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RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 7:28:48 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40618
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

It'll take an hour of your time to watch.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to matty_b)

Post #: 1201

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 8:47:34 PM

matty_b

Posts: 13132
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Outpost 31 calling McMurtle.

An hour is very valuable to me.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: Cool Breeze
Mattyb is a shining example of what the perfect Empire Forum member is.

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 1202

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 8:50:32 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40618
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

I was going to say something, but it seemed too cruel.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to matty_b)

Post #: 1203

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 8:56:14 PM

Rebel scum

Posts: 3158
Joined: 2/1/2006

6-Cube (Natali, 1997) 9/10

What I thought would be a fun, diverting little film in which a bunch of people get trapped in a gruesome Crystal Maze and die is instead a taut, tense little thriller that is (excepting two nasty traps early on) completely uninterested in the traps. While for some that'd be disappointing, the focus instead is on the group dynamic and how it changes and breaks horribly down. There's a couple of nasty twists I didn't see coming, and the shift in characters so that some become sympathetic and some become bastards made it constantly engrossing. Early scenes where nobody's sure of each other's intentions make it possibly the tensest horror group since Capenter's The Thing, and I mean that as the highest praise. There are a few wobbles - some of the acting flat-out sucks and the "touching" character beats feel horribly contrived/rushed, but as a tense, no holds barred thriller? One of the best I've ever seen.

_____________________________

"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 1204

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 8:57:16 PM

Rebel scum

Posts: 3158
Joined: 2/1/2006

January is:

1-Blazing Saddles (Brooks, 1974)
2-Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2007)
3-The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Jackson, 2012)
4-Lincoln (Spielberg, 2012)
5-Django Unchained (Tarantino, 2012)
6-Cube (Natali, 1997)
7-The Living Daylights (Glen, 1987)
8-The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
9-Silver Linings Playbook (Russell, 2012)
10-Les Miserables (Hooper, 2012)
11-Arthur Christmas (Smith, 2011)
12-The Uninvited (Allen, 1944)
13-The Magnificent Seven (Sturges, 1960)
14-Fitzcarraldo (Herzog, 1982)
15-The Hurt Locker (Bigelow, 2009)
16-The Mummy (Freud, 1932)
17-Life of Pi (Lee, 2012)
18-Paranormal Activity 3 (Joost & Schulman, 2011)
19-The Matrix Reloaded (Wachowski & Wachowski, 2003)
20-The Matrix Revolutions (Wachowski & Wackowski, 2003)

_____________________________

"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

(in reply to Rebel scum)

Post #: 1205

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 9:21:46 PM

SadFace

Posts: 1521
Joined: 1/1/2008
From: Derbyshire / Leicester

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rebel scum

6-Cube (Natali, 1997) 9/10

What I thought would be a fun, diverting little film in which a bunch of people get trapped in a gruesome Crystal Maze and die is instead a taut, tense little thriller that is (excepting two nasty traps early on) completely uninterested in the traps. While for some that'd be disappointing, the focus instead is on the group dynamic and how it changes and breaks horribly down. There's a couple of nasty twists I didn't see coming, and the shift in characters so that some become sympathetic and some become bastards made it constantly engrossing. Early scenes where nobody's sure of each other's intentions make it possibly the tensest horror group since Capenter's The Thing, and I mean that as the highest praise. There are a few wobbles - some of the acting flat-out sucks and the "touching" character beats feel horribly contrived/rushed, but as a tense, no holds barred thriller? One of the best I've ever seen.

Recorded this several years ago after it was shown at a godforsaken time of the night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Enough to buy the sequels, which are not as good but still worthwhile.

_____________________________

Tobias, you blowhard.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson

That's the most wrong I've ever seen someone be on this forum. And both Gimli and Elab post here.

(in reply to Rebel scum)

Post #: 1206

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 9:29:04 PM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3221
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

You're all going to burn in hell and you deserve it.

Zero Dark Thirty (Kathryn Bigelow)

The word that comes to mind first and foremost is 'rigorous' - both in execution of its detail and in its firm, unwavering stance at being dispassionate about the politics of the film and the use of torture within it. The timescale of the film crosses for the last Dubya administration to the first Obama one but the film makes no hay out of it, and as for the use of torture - anyone thinking this is pro-torture either saw a very different film to the one I saw, or went into it with their mind already made up. It's not even a debate, frankly. It's a shame that that controvery has overshadowed what is a terrific achievement by Bigelow and the writer Mark Boal. It's an incredibly detailed and tightly wound thriller about the hunt for Bin Laden that makes various scenes of talking heads in offices debating the best way to go forward with the operation as exciting as the scenes of chasing various targets around foreign markets - but never at the expense of making it a macho, gung-ho experience. Instead, it's a sweaty-palmed exploration of the danger that was involved in this mission, and Bigelow crafts some nerve-shredding sequences out of the various twists and turns that the Americans are forced to go down. Many people already cite the final raid on Bin Laden's compound as a great piece of film making, and it is, but there's another sequence earlier in the film that I can't even begin to describe for fear of spoilers that is one of the most ominous stretches of film I've seen in a good long while, before climacting with a real gut-punch of a finish. And for a film that clocks near to three hours, there's not an ounce of extraneous matter on it - not one wasted line or pointless shot. It ticks and surges forward with an unstoppable military precision. It feels like half the run time.

