Not entirely sure how to describe the following movie so I'll just let it's trailer do the talking;

RoboGeisha

Went to see the following flick yesterday;

Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince



Have to say that I was extremely disappointed by this movie especially after reading some pretty decent reviews. I've really enjoyed the five previous Harry Potter movies but this one just seemed really...lifeless, a 'by the numbers' production that did nothing particularly wrong but didn't do anything spectacularly right either.

It's strange that they previously managed to do a great job of turning an average novel into a great flick with 'Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix' but have now gone on to make an average movie out of what was IMO one of the strongest Harry Potter novels...

Aye, saw the latest HP flick the other night, and I just found it incredibly dull - nothing happens!

Production values etc were of the usual high standard, but the whole thing left me feeling... meh!

Saw The Hurt Locker last night with my 17-year-old. A film that enables the audience to share the experience of a wild and crazy front line U.S. soldier in Iraq whose job is dismantling IEDs. Kathryn Bigelow does an effective job of using handheld (not Stedicams) cameras and a great many fast sharp cuts, blurred backgrounds and loud noises like loud voices and pounding rock music to replicate the confusion, chaos and unbearable tension of such incredibly dangerous work. It works quite well and is a good film if you are interested in sharing the suicidal, obsessive life of a mucho macho soldier dude for a few hours. There is no attempt to judge the war or even address the question of how effective these blokes are, a wise choice. She just does an amazing job of putting you in their shoes. It's not hard to see why these guys come back home f'd up, beating up their wives, killing themselves etc. There is a great shot of the guy back home in a supermarket looking at an endless counter of different cereal brands, looking completely disoriented. Says it all really. It's loud, violent and unpleasant to watch, but powerful. A good film but not for everybody.

Tonight my 17-year-old son and I watched 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 7 days, a brilliant 2007 Romanian film about a university student trying to obtain an illegal abortion during the final years of the Caucescu (sp?) regime in 1987. A nightmare and a thriller all in one. Oh, what these two women go through. I'm afraid to show this to my girlfriend as she may come out of it hating all men. This is an incredibly powerful, totally unsentimental film which shows the plight of women with unwanted pregnancies in those barbaric times. Makes the excellent Mike Leigh film, Vera Drake, look pretty tame by comparison. A terrific movie but hard as hell to watch at points. Still, one of the best contemporary foreign films I have seen in years. The only comparison is Lives of Others. Highly Recommended. Not a date flick.

Pouzar - I mentioned 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 7 days further up this thread a few months ago. I agree it's a stunning and unforgettable film, and as you say, hard to watch. It is definitely NOT a date movie! I hated the guy in it so much it almost made me feel sick.

By the way, what's the difference between hand-held and Steadicam?

Does your 17yr old ever just wish you's could watch Die Hard?

No BFD, downloading the best recent foreign films and watching them on our big screen TV is HIS idea. He criticizes me for watching old movies, but he prefers recent foreign films because he thinks American films are too commercial and shallow and obvious, though he appreciated The Hurt Locker. Whenever I go downstairs he is on his computer watching something like The Class, the apparently (I haven't seen it yet) brilliant French film about a teacher in a tough immigrant-filled Paris neighborhood, or Gomorrah the recent Italian film about the Mafia, which I watched last night, or Hunger, which we watched together a few nights ago. I'm taking a break from the more classic films I've been watching to catch up on the best films of recent years. I also watched Les Infant by the Dardenelle (sp?) brothers of Belgium yesterday about a consummate loser who sells his girlfriend's new baby on the street and that has to try and go get it back. It won the top prize at Cannes a few years ago. Intersting but not exactly my cup of tea.

Billy - Steadicam is the handheld camera you wear as a fixed attachment to your body in order to minimize shaking while you scamper about and get pictures you simply can't get with more fixed cameras. I could be wrong but I'm just suggesting the level of shaking in The Hurt Locker is so pronounced it looks like they are using more old-fashioned hand-held cameras. Whatever theyb are using, it works. Good call on 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

P.s. - Billy. I was returning a film today and happened to ask if they had a copy of Tostosi. They did! I've got it for a week and will watch it late tonight, as the girlfriend and I are attending opening night of the venerable Edmonton Folk Music Festival, or Thursday if I'm just too tired. Being retired and in between terms, I often stay up until 4 or 5 a.m. watching films and reading, often taking a break to go for a 45 minute run on the empty streets. Yes, the retired life is good.

Sam and I saw another terrific film today which he downloaded and watched on my big screen TV. The movie which may have been mentioned on here before, I'm not sure, is the 2008 French film, The Class. It's set in an immigrant-filled classroom on the outskirts of Paris and has the realistic edge of a documentary report combined with the artistic style and depth of a good director. the film is based on the 2006 book by the teacher who plays himself. The students, from a later year than the book, also play themselves and the film is absolutely electric and vastly superior to any other classroom movie I have ever seen. The filmmakers spent a year with the class and worked up scenes based partially on things they witnessed in the class. It displays a gifted and dedicated teacher working mainly with alienated immigrant students, who know they are not much welcomed in their adopted country. The teacher is good but far from perfect, the students troubled, but far from all bad or all dumb, and the result is a searing look inside a modern classroom in a tough neighborhood, as well as a glimpse at France's deep racial problems. One of the most absorbing films I have seen in a long time. Highly recommended. Next up, I hope, Waltzing With Bashir. If he can't download it I will just borrow it from the library.

