Have stuck Black Hawk Down on my DVD. I'm not going to say it's the greatest war film ever made - far from it. However, in terms of gritty, realistic, harrowing cinematography the vast majority of the film [i.e. the combat part] is up there with the best of them. I would put it on a par, for example, with the intro to Saving Private Ryan.

On a slight tangent, the film's covering of the cock-up the US made in Somalia made me think of Iraq and a conversation I had with one of the secretaries at work who was commenting on my short haircut [just ask thelip, ledge and binky how long it was at the last EM we went to!!].

Lesley: "Not as short as my ex's hair, he was a US ranger, stupid haircuts."
Me: "Maybe that's why he's your ex then."
Lesley: "He was my fiance. Such a silly thing, all shaved off apart from the tiny bit under the hat."
Me: "Oh well, sounds like you made a good move not marrying him."
Lesley: "Do you not know?"
Me: "Errr - no."
Lesley: "He was with the Rangers in Iraq. He didn't come back."
Me: "...................................."

First time that has happened to me. God only knows how she must have felt when it happened a year ago.

Reminds me of that bit in Four Weddings when Hugh Grant is telling someone what a lousy lay some bird is, and it turns out the girl is the bloke's fiancee. I've probably got the details wrong but I'm sure you all remember the scene -

Has anyone seen Hide and Seek? Horror thing with Robert De Niro involving his daughter's imaginery friend killing all and sundry.

It's just that I saw a trailer tonight and it looked pretty good. Or is it just a good trailer?

From memory I think it was pretty good.

I preferred Bareback Mountain

Anyone seen Capote? Tough to watch if you can't bear a lisping man, but absolutely brilliant. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is like the reincarnation of Truman Capote.
Not a date movie, but thought provoking and intelligent. Makes me want to re-read In Cold Blood, a masterpiece which changed non-fiction writing forever.

Fun with Dick & Jane - Avoid.

i saw breakback mountain last weekend

won't be doing that again

Watched 'The Usual Suspects' on TCM last night after many a good report on here. I did enjoy it and after a slowish start I found myself getting sucked into it. I did find the ending fairly predictable though.

Anyone watching The Line of Beauty, the BBC series adapted from Alan Hollinghurst's novel? Set in Thatcher's Britain, and brilliantly acted. Those of a sensitive dispositon should fast-forward the gay sex scenes, but you can balance that by watching in slo-mo the scenes with Hayley Atwell - the gorgeous young actress who plays Catherine

Saw some of Ollie Stone's World Trade Center and all of John Moore's The Omen at Cannes. Liked the former, well what was shown of it (20m) and tolerated the latter. Just about to scoot off to a UK based press screening of A Scanner Darkly.

Missed the press screenings, but finally caught United 93 t'other day, it's quite superb, absolutely gripping and highly recommended!

Dirty - Cuba Gooding Jr's new one - Another to Seriously avoid. Boring & complicated. Even Cuba as a bad'un couldnt save it.

Just got round to watching Cinderella Man ...bloody outstanding. I'd even go as far to say it's as good as the early Rocky's! .
Same premiss ...working class boxer comes good..set in Americas Great Depression. Must See!

Awesome movie.

united '93?

the moment when bruce and robbo lifted the trophy was truly awesome

That's an inappropriate joke to make considering the gravity of this film's subject matter

I was ufortunate enough to be forced into a screening of X-Men 3 last night. What a demented pile of pig dribble !

what? get a grip.

Disgusting

Saw 'Curious George' last week, and would thoroughly recommend to anyone (assuming you've got young kids that is)

ok - whatever.

Zeus wrote:



Went to see X-Men 3 at the weekend, it's more action driven than X-Men 2 but overall was still an enjoyable film IMO (Vinnie Jones was awful though)...

I saw X men 3 too, I hadnt seen the others though.. which made it better for me I think because my mate that saw the others said it was a bit same old same old... But I enjoyed it, for what it was.