Jessica Chastain is the heart and soul of the film, and becomes those things without ever recoursing to cliche. There are no scenes of her homelife, no dark and lonely nights of the soul in a hotel room where all she wants is someone to hold her and no huggy touchy-feely crap where we discover she's all soft and cuddly underneath her stern-faced exterior. She does a fantastic job of suggesting the impossible pressure that was mounting on her during the hunt, and as such, her obsession with finding and killing Bin Laden becomes as much about survival for her as it is about anything else - if it fails, she'll be crushed beyond repair. And Chastain does all this without any dialogue telling you so, saying so much more in the way she holds herself and bites out the words she needs to say to get the job gone. And talking of words, it's got the best last line of dialogue in a film for a long, long time. (5)

Great review...and I'm in complete agreement.

_____________________________

Qwerty's Top 10 of 2013 (so far)

1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. No
3. A Hijacking
4. In The Fog
5. Good Vibrations
6. McCullin
7. Beyond the Hills
8. The Place Beyond the Pines
9. Wreck-it Ralph
10. Shell

(in reply to matty_b)

Post #: 1207

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 9:32:35 PM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3221
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rebel scum

6-Cube (Natali, 1997) 9/10

What I thought would be a fun, diverting little film in which a bunch of people get trapped in a gruesome Crystal Maze and die is instead a taut, tense little thriller that is (excepting two nasty traps early on) completely uninterested in the traps. While for some that'd be disappointing, the focus instead is on the group dynamic and how it changes and breaks horribly down. There's a couple of nasty twists I didn't see coming, and the shift in characters so that some become sympathetic and some become bastards made it constantly engrossing. Early scenes where nobody's sure of each other's intentions make it possibly the tensest horror group since Capenter's The Thing, and I mean that as the highest praise. There are a few wobbles - some of the acting flat-out sucks and the "touching" character beats feel horribly contrived/rushed, but as a tense, no holds barred thriller? One of the best I've ever seen.

Yeah the acting is a bit dodgy, but fortunately the concept sustains the film. Been a good 7 years or so since I've seen it but I recall being very impressed.

Have you ever seen the follow-ups? I've never bothered, mainly cause I'm a bit of a sequelphobe.

_____________________________

Qwerty's Top 10 of 2013 (so far)

1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. No
3. A Hijacking
4. In The Fog
5. Good Vibrations
6. McCullin
7. Beyond the Hills
8. The Place Beyond the Pines
9. Wreck-it Ralph
10. Shell

(in reply to Rebel scum)

Post #: 1208

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 9:34:40 PM

AxlReznor

Posts: 1095
Joined: 2/12/2010
From: Great Britain

Okay, so Groundhog Day far exceeded my expecations. So now this is my top 20 for January.

1) Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
2) The Dark Knight Rises (Christopher Nolan, 2012)
3) Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
4) Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2013)
5) Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009)
6) Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993)
7) Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (Fax Bahr/George Hickenlooper/Eleanor Coppola, 1991)
8) Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, 2013)
9) Despicable Me (Pierre Coffin/Chris Renaud, 2010)
10) Elite Squad: The Enemy Within (Jose Padilha, 2010)
11) The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1997)
12) Date Night (Shawn Levy, 2010)
13) 48 Hrs. (Walter Hill, 1982)
14) The Flowers Of War (Zhang Yimou, 2012)
15) A History Of Violence (David Cronenberg, 2005)
16) Black Book (Paul Verhoeven, 2006)
17) Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (George Miller, 1981)
18) Outrage (Takeshi Kitano, 2010)
19) Stardust (Matthew Vaughn, 2007)
20) Adventureland (Greg Mottola, 2009)

_____________________________

"It's amazing how many supposed 'plot holes' turn out to now be plot holes if you'd just pay attention", Me

(in reply to Qwerty Norris)

Post #: 1209

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 9:57:53 PM

SadFace

Posts: 1521
Joined: 1/1/2008
From: Derbyshire / Leicester

quote:

ORIGINAL: Qwerty Norris

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rebel scum

6-Cube (Natali, 1997) 9/10

What I thought would be a fun, diverting little film in which a bunch of people get trapped in a gruesome Crystal Maze and die is instead a taut, tense little thriller that is (excepting two nasty traps early on) completely uninterested in the traps. While for some that'd be disappointing, the focus instead is on the group dynamic and how it changes and breaks horribly down. There's a couple of nasty twists I didn't see coming, and the shift in characters so that some become sympathetic and some become bastards made it constantly engrossing. Early scenes where nobody's sure of each other's intentions make it possibly the tensest horror group since Capenter's The Thing, and I mean that as the highest praise. There are a few wobbles - some of the acting flat-out sucks and the "touching" character beats feel horribly contrived/rushed, but as a tense, no holds barred thriller? One of the best I've ever seen.

