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Last film you watched?


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Friends With Benefits

The best rom-com I've seen for a long, long time. Very obvious, derivative plot line full of cliches but it's done with enough self-awareness to stop it from being grating. Fantastic performances from Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake as well as a wonderful background role for Woody Harrelson.

For what it is, it's damn near perfect.

9/10.

xx

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Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

I really liked the first one, the second not so much and the third was pish. I wanted to see this out of morbid fascination to see if it was any better. It was, marginally. I fell asleep a couple times though and not sure if I missed anything of importance. It didn't feel like it. I still feel Johnny Depp should be in better films than this.

6/10

Red Riding Hood

Modern update of the old tale. OK time-waster, nothing amazing.

7/10

The Rite

Anthony Hopkins plays a Welsh priest in Italy being consulted by a younger priest on exorcism and spooky things happen. I don't know how many films I have now seen on this sort of subject but I think it's fair to say that 'The Exorcist' has not yet been surpassed. Doubt it ever will be. Hopkins is decent as always though.

5/10

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The Fighter

Pretty over-hyped film about Micky Ward - an average boxer in small town America and his has-been crackhead brother/trainer. Christian Bale is superb as the brother and it's great to see Amy Adams get a more gritty role. It might be hampered by the fact that it's a true story.

Think it would have been a better film if he'd lost the fight at the end - Rocky style

London Boulevard

A steaming pile of turd. No matter how many big name actors (and Ben Chaplin) they throw into the film it can't make up for the fact that the characters are terribly written. Having said that the main character - Colin Farrell's Mitchell is OK and the film manages to pick itself up a bit once Ray Wintsone shows up for the second half. Then it throws away what little good will it gets from those positives with a stupid ending.

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Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Brilliant movie. I was scared it'd be too much of a chick flick, I mean, look at the title. But it had Carell in it so I was sold. The whole cast is superb and it has those hand over the face "oh fuck me I can't believe this is happening" moments that Carell is best known for. And the Michael Scott character only makes an appearance when his character in this is drunk, which is great because I was scared it'd just be him playing that one character. Brilliant story, a little sad while having proper laugh out loud moments. Would definitely see it again.

****

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Drive - 'Shit' more like. Goes nowhere fast or interesting. Soundtrack and general sound design is flawless but the entire film feels completely hollow. Unnecessary violence too. Seems so at odds with the rest of the film. Gosling has his moments but gets on your tits after a while with his patented 'enigmatic grin...pause' schtick. Stop smirking like a cunt and say something! 2/10

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Your Highness

Thadeous (Danny McBride) spends his life watching his older brother Fabious (Franco) going off on heroic journeys and be the main man to their Dad the King (Charles Dance). When Fabious’ bride-to-be, Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel), gets kidnapped by an evil wizard called Leezar (Justin Theroux), the king gives Thadeous an ultimatum to help rescue her or get cut off. Thadeous joins Fabious to free the princess, joined along the way by Isabel (Natalie Portman) a warrior with an agenda of her own. They have to deal with various creatures and treacherous knights along the way.

Very foul mouthed, very stupid and also very funny. At least I thought so. Justin Theroux is particularly awesome. Natalie Portman goes for a swim in a thong and is also game for a laugh.

9/10

The Social Network

Not bad at all.

8/10

Taken

Rewatch. Still pretty cool but Liam Neeson seems to find the trail a bit TOO easily I think.

8/10

Superbad

Another rewatch. Still great. 'He's the fastest kid alive'.

9/10

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Very fine reworking of the Le Carre novel by Tomas Alfredson (director of Let the Right One In). The period feel (early 70s) is brilliantly realised and the acting performances are generally excellent, with Benedict Cumberpatch particularly good. I wasn't totally convinced by Gary Oldman as Smiley and the ending felt a little bit too understated for me (there didn't seem to be any real signficance to who the mole was), but otherwise it was almost perfectly done.

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Vantage Point - Started out promising, but became a fairly formulaic thriller.

***

Gnomeo & Juliet - Entertaining enough fluff for a lazy Sunday, but don't expect Toy Story.

***

True Grit (2010) - Brilliant.

