Free Spirits Rowing

Have seen recently Tinker Tailor and thought it excellent.

The kids saw TinTin yesterday and loved it.

To be fair we did rather push TinTin at the youngest as it was a refreshing change from Thomas the Tank Engine that the eldest was into and anything horse related that my daughter latched on to.

I'll also advertise a film written, directed and produced by my eldest son (he wants to study film at Uni).

It's on Youtube which I can't access from here and therefore can't provide a link for.

If you search for "Hund" you should find it.

not the most uplifting of pieces and as you would expect from a group of teenagers a bit shallow in places but nonetheless, completed and out there.

With wifey out at business functions recently I have finally watched the Godfather parts 1 and 2.
A litte dated, but great viewing.
Looking forward to #3 when I get the chance.

Wolfmiester wrote:With wifey out at business functions recently I have finally watched the Godfather parts 1 and 2.
A litte dated, but great viewing.
Looking forward to #3 when I get the chance.

Don't do it! Godfather 1 and 2 were great. Don't spoil it by watching Godfather 3 - seriously.

Went to see "in time" last night.
Very very good film. Sci fi set in the near future where everybody lives to 25 and then stop aging. You have a year but can earn more by working but eveything is paid for in time (a cup of coffee is 4 minutes). The poor of course live from day to day, facing sudden death at any moment whereas the rich can almost live forever. Fascinating concept and it becomes a sort of Logans run meets Bonnie and Clyde. Well worth seeing. Justin Timberlake turns in a good performance as the poor boy who gains a lot of time and hooks up with rich girl (Amanda Seyfried) who rebels against daddy.

Breaking Dawn part 1
Just wasted two hours of my life. Very drawn out, and some parts could only be described as cheesy.
Teenage perspective: 16 yr old rather vocally (unusual for her) disliked it, 14 yr old thought it was okay

Time is better spent reading the book.

Vacation week so have been to two movies.

War Horse - very slow, but did not feel like time wasted. Kids cried, but loved it.

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the English language Daniel Craig version) Much truer to the book than the Swedish version of the film; very well done despite the dark material. Lisbeth character was really terrific and Daniel Craig was a far more watchable Blomkvist. Even all scruffy looking, he looks like a guy that gets the girls, not so for the guy in the Swedish version.

cweed wrote:Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the English language Daniel Craig version) Much truer to the book than the Swedish version of the film; very well done despite the dark material. Lisbeth character was really terrific and Daniel Craig was a far more watchable Blomkvist. Even all scruffy looking, he looks like a guy that gets the girls, not so for the guy in the Swedish version.

Went to see it last night and I have to agree with you Christine. I'd forgotten how dark the book was.

cweed srote :-Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the English language Daniel Craig version) Much truer to the book than the Swedish version of the film; very well done despite the dark material. Lisbeth character was really terrific and Daniel Craig was a far more watchable Blomkvist. Even all scruffy looking, he looks like a guy that gets the girls, not so for the guy in the Swedish version.

Well now I am really looking forward to seeing the new version after your review Christine as I thought the original Swedish version was pretty good and quite true to the book with a few changes in the first film (I bought the Swedish version of the trilogy box set before Christmas).

I really enjoyed the performance of Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth across the 3 films which was amazing, exactly as I imagined it when reading the books, not too keen on Michael Nyqvist as Blomkvist I imagine that Daniel Craig is better, can't wait to catch it-thanks for posting your thoughts

Saw Hangover 2 on DVD over Christmas, did not see the first one so was not in on the sequenced jokes alluding to the first film, but it reminded me of my student days what can I say

cweed wrote:Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the English language Daniel Craig version) Much truer to the book than the Swedish version of the film; very well done despite the dark material. Lisbeth character was really terrific and Daniel Craig was a far more watchable Blomkvist. Even all scruffy looking, he looks like a guy that gets the girls, not so for the guy in the Swedish version.

I went to see it with my wife last week and we both thought it was an excellent film. A fair warning to the squeamish is that It is very dark and very graphic -- a few of the scenes were particularly difficult to watch because there are no doubt evil individuals in real life who do some of the things portrayed.

On the lighter side of things I have finally seen "Thor", "Captain America", and "X-men: First Class". Amazing that the guy playing the lead in "Thor" did not start going to the gym until they cast him for the movie, and then he went on to put on so much muscle that the director told him to cut back. Apparently, upon bulking up his costume that fit early on in production became tight enough that his hands were going numb during later shootings. He also played George Kirk (Jim's father) at the beginning of "Star Trek" a couple years ago, and I frankly could not tell that it was even the same person.

Paul Victory wrote:

cweed wrote:Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (the English language Daniel Craig version) Much truer to the book than the Swedish version of the film; very well done despite the dark material. Lisbeth character was really terrific and Daniel Craig was a far more watchable Blomkvist. Even all scruffy looking, he looks like a guy that gets the girls, not so for the guy in the Swedish version.

Went to see it last night and I have to agree with you Christine. I'd forgotten how dark the book was.

So that's 3 of us on this "little" forum who have the same opinion. Wife and I really enjoyed the new version. Quite a bit of humour in it, all be it dark or/and subtle too at times.
Danile Craig much better, as is the portrayal of his business partner/lover.
Lisbeth is very good, but have to agree with Alan that first Lisbeth is superb.
Great to see lots of very good English actors/actresses playing key roles.