Yeah the acting is a bit dodgy, but fortunately the concept sustains the film. Been a good 7 years or so since I've seen it but I recall being very impressed.

Have you ever seen the follow-ups? I've never bothered, mainly cause I'm a bit of a sequelphobe.

Cube 2 takes an interesting idea but doesn't entirely succeed and Cube Zero is slightly better, showing you outside the cube. Neither are brilliant but probably worth a watch.

_____________________________

Tobias, you blowhard.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson

That's the most wrong I've ever seen someone be on this forum. And both Gimli and Elab post here.

(in reply to Qwerty Norris)

Post #: 1210

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 11:38:51 PM

Harry Tuttle

Posts: 7618
Joined: 12/11/2005
From: Sometime in the future.

This was January.

5*
Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2013)
Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell, 2012)
Anatomy of a Murder (Otto Preminger, 1959)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Benh Zeitlin, 2012)
Argo (Ben Affleck, 2012)
Moon (Duncan Jones, 2009)
My Neighbour Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997)
Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010)
Beauty and the Beast (Trousdale/Wise, 1991)
Arrietty (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2011)

4.5*
The Muppets (James Bobin, 2012)
Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2012)
Avengers Assemble (Joss Whedon, 2012)
Monsters Inc. (Docter/Silverman/Unkrich, 2001)
Frankenweenie (Tim Burton, 2012)
Labyrinth (Jim Henson, 1986)
Kung Fu Panda (Osborne/Stevenson, 2008)

4*
Martha Marcy May Marlene (Sean Durkin, 2012)
Young Adult (Jason Reitman, 2011)
Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)
Brave (Andrews/Chapman, 2012)
La Belle et la Bete (Jean Cocteau, 1946)
Dredd (Pete Travis, 2012)
The Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists (Peter Lord, 2012)
Grabbers (Jon Wright, 2012)
Remember The Night (Mitchell Leisen, 1940)
The Hobbit (Peter Jackson, 2012)

3.5*
Gangs of New York (Martin Scorsese, 2002)

3*
J. Edgar (Clint Eastwood, 2012)
Gremlins 2 (Joe Dante, 1990)
Them (Gordon Douglas, 1954)
Hulk (Ang Lee, 2003)

2.5*
Bugsy (Barry Levinson, 1991)

< Message edited by Harry Tuttle -- 31/1/2013 11:45:02 PM >

_____________________________

Acting...Naturaaal

Your knowledge of scientific biological transmogrification is only outmatched by your zest for kung-fu treachery!

Blood Island. So called because it's the exact shape of some blood

(in reply to SadFace)

Post #: 1211

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 31/1/2013 11:43:38 PM

Ultimo Lee

Posts: 1569
Joined: 17/7/2007
From: Manchester

Month 1 (it's over already?

)

January 2013 (32)

4 FOUR ****
Dragnet (Tom Mankiewicz, 1987) America **
Seven Psychopaths (Martin McDonagh, 2012) UK
The Avengers (Joss Whedon, 2012) America
Av� (Konstantin Bojanov, 2011) Bulgaria
Spider-Man 2 (Sam Raimi, 2004) America **
Outbound (Bogdan George Apetri, 2010) Romania
The Architect (Ina Weisse, 2008) Germany
Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik, 2012) America
The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists (Peter Lord, 2012) UK

3 THREE ***
City State (Olaf de Fleur Johannesson, 2011) Iceland
Looper (Rian Johnson, 2012) America
Thor (Kenneth Branagh, 2011) America **
Even the Rain (Ic�ar Bolla�n, 2010) Spain
End Of Watch (David Ayer, 2012) America
Invasion of Alien Bikini (Oh Young-doo, 2011) South Korea
A Stranger of Mine (Kenji Uchida, 2005) Japan
Barbara (Christian Petzold, 2012) Germany
Above Us Only Sky (Jan Schomburg, 2011) Germany
Narco (Tristan Aurouet, Gilles Lellouche, 2004) France
Captain America: The First Avenger (Joe Johnston, 2011) America **
Grabbers (Jon Wright, 2012) Ireland
Berberian Sound Studio (Peter Strickland, 2012) UK

2 TWO **
The Life of Jesus (Bruno Dumont, 1997) France
Simon of the Desert (Luis Bu�uel, 1965) Mexico
Hotel Transylvania (Genndy Tartakovsky, 2012) America
The Christmas Party (Rasmus Heide, 2009) Denmark
Cannibal Vegetarian (Branko Schmidt, 2012) Croatia
Killer Elite (Gary McKendry, 2011) America
Post Mortem (Pablo Larra�n, 2010) Chile
Hipnos (David Carreras, 2004) Spain
Just the Wind (Benedek Fliegauf, 2012) Hungary
Alps (Giorgos Lanthimos, 2011) Greece

