The last movie I saw was...

[LeMarchand]

Saw Mad Max-Fury Road last night

Hmmm

It was certainly good to look at but there was negligible story line and characterisation - the original was far better in that respect.

 

I saw this last night too - loved it! It's a high-octane, pedal to the metal (literally!) action film. I'm not sure that it was any more lacking in story/characterisation than the originals, though. (With the possible exception of the first).

 

Not sure about the complaint about "too much CGI", apart from the bits that couldn't be done practically (the dust storm, arm removal) and a humorous bit towards the end, it looked pretty real to me. Also not sure about the charges that have been laid about it being a pro-feminist/anti-male tract, either. Either a lot of guys are very insecure or it's a cunning publicity stunt. I certainly felt it was more of a "boy" film and Mme LeMarchand's refusal to go and the almost exclusively male audience seemed to bear that out.

[witch]

I didn't think there was too much CGI at all and I know that most of the stunts were actually performed - even the one where he is hanging off the truck!

I have just read a few review sites which have given me a much better idea of the backstory which I really didn't pick up in the film.

It has a very strong, very good female lead in it yes, but I don't think it is anti-men at all, or a film for men - there were plenty of women in the audience when I went.

[gmj]

Also saw Mad Max last night.

 

Awesome, totally bonkers, fun.

 

Take note Michael Bay....this is how an action film should be.

[unixman_again]

The final explosion was cgi. One big thing that was missing was humour and quotable lines. The humour has been dropped off with each successive Max film, but it was still there in Thunderdome. None of the dialogue stuck in my mind from Fury Road, but I can quote huge sections of the others.

[LeMarchand]

The final explosion was cgi.

 

That was the bit I was referring to.

 

On the dialogue, perhaps that's just as well; I'm not sure what was going on with Tom Hardy's voice. He sounded like he was still stuck in "Bane" mode.

Edited May 20, 2015 by LeMarchand
Typo

[GREED]

Totally agree, superb acting one again from Tom Hardy, but what was up with the voice! What accent was he trying?

 

Aside, I really liked it. I was a little disappointed in that it could have been longer. I think the start should have been set up better, what was the city all about, who was the chief nasty, why was he nasty, how deeply were the people subservient... paint a picture of the world a bit.

 

But, brilliant action throughout, loved the bits where guitar man was playing to drive people forwards! Wasn't sure why the entire film needed operatic music throughout, but was OK. Great knowing 99% was real and not CGI, seemed to make it even better for me.

 

Question: Did anyone else think this was Waterworld in the desert? had that feel for me a bit.

[Garacesh]

Watched Aladdin the other night. I forgot how awesome Robin Williams was. Legitimately was a wee bit sad at the end when the Genie was set free. RIP

[GREED]

Watched Aladdin the other night. I forgot how awesome Robin Williams was. Legitimately was a wee bit sad at the end when the Genie was set free. RIP

 

C'mon, he makes that film!

[Mako]

Watched Aladdin the other night. I forgot how awesome Robin Williams was. Legitimately was a wee bit sad at the end when the Genie was set free. RIP

 

 

True story.

[Garacesh]

Of course he does! But I haven't watched it in over a decade. Might just have to pick up Return of Jafar and Prince of Thieves.

 

I do also have Flubber and Mrs. Doubtfire, two equally amazing Robin Williams films. I also keep intending to pick up Bicentennial Man but keep forgetting to.

[Joanne]

Myself and the mrs watched Chappie last night, I wasn't holding out much hope for it keeping her hooked but it surprised us both with how good it was, it had a few dodgy sounding South African accents from actors that clearly weren't for South Africa and it shared a lot of the plot from RoboCop as well as the RoboCop voice but all in all well worth a watch.

@GuyJD the main people in there are definitely South African... Ninja and Yolandi anyways... they are actually a 'rap' group, but terrible actors.

 

I LOVED that film though!! Reminded me of short circuit.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Last film I watched was Pitch Perfect... gonna have to see the second one now!

[Grey-gear]

Last Movie I saw was Avengers: Age of Ultron. I think the next one my be Ant Man

[LeMarchand]

Last film I watched was Pitch Perfect... gonna have to see the second one now!

 

Going tonight. Surprised Mme LeMarchand chose this over "The Age of Adaline" as it was me that forced her to watch the first one. She must have enjoyed it more than she let on!

[GuyJD]

@GuyJD the main people in there are definitely South African... Ninja and Yolandi anyways... they are actually a 'rap' group, but terrible actors.

 

I LOVED that film though!! Reminded me of short circuit.

 

Maybe it was just the bad acting I picked up on then, didn't ruin the experience though.

[gmj]

@GREED

 

Yeah....I thought that too. Off to find "Green Land" instead of "Dry Land".....

 

Much better film of course though

[LeMarchand]

 

I really enjoyed this. It made me laugh, and had a heart-warming climax. Though (spoiler) the German team's performance was much better. If you liked the first one, go see it, unless you're a guy who doesn't like being surrounded by an audience of almost exclusively young women. I don't even like most of the music featured (didn't even recognise a lot of it) but still appreciated the performances.