Watched Breaking Dawn (Twilight Series) last night. I pretty much hated the first 2 as they were dull and boring as hell. This was exactly the same if not worse - dull characters doing dull things in dullsville. After about an hour plus of tedium things got exciting...I went and opened a bag of crisps as I thought the noise of eating them might keep me awake - it worked - just. Eventually a couple of things started to happen on the screen and I though "ah! - here we go" - and then the film ended!!!

Another waste of a couple of hours of my life - I simply cannot figure out what the fuss is/was about

Pretty sure the fuss is generated by teenaged girls Dave.

cweed wrote:Pretty sure the fuss is generated by teenaged girls Dave.

I kinda knew the answer when I typed the question - Taylor Lautner takes his shirt off and the female teenage world throw tens of millions of pounds/dollars away...

The Hunger Games

Loved the book and the film is very true to its spirit and story. I really enjoyed it. The kids cried at the appropriate moments but the totalitarian state was way over their heads. I really liked the realisation of the Capitol.

Have to agree with you Thomas, the film was very good and fairly true to the book. The book was unputdownable and I read it in a day. The 3rd book lost its way a bit in the middle I felt but ended on a high.

read all the books and dont think the others were anywhere near as good as the first really, which i thought was brilliant. film was pretty good but think it could have been even better with a bit more of the violence etc left in..

twighlight - worst series of films ever made, but the missus insists on watching them! and as i make her watch films she doesnt like its only fair lol!

thought "drive" was really good, as was Warrior, and watched a strange animated one called spirited away, a couple of weeks ago too which was weird as hell but really engrossing!

on the girl with the dragon tattoo, i thought the remake was good, but i thought it was that similar that it was pointless.. just like the remake of let the right one in, just seems that hollywood runs out of ideas for films or thinks that people are too stupid to read subtitles!
they should change them around a bit more, or at least wait a good few years first.
the departed was a good remake, years after the original (hong kong film infernal affairs), and changed considerably enough to make it a film in its own right, loved both the departed and infernal affairs.

have to say my favourite film of the last few years was inception, the concept, visuals, performances, everything really were out of this world, and although i did like the kings speech, i thought it was a travesty that inception didnt win the best film oscar!

all above obv just my opinion! best do some work now after all that spiel....

Went to see Prometheus today, a good prequel to Alien.

Hugo - very slow and a mostly talented cast seemed very wasted on a strange and overly whimsical film. Half of the film seemed like padding and I couldn't help thinking Sacha Baron Cohen's Station Master character was wholly based on the very bad French speaking policemand from Allo Allo

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol. Pretty much enjoyed this as a fun/action adventure. Decent enough stuff

War Horse. Figured I'd know the plot line through the film before it even started and I'm pleased to say I didn't get it entirely right. Started OK, got good then went very slow and then got better through to the end. No spoilers from me - but pretty decent actually

Prometheus! Finally got myself to the cinema last night to see something I've been waiting for since last year. Ridley Scott and Sci-fi - what can go wrong?
Five star rating in the Mail on Sunday from a critic I usually agree with but I'd only give it 3 and a half. Very good basic premise and plot, belting spaceship, excellent effects/imagination and imagery but lacked character build. I know if everyone followed sound life/science protocols sci-fi films would be dull but the utter lack of even the most basic bits of common sense made me think they flown a bunch clowns to the far side of the universe.
I hope there is a special extended edition out there for DVD as the total silence in the theatre at the end told me everyone was trying to get their head round how it all fit together as a plot - probably need to see it again.

Yes a fair assessment Plummy - it was good, not mind blowing. It did lack character development with the exception of android character who was really good in the role. Left open for whole raft of sequels no doubt, but hopefully Noomi Rapace wont make Sigourney Weavers mistake of doing anything like Alien 3

Watched Crimson Tide on Saturday as it was on TV. Seen it a few times before and even have it on video - cracking good film. It made me wonder how many films you would always pause to watch if you caught it on TV whilst channel hopping - even if you own a copy on DVD etc?

I'd put the Bourne Trilogy in there
Star Wars
Black Hawk Down

plummy wrote:I'd put the Bourne Trilogy in there

Me too. And

Apollo 13
K19 - The Widowmaker
Bruce Almighty
Shawshank Redemption
The Fugitive
High Plains Drifter

And a few others that I can't think of at the moment

I'd have to agree with Scoop for both Apollo 13 and The Shawshank Redemption. To that, I would also add Ghostbusters!

plummy wrote:-It made me wonder how many films you would always pause to watch if you caught it on TV whilst channel hopping - even if you own a copy on DVD etc?

Agree with Bourne Trilogy
Mrs Doubtfire
Casablanca
Desperado-what can I say-Salma Hayek
Rear Window
Leon
The man who shot Liberty Valance
Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources

That's my initial thoughts, bound to think of some more

Apollo 13 - great call - should have had that one on my list.
First half of From Dusk til Dawn (again - Salma Hayek)

Went to see the Dark Knight Rises yesterday. Terrific film, highly recommended - and not just for Anne Hathaway in a tight suit