** Rewatches: 4

Out of 5/ In Order of Love
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Short Films (Order Of Viewing)
Delicate (Evan Kelman, 2012)
The Snowman and The Snowdog (Hilary Audus, 2012)
Room on the Broom (Jan Lachauer & Max Lang, 2012)
A World without Bird (Kendy, 2012)
Wind Mills (Guillaume Berg�re, 2011)
Tony vs Paul (Paul B Cummings & Tony Fiandaca , 2007)
Fuzzy Insides (Michaela Olsen, 2009)
A Therapy (Roman Polanski, 2012)
The Polar Bears (John Stevenson, 2012)
Little Quentin (Paco Vink, 2009)
Pinched (David Vandervoort, 2012)
Tim (Ken Turner, 2012)
Ah, L'Amour (Don Hertzfeldt, 1995)
Genre (Don Hertzfeldt, 1996)
Lily and Jim (Don Hertzfeldt, 1997)
Billy's Balloon (Don Hertzfeldt, 1998)
Fallen Art (Tomasz Baginski, 2004)
Vampire Bash (2011)
On The Water (Yi Zhao, 2010)
Paperman (John Kahrs, 2012)

Documentaries (Order Of Viewing)
Just, Melvin: Just Evil (James Ronald Whitney, 2000)
The Red Chapel (Mads Br�gger, 2009)

Best Film Of The Month (First Watches Only)
Jan: Seven Psychopaths

Worst Film Of The Month (First Watches Only)
Jan: Alps

_____________________________

Watched List 2013 (168)

My Letterboxd

(in reply to Harry Tuttle)

Post #: 1212

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 1:41:33 AM

scarface666brooksy!!

Posts: 2585
Joined: 24/10/2007
From: The Valley of the Wind

Had a double-bill of Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained last night.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Bigeloew, 1st viewing)

A lot has been said about ZDT. It's content, it's politics and the torture within the film has been dissected by intelligent film goers, the media and hand-wringing conspiracist wankers who think that ZDT and Argo are propaganda of the highest degree. With Argo I can kind of see what they mean in a sense, but Bigeloew's film is a restrained yet sprawling film that does as much to show the mindset of the world since 2001, then any media pundit on any news channel. The fact it's a fantastically made film with a great cast, a superb leading performance from the lovely Jessica Chastain and interesting subject matter seems to escape a lot of people who think either a). Bigeloew is becoming the new Riefenstahl or b). It's hat movie about how they bumped off Bin Laden and found him by torturing people. I'm not even getting into the apparent pro-torture debate because frankly that's a gigantic load of crap, that doesn't need discussing. Either way, Zero Dark Thirty is still a great film, even if the moral outrage surrounding it has over-shadowed it dramatically.

Django Unchained (2012, Tarantino, 1st viewing)

Yay, Tarantino has finally made a film in the last 13 years I can happily defend as being excellent yay

Django is a hell of a lot of fun, and excluding Jackie Brown his most mature film to date. Like ZDT, it's a long sprawling ride, that's Oscar nominated and they also deals with historical subject matter (albeit Tarantino, as usual isn't exactly keeping 100% true to history but still). The other two things they have in common is a fantastic cast (Waltz, Foxx, DiCaprio, Jackson, Washington and all the eclectic cast are terrific), and they both are quite controversial. There's the usual "OMG TARANTINO, YOUR FILMS ARE VIOLENT AND MUST BE THE REASON PEOPLE HAVE AK-47'S UNDER THEIR BEDS". and also Spike "The Jack Thompson of Racism" Lee, who attacked the film's portrayal of the slave trade and the over-use of the N-Word. These controversies however haven't engulfed Django like ZDT's did, instead the film stands above all of it. It really is absolutely terrific, a sign that Tarantino can actually pull off a really excellent movie when he wants too, and yes adult supervision is required.

< Message edited by scarface666brooksy!! -- 1/2/2013 1:58:13 AM >

_____________________________

My Aussie Film Thread - Film #6 The Last Wave.

(in reply to Ultimo Lee)

Post #: 1213

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 1:45:04 AM

scarface666brooksy!!

