I'm not sure, but i think plenty of people will laugh at it anyway!

I think it's safe to say that the film makers aren't taking the subject matter all that seriously ...

Very disappointed with Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - despite some stellar reviews. However, it did prompt me to buy a DVD of the magnificent BBC TV adaptation of one of my favourite novels. Even allowing for the virtual impossibility of squeezing such an intricate plot into 2 hours, the film had numerous avoidable flaws, including:-

1. Probably completely impossible for anyone new to the story to follow the fractured implementation of the plot - c/f the clear structure and pace of the book and TV series.
2. Gary Oldman's laughable attempts to sound like Alec Guinness playing George Smiley - rather than briging his own voice to the part.
3. Some serious other miscasting - notably Kathy Burke as Connie and Mark Strong as Jim Prideaux (OTOH, John Hurt was excellent as Control).
4. Frequent flashbacks from 1973 to a wartime party at the Circus - with no visible evidence that any of the characters had aged in the iterim period.
5. The Circus is actually Cambridge Circus - not some massive building in Whitehall.
6. Why change the location of the botched operation from Prague to Budapest?
7. The mood conveyed in the final page of the book is completely changed...why?

You say that but I give you:

This may be a bit obscure but has anyone seen the Danish film After the Wedding? It stars Sidse Babett Knudsen, the delightful lead in the recent BBC Four drama series Borgen. She's 43, but her maturity is part of her attraction, know what I mean? I checked out what else she's been in and it included After the Wedding, which I've now ordered on DVD (in a triple set including two other films by the same director, Susanne Bier). It was nominated for a Foreign Oscar and the trailer looks good:

I saw it a few years ago Billy. It was nominated the year Lives of Others won. I recall liking it and finding it interesting, but not great. Definitely worth watching, but not must see. FWIW. Would be interested to hear your take on it if you see it.

Razor, I see you (and Moist) are the ones liking it (Drive).

Can't say it did it for me. Really didn't enjoy it.

I'd say more, but not sure if that's a spoiler (and that's bad form for this thread).

I liked Drive, some flaws, and felt a bit like 2 different movies, but overall - thumbs up from me!

You're certainly not alone in your views regarding 'Drive' and many seem to see it as an exercise in style over substance and to an extent I can see where they're coming from but I really enjoyed the early Michael Mannish vibe it had to it.

In addition to that, I loved the (extremely flawed) characters in this flick so I definitely view this as one of the best flicks released last year although that may well change as the year progresses as I'm still playing catch up in regards to last year's releases.

BTW feel free to post your thoughts on here, it's perfectly acceptable to do that as long as you stick a spoiler warning at the start of your post...

p.s I make that 3 to 1 in favour of 'Drive' ...

I think Drive is similar to Monsters, what you get out of this type of film depends a lot on what you expect from it going in. Monsters was about a relationship and was a film essentially with no monsters in it. Drive also has the appearance of something it isn't, the 'drive' element is secondary and exists only in order to bring the characters together, its not an action film per se.

Ryan Gosling does little in this, from what I read he actually insisted a lot of his dialgoue be cut as he thought it suited the character more, he just does it very well. As do the supporting cast.

Maybe...although I think the trailer for 'Drive' isn't anywhere near as misleading as the one for 'Monsters' (another great flick BTW ), I think it's down to whether or not you 'get' the characters in this movie, if you don't have much empathy for them then it's unlikely you're going to get much out of the experience (IMO )...

SPOILER

To be honest, I watched Drive totally blind, in that I hadnt actually read any reviews, didnt know the plot and hadnt seen a trailor.

All I knew was that it kept appearing on best of lists and then the 3 line synopsis on the DVD cover that it came in.

I thought the lead played his part excellently. I thought the way it was shot was great. I thought the lack of dialogue was great. I was taken aback/surprised by the ultra violence (and enjoyed it too (if that doesnt sound so perverse)).

But for me the whole love angle was a) too rushed/forced b) and way too Hollywood for my liking.
One minute picking up her shopping, the next going on drives together with her holding his hand? It was all just a bit too much for me.

In fact it was like the story was forced too quickly… to the point of being ruined. Its like they had a great idea for a film (with the premise of a good story, with twists, mob plots, moral undertones (likeable bad guy) etc. but didnt really know how to get it going, so they just threw in some really pathetic love angle… or maybe it was a 3h movie that they just thought &*^$ it, we cant get away with the lead not talking for that long, we'll just throw in some pretty blonde.

