Last movie seen — Page 228

Gravity.

My favorite movie of all time is Sunshine, so hearing all of the hype for this one made me think that perhaps Gravity would steal that honor.

It almost did.

Gravity and Sunshine are very different movies. Sunshine takes its time and allows for long moments of introspection. Gravity has pauses, but for the most part it is an intense race for survival. As such, it never allowed me to sink into the movie the way Sunshine did, so Sunshine for me is still the best. But Gravity has the most realistic CGI that I have ever seen, and I still don't know how they did some of the floating effects. It also usurps Revenge of the Sith as making the most dramatic use of a certain spaceship situation which I will not state here as it may be construed as spoilers. Gravity also genuinely surprised me in several places, something that gets harder and harder to do.

I saw Gravity in 2D. It looks like one of the few movies that would be better in 3D, but 2D was absolutely wonderful for me.

I would not change a thing about this movie. Perfect ten out of ten.

Tyrannosaur

Meant to see it for ages but finally caught it at a charity Q&A with star Olivia Colman. Blown away. It's bleak, dark, disturbing and violent but there is also so much light, humour and hope. I almost blubbed when one of the characters was singing The Pogues at a wake.

Peter Mullan's character was a breath of fresh air because he had so many unlikeable qualities but the film lets you see into his heart and you do end up feeling for him. Olivia Colman should've got a best actress nod at the Baftas IMO.

Superb writing and directing from Paddy Considine with every detail of the characters lives and surroundings having been thought about. It's the kind of film that I can see being a totally different experience on the second viewing. Something I plan on doing again soon.

valinkrai said:

I'm watching too many movies to effectively give reviews, but lately I've seen:

Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 (Love the soundtrack for them)

Sunset Blvd. (The narration was well used. Haven't seen any narration that was so effective yet on IMDB quest.)

12 Angry Men (My new favorite movie)

The Rescuers

City of God

Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind

Rear Window

My Neighbors Totorro

Well that's a strange coincidence, in the last year I think I've seen 6 of those movies for the first time. 12 Angry Men should be required viewing in school.

valinkrai said:

I'm watching too many movies to effectively give reviews, but lately I've seen:

Sunset Blvd. (The narration was well used. Haven't seen any narration that was so effective yet on IMDB quest.)

I highly reccomend watching all of the first 18 or so of Gene Wilder's films. It's probably the longest "purple patch" any director has ever had. My favourites are either 'Sunset Blvd' or 'The Lost Weekend' if I want drama and 'The Seven Year Itch' if I want comedy (Marilyn Monroe is eye-meltingly stunning in the later!)

Excuse me Ryan, I think you mean Billy Wilder. Although Gene is good too. ;)

I've seen the trailer for that. Is it getting a wide release?

I'll have to keep an eye out.

There isn't much they would have to do to the It's a Small World ride to make it more scary than it is already. ;)

I am a Kubrick virgin no more. Did a little mini-marathon on Saturday of 3 of his films, and ... well...


Eyes Wide Shut - I'm really not sure why we watched this one first but it was a good place to start. It's really jarring seeing modern actors in a film like this where Kubrick shows off his love of static camera shots. While I'm pretty iffy on the plot, the cinematography was as strong as I'd been told. It was worth a view, but I'm not sure I'd watch it again. Minus the weird stuff, it felt like a more engaging version of Lost in Translation. 8/10


The Shining - This was my favorite of the three. I loved the steadycam, I loved the sets, I loved everything. Very few films have me going "oh my God" over and over during the more intense sequences without resorting to shock value of hard cuts and surprises. Being familiar with the intensity of the shooting schedule and Kubrick's infamous psychological torture of Shelley Duvall definitely highlighted the tension. And, as always, props to Jack Nicholson. The man knows crazy. Highly recommended for the 10 people on this board who haven't seen it yet. 10/10



2001: A Space Odyssey - Loved the cinematography. It's the most visually stunning film I've ever seen, even before the Jupiter sequence. That said, I didn't get the film. If I'd paid for it in the sixties, I definitely would have walked out. Sorry, folks. I can't even give it a rating.  There's a LOT to love, but ... really, it's more an experience than a film.  Hope that makes sense.  Doing the whole Echoes synch with the Jupiter sequence probably helped... there was one jump in the vinyl we used that made up for human error shortly in.  If you haven't done it before, it's great.  Seriously.  Do it.

All that said, it was definitely worth the time. I'm still thinking about it two days later, and that's worth something... right?

^I'll be back, 2001. I'm not done with you.

Bingowings said:

What don't you get about 2001?

It's a pretty basic story which I understood perfectly well when I was 11 or 12yrs old (I might have seen it before then but I can't remember).

My mum says she doesn't get 2001 either. Some people just don't get it I guess. Me and my youngest sister had to explain it to her and she finally understood it. My other family members didn't actually care.

The Notebook

Four out of Five Balls (Am I the only one still using the balls system??)

I actually really liked this film, having never seen it before. A lot of it is a little ham-fisted and corny, but it did make me cry.

A lot.

Like, uncontrollable hour and a half long crying.

Then I watched 'Up' again.

Cried a lot there too.