****

Adventureland - Snoreland.

**

The Guard - Fantastic Irish movie with Brendan Gleeson as an unorthodox copper in a sleepy village on the west coast of Ireland who gets mixed in with some international drug smugglers. See this if you get the chance.

*****

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Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: Very fine reworking of the Le Carre novel by Tomas Alfredson (director of Let the Right One In). The period feel (early 70s) is brilliantly realised and the acting performances are generally excellent, with Benedict Cumberpatch particularly good. I wasn't totally convinced by Gary Oldman as Smiley and the ending felt a little bit too understated for me (there didn't seem to be any real signficance to who the mole was), but otherwise it was almost perfectly done.

I really enjoyed this movie but completely agree about the ending - I admire their subtlety and how they don't beat you over the head with the revelation, but I think they oveplayed the hand a little.

xx

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Drive Angry

Nicolas Cage plays John Milton, a criminal who has escaped from Hell in order to rescue his granddaughter from the devil-worshipping cult leader who killed his daughter. He is aided by a hot chick in a cool car and is being hunted down by Satan's henchman 'The Accountant' (William Fichtner). As stupid and ridiculous as the plot would indicate but great fun. Leave your brain at the door, sex and violence galore. I thought it was ace.

10/10

Gnomeo and Juliet

Saturday evening bairn movie. 'Romeo and juliet' transplanted into a world of rival garden gnomes in adjoining gardens. Cover indicating 'Music by Elton John' had me cringing in dread but it ended up being early 70's stuff that is bearable. Actually an OK watch.

7/10

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Catfish - Documentary about a young photographer who gets to know a family via facebook/email/ telephone etc after one of the daughters paints a picture of on of his photographs. This leads to him developing a romantic rlationship with the older sister of the family.

Even though most of the developments were clear from early on in the film it was always an engrossing watch and it becomes more about how the events happen rather than exactly what happens.

8/10

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Catfish - Documentary about a young photographer who gets to know a family via facebook/email/ telephone etc after one of the daughters paints a picture of on of his photographs. This leads to him developing a romantic rlationship with the older sister of the family.

Even though most of the developments were clear from early on in the film it was always an engrossing watch and it becomes more about how the events happen rather than exactly what happens.

8/10

This was a good watch. Gets quite sad. I don't know how to do spoiler tags otherwise i'd go into detail.

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Real Steel (aka Rocky : Over The Top*)

Highly enjoyable bot-fest starring'ole Wolverine himsel;f, Hugh Jackman. It's the year 2020 and "human" boxing has made way for Battling Robots. Down-on-his-luck ex-fighter Charlie Kenton has just lost his meal-ticket robot, Ambush and is saddled with an 11-year-old boy has hasn't since the kid was born. Whilst looking for parts in a scrap yard, they chance upon an old sparring bot - cue much schmaltz and every cliche' in the book, but it's hard not to like this movie. Evageline Lily walks around in shorts a lot - so that's a bonus. 7.5/10

* the movie is an unashamed amalgam of the Stallone movies Rocky, Rocky IV & Over The Top.

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[xxspoiler]

remove the x's and type in the middle

thanks. I think i fudged a spoiler tag up once and never bothered trying again.

I just think it's more sad than anything else. I'm not sure if I was supposed to think it was creepy. She obviously fantasizes about a life that could have been and for most people that's all it is, a fantasy, but she actually acted it out and the crazy lengths she want to showed just how unhappy she was. Then the fact that even when she came clean about it, she harbored this weird crush on the guy, that made it even more sad. As if a normal, good looking person doesn't 'fit' into her life so now that he has reason to be there she wants to do all she can to keep him there. I like films like this. Ones that really dig deep into the minds of people who are easily passed off as 'a bit mental'. There was talk about it being a hoax but even if it was, I don't think it matters too much it's still a good watch. If you liked this you should watch American Movie.

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I went to see The Lion King in the cinema last night. Wish I had just seen it in 2d as the 3d didn't really add an awful lot and dulled the colours.

It's as good as it was when I was little, but obviously the moral themes running through it were more obvious. I'm also not afraid to say I cried about 3 times, one of which was the obvious! Kinda glad I had the 3d glasses to hide the tears!