Posts: 2585
Joined: 24/10/2007
From: The Valley of the Wind

My January

Feature Films

Total:
27

1. Memories Of Murder (2003, Bong, 1st viewing) (Jan)
2. Boyz n The Hood (1991, Singleton, 3rd viewing) (Jan)
3. Django Unchained (2012, Tarantino, 1st viewing) (Jan)
4. Seven Psychopaths (2012, McDonagh, 1st viewing) (Jan)
5. Argo (2012, Affleck, 1st viewing) (Jan)
6. Paprika (2006, Kon, 1st viewing) (Jan)
7. Zero Dark Thirty (2012, Bigelow, 1st viewing) (Jan)
8. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984, Miyazaki, 1st viewing) (Jan)
9. The Lady From Shanghai (1947, Welles, 1st viewing) (Jan)
10. 21 Jump Street (2012, Lord & Miller, 2nd viewing) (Jan)
11.The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012, Jackson, 1st viewing) (Jan)
12. Killing Them Softly (2012, Dominik, 1st viewing) (Jan)
13. Ghost In The Shell (1995, Oshii, 1st viewing) (Jan)
14. The Amazing Spider-Man (2012, Webb, 2nd viewing) (Jan)
15. The Castle of Cagliostro (1979, Miyazaki, 1st viewing) (Jan)
16.Greaser's Palace (1972, Downey Sr. 1st viewing) (Jan)
17. The Lincoln Layer (2010, Furman, 1st viewing) (Jan)
18. Rubber (2010, Dupieux, 1st viewing) (Jan)
19. I'm Not There (2007, Haynes, 1st viewing) (Jan)
20. Premium Rush (2012, Koepp, 1st viewing) (Jan)
21. The Stranger (1946, Welles, 1st viewing) (Jan)
22. Gangster Squad (2013, Fleischer, 1st viewing) (Jan)
23. Harry Potter and the Philosopher�s Stone (2001, Columbus, 5th viewing) (Jan)
24. Death Bell (2008, Chang, 1st viewing) (Jan)
25. Super Troopers (2001, Chandrasekhar, 2nd viewing) (Jan)
26. I Stand Alone (1998, Noe, 1st viewing) (Jan)

Short Films
1. A Trip To The Moon (1902, Melies, 1st viewing) (Jan)
2. The Man With The Rubber Head (1901, Melies)
3. Demolishing and Building Up The Star Theatre (1901, Armitage, 1st viewing) (Jan)
4. The Great Train Robbery (1903, Porter, 1st viewing) (Jan)
5. The Infernal Boiling Pot (1903, Melies, 1st viewing) (Jan)

Documentaries
1. Shut Up And Play The Hits (2012, Lovelace & Southern, 1st viewing) (Jan)

_____________________________

My Aussie Film Thread - Film #6 The Last Wave.

(in reply to scarface666brooksy!!)

Post #: 1214

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 8:21:32 AM

Rebel scum

Posts: 3158
Joined: 2/1/2006

quote:

ORIGINAL: Qwerty Norris

quote:

ORIGINAL: Rebel scum

6-Cube (Natali, 1997) 9/10

What I thought would be a fun, diverting little film in which a bunch of people get trapped in a gruesome Crystal Maze and die is instead a taut, tense little thriller that is (excepting two nasty traps early on) completely uninterested in the traps. While for some that'd be disappointing, the focus instead is on the group dynamic and how it changes and breaks horribly down. There's a couple of nasty twists I didn't see coming, and the shift in characters so that some become sympathetic and some become bastards made it constantly engrossing. Early scenes where nobody's sure of each other's intentions make it possibly the tensest horror group since Capenter's The Thing, and I mean that as the highest praise. There are a few wobbles - some of the acting flat-out sucks and the "touching" character beats feel horribly contrived/rushed, but as a tense, no holds barred thriller? One of the best I've ever seen.

Yeah the acting is a bit dodgy, but fortunately the concept sustains the film. Been a good 7 years or so since I've seen it but I recall being very impressed.

Have you ever seen the follow-ups? I've never bothered, mainly cause I'm a bit of a sequelphobe.

This was my first viewing of Cube, and despite the alleged drop-off in quality I'm interested enough to give them a go.

_____________________________

"We are not safe! A dark menace rises to the east! Duckies go quack! Cows go moo! I want ice cream. Verily, will you two hobbits join my quest?"

(in reply to Qwerty Norris)

Post #: 1215

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 10:36:19 AM

Gimli The Dwarf

Posts: 73572
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Central Park Zoo

Cube is a brilliant, brilliant film. Hypercube is well worth a watch although it's not close to being as great. Zero is pants but it does have some nice ideas, but badly executed.

_____________________________

So, sir, we let him have it right up! And I have to report, sir, he did not like it, sir.

Fellow scientists, poindexters, geeks.

Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!

Much more better!

(in reply to Rebel scum)

Post #: 1216

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 10:53:20 AM

talpacino

Posts: 3643
Joined: 15/11/2005
From: The Royal County

26 for me in January, not too shabby. 12 first timers and 14 repeats. Bar Ted and Welcome to the jungle they were all 3 star or above for me. I have to make an effort to watch more bad films next month.

Life of Pi - 4/5
Liberal Arts - 4/5
Martha Marcy May Marlene - 4/5
Pitch Perfect - 3/5
Zero Dark Thirty - 4
The Impossible - 3
Silver Linings Playbook - 4
The Sessions - 4
Amour - 5
I saw the Devil - 4
Ted - 2.5
Gangster Squad - 3
The Motorcycle Diaries - 5
Gone Baby Gone - 4
Rules of Attraction - 4
Zombieland - 4
Django Unchained - 4
Magnolia - 4.5
Punch Drunk Love - 4.5
Seven Psychopaths - 4
There Will Be Blood - 5
Grosse Pointe Blank - 5
A history of Violence - 3.5
The Sure Thing - 4
Easy A - 3.5
Welcome to the jungle - 2.5

_____________________________

Currahee!