I watched Transamerica the other night. I really liked it. Its got Felicity Huffman in it, (blonde from desperate housewives), she plays a transexual, a man waiting for his operation. Ends up on a road trip with his son he never knew about... Crazy movie, but good.

Think the next cinema release Ill see is United 93 (The one without Pallister). Girlfriend is keen, and based on reviews I think it'd be good. Depends on when I can get to the cinema though...

I agree Vinnie Jones was utter rubbish - he didn't even pull off acting as a big thick............. thing.

Thought the film was ok, not as good as the second or the first. Allot of my mates said there wasn't really a story but it does carry on from the second fairly (a few flaws) well, and if you can't remember what happened to the characters in the second then you'd think X3 was sh!te.

Did anyone stay till the credits had finished to see the deleted scene?

There'll be plenty of empty seats over the next few weeks

United 93 has had terrific reviews. Definitely one to watch when Germany 06 is all over (and while we're on the subject, my biggest hope for the WC, even more than for England to win it, is that there will be no major terrorist incident).

Stay till the end?! I nearly walked out halfway through it was that bad!

Seriously, there is no excuse to make a movie that poor.

The whole thing in the second film was that she died, everyone mourns, everyones sad, oh boo hoo. Then believe it or not, in the third film she' s alive again, with no more than a one line explanation.

Just because sequels are sequels, it seems to be an excuse to ignore the rules of causality when scriptwriting, just to pander to audiences needs to see the characters they are familiar with. If you are afraid of not having a character in the future, dont kill them off - simple.

I thought that the acting was woeful, and the dialogue was literally painfull to listen to. The actors just looked as if they were going through the motions, and Ian Mckellen! what a come down, Gandalf to this! He must be begging Jackson to get on with film ing the hobbit so he can get back to real film making. There are good sequels out there (Bourne Consipracy, Batman Begins), its just that this isn't one of them.

But then I guess I have a problem with the whole X-Men franchise. When they were written in the comics their skills and talents seemed new and exciting (a guy with lazers for eyes, another with massive claws etc etc). But now, they just dont seem as amazing with the advances in our society. Plus the scriptwriters have to keep coming up with new mutants and thus have to drag out characters that were background ones in the comics. What are we offered as the newest and baddest mutants to drive fear and terror into us? Some bloke who turns into a human porcupine with needles about three inches long, and even worse, an angel with a six foot wingspan who all he ever does is fly about a bit! Save me from the scary monsters please!!! Sorry, rant over, I just hate seeing a good idea wasted by hollywood.

*SPOILER to X-men trilogy if not seen them* With regards to Jean Grey who came back to life after being crushed by a million tons of water, at the end of X2 you see a flaming Phoenix flying from beneath the lake, so the clue was at the end of the second film that she was still alive, in some capacity, allot of people missed this even some people who reviewed the film. But then I found it strange that she was killed by a knife/claws in the stomach........ if she can survive million tons of water, what’s a knife to the stomach - but I'm told that is what happens in the comic, who am I to argue. Explanation? Yes, weird? Yes.




I do agree with some of what you say. The dialogue is fairly poor, but I enjoyed the special effects and the fight scenes, which in my eyes made the film ok and watchable. The lasers coming out of people's eyes and massive claws coming out of hands impresses me to this day, but maybe it's because I love most things Sci Fi. I do agree that some of the new mutants (Juggernaut, Porcupine or whatever he's called) were done poorly and could have been made better, but these characters were probably important parts of this story in the comics and not background characters - you change too much from the comics (characters, story etc) and according to Hugh Jackman (when on Jonathan Ross's show) comic book fans will lynch you, so maybe not all the scriptwriters and production team's fault.

Plastic Scouser wrote:



Explaination in the film was that she created a telekinetic field around herself which protected her against being crushed/drowned by the water. At the end of the film she wants to die and therefore doesn't use her telekinetic abilities to prevent Wolverine from stabbing her.

The worst reviews this film has received in the USA has come from the comic book's fans because the third film has 'rejigged' of the comic's most revered storylines...