 

A couple of nitpicks: in 3 years, the Bellas only recruited one member who happened to be the same age as the rest of them (and so was graduating with the rest of them)? I know not all the girls were getting a lot of screen time (they even joke about it) but it seems odd. It also sets up a new girl for a possible PP3 which wouldn't be the same without the core cast. I also thought it was a bit odd when a music producer points out to Becca that all she is doing is mixing other people's work (I did think that her "musical genius" was overstated in the first film as that was all she did) but surely that's a producer's job? (Since the first film her dream seems to have morphed from "making" music to producing it). She's not necessarily going to have access to original music to practise her skills on.

 

P.S. Stay for a bit 1/2 way through the end credits.

Edited May 21, 2015 by LeMarchand
Music comment

[witch]

Watched "What we do in the Shadows" last night

Very funny vampire mockumentary

 

(looking forward to seeing Pitch Perfect 2 - I loved the first one)

[halbaradkenafin]

Decided to watch a random film on Netflix yesterday and found "He Who Dares: Downing Street Siege" and despite numerous plot holes and terrible decisions by the characters it falls into the "so bad it's actually sort of good" category, mostly due to the lead villain being kind of amusing and not taking things seriously. If you've got a spare 90mins then I'd probably find something else to watch unless you are really bored.

[LeMarchand]

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

 

Had its moments, but I'd only recommend it to big-time fans of the character.

[MrMat]

I've been on my holibobs for the last week (Morocco!) during which i ended up watching a few films.

 

Imitation Game

Really good film, thoroughly enjoyed it. Well acted throughout. Definitely worth a watch especially if you aren't already familiar with the story of Alan Turing and what he and his team achieved.

 

Ex-Machina

Another cracker. The lead character (can't remember his name) is not great but doesn't detract from the film too much. Plays on some interesting ideas around artificial intelligence and the concept of whether AI can feel human emotions etc (alot of the ideas are actually based on books written by Alan Turing).

 

Fury

Ulterly miserable film but i thoroughly enjoyed it. The ending goes a bit too Hollywood for my liking but generally it's a decent movie. Brad Pitt is great in the lead role. Bit of trivia too, the film features the last remaining German Tiger 131 tank!

[Sagima]

I don't watch many films but I got around to watching most of the x-men series over the bank holiday weekend. I haven't watched the second wolverine film yet but I quite enjoyed the first one. The weakest of the 6 I watched (I liked them all) was probably the third one (last stand).

I used to watch the cartoon quite often in the 90s but unlike Thundercats, Transformers and The Mysterious Cities of Gold I didn't watch them again as an adult. Never read the comics

 

In order of how much I enjoyed them:

X2

Days of Future Past

First Class

Wolverine

X-Men

The Last Stand

 

While watching them I kept thinking I would have preferred Samuel L Jackson as Professor X

Edited May 27, 2015 by Sagima

[LeMarchand]

The weakest of the 6 I watched (I liked them all) was probably the third one (last stand).

 

Last Stand is nearer the top for me - can't understand why the fanbois hate it. Out of the 5 (to date) "main" X-films Future Past is probably my least favourite. It should have been much better than it was.

[sonofsanta]

Last Stand was an X-Men music video in terms of plot depth. Major characters killed off anti-climactically, new characters introduced with almost zero backstory, the whole rich Dark Phoenix storyline condensed down to Jean Grey standing around looking moody. 1 & 2 were utterly brilliant, more or less created the superhero movie as we have it today, yet 3 was forgettable and bland to me.

 

The two new ones have been much better again. Xavier & Magneto have been brilliant in them.

 

Edit to add: I just wanted to confirm that Mad Max: Fury Road is a work of mad genius and I absolutely bloody loved it and I am sad that more movies are not like this one.

Edited May 27, 2015 by sonofsanta

[Sagima]

The new magneto is good. I'm not much of a fan of mcavoy Edited May 27, 2015 by Sagima

[LeMarchand]

Last Stand was an X-Men music video in terms of plot depth. Major characters killed off anti-climactically, new characters introduced with almost zero backstory, the whole rich Dark Phoenix storyline condensed down to Jean Grey standing around looking moody. 1 & 2 were utterly brilliant, more or less created the superhero movie as we have it today, yet 3 was forgettable and bland to me.

 

Agree that 1 & 2 were brilliant, and that without them the current superhero boom might not exists, but 3 seemed to me to really hit some of the values of the comics that I really loved. Yes, Dark Phoenix was a bit of a damp squib, but we were never going to get a close adaptation of the comic. Future Past, IMHO, squandered a great storyline in a much worse fashion. I've not seen Valkyrie, but I don't highly rate any of Singer's post-X2 output as a director and would much rather have seen Matthew Vaughan carry on.

 

Anyway:

 

 

Mme LeMarchand loved this; I enjoyed it, but at around the 1/2 way point it stops making much sense. Your enjoyment will be tempered by how much you can go with the flow. Complaints listed below - hopefully in invisotext!

 

[spoilers]Why does Tomorrowland go downhill and murderous (the robots)? Why cancel the recruitment program? Why not just send direct aid? How come every new recruit in the final scene appeared in a different spot at the same time? So... those new recruits were they just going to be shown Tomorrowland as an inspiration? ...and many more![/spoilers]