Wow, Waltzing With Bashir is terriific. From the opening scene's nightmare visions of vicious dogs to the newsreel footage of the Beirut refugee camp slaughter of Palestinians it grabs you and refuses to let go. A study of how ordinary young men cope with the horrors of war, in many case by forcing themselves to forget. The film is also of course an indictment of the Israelis for enabling and helping the Lebanese Christians to commit the massacre, although this is not really a political film. An interesting and effective choice to make this an animated film. Highly recommended. maybe Man on Wire next.

have any of you guys seen this yet? i'm going to see it tomorrow night finally. looking forward to it, only heard good things about.

Nope, not seen it but would want to. Let us know what you think.

will do. doesn't seem to have a very wide release. most cinemas don't seemed to bother screening it. luckily in liverpool theres a place called the FACT centre that shows less popular/more obscure stuff. tomorrows my last chance to see it. sounds right up my street and appealed to me instantly when i stumbled over it on IMDB whilst it was still in production.

It's had a very limited run in the UK with almost zero publicity which is a shame because it's been getting top notch reviews Stateside, many of which describe it as instant sci-fi classic.

Most of us will probably have to catch it on DVD ...

well i hope you do catch it. went to see it last night. unusually, i went to see this film knowing little about the plot as i'd avoided even seeing the trailer or reading to many spoiler reviews. all i knew was the basic one man stationed on the moon, 'alone' with his robot. the kind of reveal or twist to the movie kind of happens refreshingly midway through the film rather than near the end, and so the rest of the film plays out nicely and satisfyingly. theres a crackin soundtrack to the film which you hear on the trailer. really fits in well with the movie. i really enjoyed it, and it was also my 1st experience of watching a movie in a cinema and being able to take a pint in. lovely!

You sure know how to make a guy jealous, moonlightdribbler!

Has anyone ever seen Polish director Krzysztov Kieslowski's The Decalogue? It's incredible. A series of 10 one hour moral dramas VERY loosely based on the 10 commandments. It was originally made for Polish television in 1989 but became an international critical sensation when videos were shown at a few international film festivals. I have watched the first eight so far and I am totally blown away. Simply one of the most amazing and engrossing film achievements I have ever seen. All ten stories are set in the same very humble Warsaw highrise apartment block and you sometimes see a character from an earlier episode walking past or playing some small part in a later episode. There is one guy who appears in virtually every episode but never speaks. He is like an angel who can see things and look on sympathetically but can't interfere. Episode 8 was so riveting I felt like I was bolted to my chair.
Every story involves very difficult moral choices and the story lines and the characters are unforgettable. You can't just watch these back to back. You have to stop and savour every episode, weigh the mysteries of the human heart, hopefully find someone to talk to about the profound issues it raises, and then maybe watch the episode again and appreciate more clearly Kieslowski's artistry. Then you are ready to watch another one.
This 10-hour extravaganza is available on DVD and can probably be rented from a good quality video store. It's not hard to find in Edmonton. I got my copy from the public library and was so overwhelmed I shelled out $60 (about 30 quid) last night to order my own copy. Some of you may have seen all or part of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, Blue, White and Red, which came out in 1993 and 1994, or possibly The Double Life of Veronique.
I love Red in particular but The Decalogue tops it and virtually everything else ever made. If you want to call it television than IMHO it's better than The Civil War, The Sopranos, the original Prime Suspect, or anything else ever. If it's a film, then its up there with the best.
I give it 5 stars, the highest recommendation.

California Man is on!

But is there any sex in it? I assume there is a city.

EDIT: That beeping last post read button

Absolutely brilliant film. A proper sci-fi flick which is more about ideas than flashy effects. It's very much in the same category as Silent Running, Solaris and 2001

Anyone seen Inglourious Basterds? I've heard it's a bit self-indulgent and overly long.

Saw Inglourious Basterds last Thurs and thought it was absolutelyt brilliant. Tarantino at his absolute best and the opening scene is absolute quality.

Saw at the weekend...

Watchmen : It is very slow at times (and 2.5 hrs), but I really enjoyed it. Mrs jacksosi got bored and restless. 4/5.

Duplicity : Juila Roberts and Clive Owen in a spy type movie that tries to be too clever and leaves you a bit cold. 2/5.

Vicky Christina Barcelona : He's a really lucky basterd (new trendy spelling), both enjoyed it. 4/5

I saw this last weekend and was disappointed. I don't know whether you had to be a fan of the comic to enjoy it be it certainly felt that way. I'd read a lot of (admittedly pre-release) stuff about it so had high hopes but thought it was too long, too slow and couldn't find it's place between Sin City (1st half) and X-men (2nd half). In the end it wasn't either and even the costumes couldn't carry it.

Have you ever read one of your own posts and realised that maybe you need to stop using the same word all the time. I have. Absolutely.

As a fully paid-up comic-book geek with all 12 issues of Watchmen in mylar bags in the spare room, I felt I had to watch this though wasn't expecting great things from it. I was pleasantly surprised, it looked great and stuck to the storyline well, although a few things were overdone which were more subtle in the book. However IMO it fell over whenever any characters had to interact with each other, some of the acting was terrible and dialogue scenes incredibly clunky. I guess character interaction is not the director's forte...

Absolute Beginner?

There was a lot of love on this thread for 'Watchmen' when it came out at the cinemas earlier this year, guess this must be a movie that loses a lot of it's impact on the small screen ...

Here's the next batch of Moons, District 9s & Inglourious Basterds that have caught my attention in recent weeks ;

The Lovely Bones



Avatar



Legion



Jennifer's Body



Tron Legacy



The Book Of Eli

I haven't got time to look at these just now but...


TRON!!!!