The After the Wedding DVD arrived the next day and has been duly watched. A nicely structured story and well acted all round, but I thought the screenplay was a bit flat, considering the emotional turmoil most of the characters were going through. Also I thought Mads Mikkelsen was miscast as the aid worker - he didn't look convincing in those orphanage scenes, or when playing with the Danish children. He looks like he'd be more at home in a horror movie or as a Bond villain (as he was in Casino Royale).

Denmark is a small country (with a much smaller pop than London) and there's a relatively small pool of leading actors to call on. It's why the same Danish actors tend to pop up in TV series as well as in films. In fact Rolf Lassgard, who played the billionaire father, isn't even Danish - he's Swedish (he played the Swedish detective Wallander in the recent TV series).

Watched Win Win the other night, and even though it was the wifey's pick, Net flix thought I would rate it very high.

But as much as I tend to rave about the accuracy of their picks, I'm afraid I didn't like this one as much as they thought. In all fairness, I thought this was based on a true story, but found out half way through that it wasn't. This may very well have influenced my thinking.

And as much as I enjoy Paul Giamatti, he needed help on this one, and the only place he really got it was from the kid, Alex Shaffer (Burt Young was very good, but had only a small part). I found Bobby Cannavale barely watchable, and though Jeffrey Tambor had his moments, they were too few to make a difference.

Shaffer, in his first role (of any kind really), had a ton of charisma and helped make the first half of the movie very enjoyable (although once he had to act dramatically, his inexperience was more evident). His role is made the more interesting by the fact that he actually wrestled as a young teen, but had to quit after breaking a vertebrae.

Amy Ryan, who played Giamatti's wife, nearly stole the movie, but just didn't have a big enough part, and Melanie Lynskey, who plays Rose on "Two and a Half Men", also had a role, but again, failed to turn in anything more than a mediocre performance.

Those who really like this movie will either be huge fans of one of the ensemble cast, or find the humor very rich and nuanced. And although I didn't actually dislike it, I also didn't feel it to be anything more than a mediocre film. Pour yourself a glass of Merlot and watch Sideways instead.

Watched Horrible Bosses on Sunday. Good light hearted Sunday viewing. Not great by any means, but it was ok.

Also watched Blue Valentine.
Can't make my mind up. Really well made, both leads were excellent in their parts. Decent basic story (albeit a bit gritty/somber). However, not a lot actually happened.

Watched this one last night and thought it was very good, although I liked Gleeson's "In Bruges" much better.

To be fair though, some of the more subtle cultural humor was lost on me, and the (stronger) accents were sometimes hard to follow.

Introducing the unofficial follow-up to 'Inception':

Extracted

Could be good ...

Make that 4-1.

Maybe some people have gone a bit overboard on this film, but I enjoyed it all the same. Cracking soundtrack that really draws you in.

Two words: Christina Hendricks *sigh*

There's now a new trailer:



Really can't wait to catch this ...

I think I said this about the last trailer but that looks like an awesome concept.

Watching that on the actual site I noticed a linked trailer for a film I first heard about last night:



It says Disney but it doesn't look very Disney! It seems to be a Star Wars/Conan/300 mash-up but I doubt it can live up to the trailer.

Based on the the John Carter of Mars books by Edgar Rice Bouroughs. Was actually ERB's favourite character but ended up being pushed to one side by the popularity of Tarzan.

The Director is Andrew Stanton who also directed/created films such as Finding Nemo, Toy Story & Monsters Inc. Massively involved in Pixar.

Rotten Tomatoes stating that 92% of audiences want to watch this film......

One Of The Greatest Action Movies Ever Made (Potential Spoilers Warning)

Gareth Evans already signed on for a sequel.

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33390

that looks cracking RB!

I started this but couldn't finish it the other day. Very unusual for me but I just couldn't get into it.

Had a go at 'Deviation' as well (Danny Dyer). I'm no film critic, so i won't write a big article like others, i'll just I thought it was, er.....meh, you know, ok I suppose in a kind of shit way.

Was less than impressed with 'The girl with the dragon tattoo' as well. Maybe i'm just having a fussy couple of weeks!

It's one of those rare occasions where I just know from the trailer alone that it's a flick that won't disappoint.

I haven't seen it yet (obviously ) but I'm already dreading the English language remake so it's good to hear that there's sequel on the horizon as well.

Despite the almost universal praise it's picking up, I really can't see this getting a Nationwide release & being available to catch at my local multiplex (so will have to wait until it makes it's debut on blu-ray in the latter half of the year )...

Remake or the original ...

Indeed it does & I'm so confident it will live up to the trailer that I've already awarded it with a Razorsharp rating ...