost Ken Loach in its social realism as we see Harry Brown (Michael Cain) coping with being a pensioner on a rough housing estate. After Harry's best mate is murdered by the local hoodies he starts taking the law into his own hands. Here the film treads a fine line between serious drama and potential ridicule. Luckily the film manages to stay on the side of drama. Cain is terrific as Harry Brown as he plays a man who is both vulnerable pensioner and very cool very credible vigilante. The film is undeniably British featuring our top fears, hoodies, drug dealers, rioting, inept police, and knife crime. It makes for some disturbing viewing. In short brilliant. Trailer is below but doesn't quite reflect the film which is distinctly grittier.

Amanshu* Giggity Giggity goo Tue 13th Apr '10 4:55PM 2707 Posts Member Since 25th Aug '04

District 13 8/10 Billed as 'the free running/parkor movie' this French language film follows the adventures of Leito, a heroic parkor expert, and Damian, a supercop martial artist, as they struggle to free District 13, a Parisian inner-city, from the clutches of Taya, a ganglord. Basically it's all about the running and the fighting. And the flipping. Jumping, leaping, bounding, falling, rolling. Guns, there's lots of guns and a clean-bomb. Plus a car-chase sorta. It's all about the running.

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