It's a different film. It's a very different film! It's a different shark!

Suppose I shot ya..How'd that be?

Post #: 1217

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 11:06:36 AM

SadFace

Posts: 1521
Joined: 1/1/2008
From: Derbyshire / Leicester

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gimli The Dwarf

Cube is a brilliant, brilliant film. Hypercube is well worth a watch although it's not close to being as great. Zero is pants but it does have some nice ideas, but badly executed.

I remember preferring Zero to Hypercube, although Hypercube did keep my interest. They are well due for a rewatch though.

_____________________________

Tobias, you blowhard.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson

That's the most wrong I've ever seen someone be on this forum. And both Gimli and Elab post here.

(in reply to Gimli The Dwarf)

Post #: 1218

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 12:22:01 PM

scarface666brooksy!!

Posts: 2585
Joined: 24/10/2007
From: The Valley of the Wind

Just saw Silver Linings Playbook. Expect an exuberant review tomorrow. Spoiler Alert: I loved it.

_____________________________

My Aussie Film Thread - Film #6 The Last Wave.

(in reply to SadFace)

Post #: 1219

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 1:03:59 PM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3221
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

quote:

ORIGINAL: scarface666brooksy!!

Yay, Tarantino has finally made a film in the last 13 years I can happily defend as being excellent yay Django is a hell of a lot of fun, and excluding Jackie Brown his most mature film to date.

It is...until those remaining 35 minutes. Then for me it's a case of "as you were" with QT. Probably why I came out of it feeling frustrated despite the number of positives.

_____________________________

Qwerty's Top 10 of 2013 (so far)

1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. No
3. A Hijacking
4. In The Fog
5. Good Vibrations
6. McCullin
7. Beyond the Hills
8. The Place Beyond the Pines
9. Wreck-it Ralph
10. Shell

(in reply to scarface666brooksy!!)

Post #: 1220

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 1:04:55 PM

homersimpson_esq

Posts: 19969
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Springfield

Love seeing the love for Cube, one of my favourites.

_____________________________

That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne.

TREK WARS

(in reply to scarface666brooksy!!)

Post #: 1221

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 1:25:23 PM

rick_7

Posts: 5762
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: The internet

Saved! (Brian Dannelly, 2004)�- A lively satire about religious intolerance, in which Jena Malone's cloistered teen tries to save her boyfriend from gayness through the power of sex, setting in motion a chain of events that rock her evangelically-minded school. At times it feels a little too conventional - the prom night surprise wouldn't be out of place in She's All That -�but at its best it recalls Heathers, Election and Mean Girls, with the same predilection for stinging one-liners and taboo-busting, and a prize one bitch (Mandy Moore, compensating marginally for A Walk to Remember) with more than a touch of the Heather Chandler/Tracy Flick/Regina George about her. It's also nice to find a film so focused in its viewpoint and, on a personal level, to find that its message is: if there is a God, he wouldn't want you to hate everybody who's different to you. Malone is good in a role that never tends towards cliche, though the real acting honours go to Macaulay Culkin, superb as her comrade-in-arms, a poster boy for unfailingly acerbic wheelchair users everywhere. (3)

Also, LoveFilm finally sent me this:
�
*SPOILERS*
The Imposter (Bart Layton, 2012)�- Like Man on Wire, The Imposter features a charismatic Frenchman explaining - direct-to-camera - how he pulled off the impossible. But unlike Philippe Petit - the visionary (and admittedly adulterer) - who walked above cities to bring a sense of wonderment to people's�everyday life, this guy is a sociopath. And a twat. And he is most certainly not Nicholas Barclay. "Or Nick-oh-las Bar-clay", as he would pronounce it. And does. You may know the story by now.�In 1994, Nicholas Barclay, a blonde, blue-eyed 14-year-old Texan, went missing without trace. Three years later, he was found in Spain, and welcomed back into the bosom of his family. Only it wasn't him. It�was a swarthy, brown-haired, brown-eyed, 23-year-old French-Algerian. What you're probably thinking is: "What?" And then presumably: "How could this happen?" This astonishing documentary cuts to the heart of the matter in invigorating fashion, allowing the imposter (the consummate unreliable narrator) to guide us through much of the early action, before letting the family, American diplomats and even�the FBI have their say, as the story gets increasingly dark - and stays just about the same level of strange. Looking at Layton's credits (which include several episodes of Banged Up Abroad), critics have sought to say that it's the story gaining him plaudits, not the way he tells it. I'd disagree. Almost every decision he makes is the right one. If you're asking how the subject established and sustained his audacious ruse, then much of the answer surely lies in his mesmerising charisma and�his unshakeable self-belief. By putting him front and centre, and letting the imposter draw us into his weird logic,�his plays for sympathy and his bizarre, sad life, we're put in the same position as the family. Crammed in alongside the director's incisive interviews, and some immaculately incorporated home video snippets, are�superb reconstructions, which, since Layton offers no objective truth, bring to vivid life the interviewees' claims,�lies and�suspect memories.�And finally there's the measured, intelligent withholding of information, which keeps the viewer guessing - and laughing, incredulously - as the knot in the stomach tightens. If there is a shortcoming, it's that the cross-cutting in the final third - presumably meant to provide a kind of hypnotic rhythm and cumulative impact - feels forced and distracting, while the digging-in-the-backyard climax doesn't really come off. Still, Layton saves a wallop for the coda: not his imposter's much-quoted line hinting at psychopathy (which we'd kind of got anyway), but that chilling clip of him in the detention centre, where he'd been giving false hope to thousands of parents. What a dickhead.�It's an incredible story, though, and a brilliant, compelling and ultimately�unforgettable film. (4)