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Went to the cinema last week to see Midnight in Paris, I'm quite a big Woody Allen fan so was excited about this one.

It's a romantic comedy about a Hollywood scriptwriter Gil (Owen Wilson) who is visiting Paris with his ambitious fiance Inez and her slightly xenophobic ("crypto-fascist"), republican parents. Gil is disenchanted with Hollywood and is attempting to write his first novel, he is also terribly discontented with 2010 and wishes he'd been born in an earlier period. Whilst there, they embark on some couples' excursions with one of Inez's old friends, a very patronising and pedantic academic called Paul, and his wife. Not entirely enjoying the company, Gil leaves early from a dinner and leaves to take a stroll back to the hotel. On the way, whilst taking in the scenery, he gets into a vintage chauffer-driven Peugeot after being invited in by some lively characters with champagne. He then finds himself transported back to the 1920s and encounters a host of his literary and cultural heroes who endeavour to help him complete his novel. He also meets a stunning French woman called Adriana (Marion Cotillard) who's been a mistress and muse to Picasso and Braque amongst others but who's similarly discontented with her time and longs for La Belle Epoque.

You can probably take a stab in the dark at what happens and not be far off, this film is reasonably predictable, but it's so much fun and there are some fantastic performances (notably by Michael Sheen who is wonderfully loathsome as Paul, Corey Stall as Ernest Hemingway and Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein). Wilson is perhaps ever so slightly too cute and cuddly to pull off essentially channelling Allen himself in the main role, but he does manage a couple of genuinely hilarious deadpan moments. There's good chemistry between him and Cotillard who puts in a great performance as the alluring Adriana, and of course, the whole thing is a huge love letter to Paris, which as usual provides a beautiful backdrop.

All in all a worthwhile watch; funny, charming and uplifting, definitely brightened up a Tuesday night.

8/10

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The House of the Devil

A young lass takes a job babysitting in a creepy house in the woods. The fact the job is not for a kid as expected but an unseen old woman would ring alarm bells, as would the job being given out by original and best Francis Dollarhyde, Tom Noonan. Not much happens for an hour and a bit then it goes tits. A slowburner but it doesn't drag. Pretty cool throwback to 70's/80's type horror flicks rather than following recent trend for extreme splatter.

9/10

Cherry Tree Lane

Low budget Brit variant of 'Funny Games' styled home invasion plot. Pretty pish. Characters are mostly annoying. Only lasts 70-odd minutes. Good thing. Punted £3 in Asda on this, due to several 4-star ratings from renowned film mags on cover. I suspect they have been doing some inventive manipulation of ratings.

2/10

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True Grit (2011)

I imagine I have at somepoint in my life, no doubt as a wee bairn with my faither, seen the original but can'treally recall anything of it. So was able to watch this without prejudice. Story the basic daughter seeks revenge for dads killing, hires US Marshall, goes off in pursuit of revenge.

As with pretty much all Coen brothers movies, thought it was very very good indeed. Simultaneously doesn't hang about and allows the story to develop without rushing. The scripts great. Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn is good but the young lassie who plays the young lassie (aged only 14 in both movie and real life) is absolutely brilliant. She makes the movie what it is.

As modern westerns go, its a must see.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Its been so long since I watched any version of this movie I couldnt even say with any certainty which version I have actually seen. Regardless, this versions brilliant. Not much more to be said. Though if anyone fancies telling me the significant differences between this version and those of old, feel free.

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Blade Runner: The Final Cut

Its been so long since I watched any version of this movie I couldnt even say with any certainty which version I have actually seen. Regardless, this versions brilliant. Not much more to be said. Though if anyone fancies telling me the significant differences between this version and those of old, feel free.

I'm not sure if it's this one I've seen or 'The Director's Cut', but I assume the main differences to the original release will remain the removal of all Deckard's voiceovers, the insertion of a dream about a unicorn

(so fuelling the 'Deckard is a Replicant' debate due to the unicorn origami that Gaff leaves at Deckard's door at one point)

and removal of the 'happy ending' footage taken from outtakes of 'The Shining'.

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