< Message edited by rick_7 -- 1/2/2013 1:33:05 PM >

(in reply to homersimpson_esq)

Post #: 1222

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 1:34:51 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40618
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

First time I watched The Imposter I was kind of bored with it until the suggestion came up that

Spoilers for The Imposter

the family had actually murdered the kid

and it seemed more intriguing and I rated the film higher after that. But watching again a few nights ago, I'm not convinced by the film itself. The backstory is fascinating, but something about the presentation just seems weak, and I think I'd have got as much out of reading an account of the story as watching the film, and I can't put my finger on what it is that makes me feel that way, and it's irritating me.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to rick_7)

Post #: 1223

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 2:26:34 PM

matty_b

Posts: 13132
Joined: 19/10/2005
From: Outpost 31 calling McMurtle.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rick_7
�
*SPOILERS*
The Imposter (Bart Layton, 2012)�- Like Man on Wire, The Imposter features a charismatic Frenchman explaining - direct-to-camera - how he pulled off the impossible. But unlike Philippe Petit - the visionary (and admittedly adulterer) - who walked above cities to bring a sense of wonderment to people's�everyday life, this guy is a sociopath. And a twat. And he is most certainly not Nicholas Barclay. "Or Nick-oh-las Bar-clay", as he would pronounce it. And does. You may know the story by now.�In 1994, Nicholas Barclay, a blonde, blue-eyed 14-year-old Texan, went missing without trace. Three years later, he was found in Spain, and welcomed back into the bosom of his family. Only it wasn't him. It�was a swarthy, brown-haired, brown-eyed, 23-year-old French-Algerian. What you're probably thinking is: "What?" And then presumably: "How could this happen?" This astonishing documentary cuts to the heart of the matter in invigorating fashion, allowing the imposter (the consummate unreliable narrator) to guide us through much of the early action, before letting the family, American diplomats and even�the FBI have their say, as the story gets increasingly dark - and stays just about the same level of strange. Looking at Layton's credits (which include several episodes of Banged Up Abroad), critics have sought to say that it's the story gaining him plaudits, not the way he tells it. I'd disagree. Almost every decision he makes is the right one. If you're asking how the subject established and sustained his audacious ruse, then much of the answer surely lies in his mesmerising charisma and�his unshakeable self-belief. By putting him front and centre, and letting the imposter draw us into his weird logic,�his plays for sympathy and his bizarre, sad life, we're put in the same position as the family. Crammed in alongside the director's incisive interviews, and some immaculately incorporated home video snippets, are�superb reconstructions, which, since Layton offers no objective truth, bring to vivid life the interviewees' claims,�lies and�suspect memories.�And finally there's the measured, intelligent withholding of information, which keeps the viewer guessing - and laughing, incredulously - as the knot in the stomach tightens. If there is a shortcoming, it's that the cross-cutting in the final third - presumably meant to provide a kind of hypnotic rhythm and cumulative impact - feels forced and distracting, while the digging-in-the-backyard climax doesn't really come off. Still, Layton saves a wallop for the coda: not his imposter's much-quoted line hinting at psychopathy (which we'd kind of got anyway), but that chilling clip of him in the detention centre, where he'd been giving false hope to thousands of parents. What a dickhead.�It's an incredible story, though, and a brilliant, compelling and ultimately�unforgettable film. (4)

Great review, rick. And rawlinson's wrong, obviously.

Two moments made me laugh in this probably more than any other comedy last year - kinda spoilerish, I suppose, and I'm paraphrasing from memory-

1) the detective's outburst when he first smells a rat - "He didn't have the same ears!"

2) the mother's admission that "at that time my basic objective was to not think about anything."

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: Cool Breeze
Mattyb is a shining example of what the perfect Empire Forum member is.

(in reply to rick_7)

Post #: 1224

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 2:26:54 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40618
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

There have been many great pioneers in cinema, people who developed the technology that allow pictures to move, that allow us to hear the dialogue being spoken by those fine actors, to see the colours of the world around us reflected on the screen and to create special effects that make epic fantasies possible. This film makes me hate each and every one of those people, because if they hadn't created cinema, I wouldn't have had to suffer through this fucking film. Gimli, you ever recommend me a film this bad again and I will track you down.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 1225

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 3:20:33 PM

Gimli The Dwarf

Posts: 73572
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: Central Park Zoo

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter

There have been many great pioneers in cinema, people who developed the technology that allow pictures to move, that allow us to hear the dialogue being spoken by those fine actors, to see the colours of the world around us reflected on the screen and to create special effects that make epic fantasies possible. This film makes me hate each and every one of those people, because if they hadn't created cinema, I wouldn't have had to suffer through this fucking film. Gimli, you ever recommend me a film this bad again and I will track you down.

I knew you'd hate it

< Message edited by Gimli The Dwarf -- 1/2/2013 3:21:01 PM >

_____________________________

So, sir, we let him have it right up! And I have to report, sir, he did not like it, sir.

Fellow scientists, poindexters, geeks.

Yeah, Mr. White! Yeah, science!

Much more better!

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 1226

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 3:31:52 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40618
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

Then why tell me to watch it?!?!?!?

It's not even dumb fun, how can anyone make a film called Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and make it feel more self-important than an actual biopic of Lincoln released in the same year?

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to Gimli The Dwarf)

Post #: 1227

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 4:01:13 PM

TRM

Posts: 4767
Joined: 20/10/2006
From: Bristol

January

Features:
The Hustler (Robert Rossen, 1961) - 5
Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, 2010) - 5
Rebel without a cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) - 5
Closely Observed Trains (Jiri Menzel, 1966)- 5
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (Martin Scorsese, 2005) - 5
Pleasantville (Gary Ross, 1998) - 5
Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012) - 4
The Last Command (Joseph von Sternberg) - 4
Winchester '73 (Anthony Mann, 1950) - 4
Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, 2012) - 4
Jack Reacher (Christopher McQuarrie, 2012) - 4
The King of Kong (Seth Gordon, 2007)- 4
It (Clarence G. Badger, 1927) - 4
Spartacus (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) - 4
McCullin (David Morris, 2012) - 4
Loving Memory (Tony Scott, 1971) - 4
The Passionate Friends (David Lean, 1949) - 4
Laugh, Clown, Laugh (Herbert Brenon, 1928) - 4
Safety not Guaranteed (Colin Trevorrow, 2012) - 4
Phenomina (Dario Argento, 1985) - 4
The Last Laugh (F. W. Murnau, 1924) - 4
Ministry of Fear (Fritz Lang, 1944) - 4
Man with a movie camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) - 3
Gangster Squad (Ruben Fleischer, 2013) - 3
Alexander Nevsky (Sergei Eisenstein, 1938) - 3
Wizards (Ralph Bakshi, 1977) - 3
Dredd (Pete Travis, 2012) - 3
Cabiria (Giovanni Pastrone, 1914) - 3
The Ace of Hearts (Wallace Worsley, 1921) - 2
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) - 2
Coquette (Sam Taylor, 1929) - 1

Shorts:
Night Mail (Harry Watt & Basil Wright, 1936) - 5
Pay day (Charles Chaplin, 1922) - 4
A Day's pleasure (Charles Chaplin, 1919) - 3
The Idle Class (Charles Chaplin, 1921) - 3
One of the missing (Tony Scott, 1969) - 3
We live in two worlds (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1937) - 3
Boy and Bicycle (Ridley Scott, 1965) - 2
N or NW (Len Lye, 1938) - 2
Scampermouse in a jam (Ivo Caprino, 1955) - 2
Abracadabra (Frederic Back, 1970) - 2
Tim & Teddy (Ivo Caprino, 1949) - 1

_____________________________

I'm going out to the states to redeem the social outcasts. My only real ambition is to cultivate Texas. I love Texas. You must watch "The last picture show". That film! It was my first real sexual relationship.

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 1228

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 4:02:37 PM

rawlinson

Posts: 40618
Joined: 13/6/2008
From: Timbuktu. Chinese or Fictional.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TRM

Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, 2012) - 4
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) - 2

Another month, another chance to yell get the fuck out at TRM.

_____________________________

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I would plough my way through MonsterCat

quote:

ORIGINAL: matty_b

I desire MonsterCat to go down on me.

(in reply to TRM)

Post #: 1229

RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2013 - Discus... - 1/2/2013 4:03:39 PM

TRM

Posts: 4767
Joined: 20/10/2006
From: Bristol

quote:

ORIGINAL: rawlinson

quote:

ORIGINAL: TRM

Les Miserables (Tom Hooper, 2012) - 4
Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) - 2

Another month, another chance to yell get the fuck out at TRM.

Yeah 2 is quite generous

_____________________________

I'm going out to the states to redeem the social outcasts. My only real ambition is to cultivate Texas. I love Texas. You must watch "The last picture show". That film! It was my first real sexual relationship.

(in reply to rawlinson)

Post #: 1230