Cross Of Iron (1977) 9/10. Probably one of the best WW2 films ever made and Sam Peckinpah's best just ahead of The Wild Bunch (1970)
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - 7/10 I don't know why but I find the idea of watching child psychopathic killing machines slaughtering eachother to be a little depressing. Not what I want from my popcorn movie entertainment. There are comparisons to Battle Royale and the reason I really liked that film despite the child-slaughtering is the humanity. It didn't reduce the kids involved to action figures, they were actual kids thrust into a horrific situation and the drama that ensued was compelling. It's just a line I draw when it comes to action flicks. I preferred that it depicted adults here. I enjoyed the political intrigue but alas the social commentary will never be anything more than juvenile which is unsurprising considering the target audience. Hopefully they drop the Hunger Games tournament now and focus on the revolution. The ruling class are so ludicrously evil (to the point of caricature) that I'll enjoy watching the Capitol burn with all its inhabitants
I haven't read the books but I'm pretty sure that's what's coming. I don't see there being a 3rd hunger games in the 3rd film.
Snowpiercer (2013) A preposterous (even by sci-fi standards) film that is chock full of cliched characters with a hackneyed screenplay. Absolute pants. They should be ashamed..... had read good reviews... shockingly bad.
Meh, it had some things going for it; the premise was interesting and [Shailene] Woodley turns in a committed performance. But it's a rather generic affair for the most part.
Will stick to Netflix then. The beauty of Netflix is using it online together with Hola software which unblocks all the other countries, if you go through each country you find a ton of stuff that's not on others...it can take hours searching through them all though
I think the reviews were based on the film's social and political ideals and interpretations rather than on a train going through snow. A bit like Animal Farm wasn't about a pig saying "four legs good, two legs bad" or some suchlike. I thought it was shite too, though.
Matrix Trilogy - first time I've watched all three films, completely, and in order. I feel the story has to progress, but in doing so any film runs the risk of taking away from what is a good standalone film where, if you don't get it right in the sequel(s) then you can damage the original. It should have been a battle between man and machine, a fight for freedom, but the whole Agent Smith sideline and other elements just make you wonder why, that and the excesses of special effects and pointless hand to hand combat scenes that should have stayed as basic as in Matrix I Matrix 8/10 - solid film, doesn't try to explain too much and well balanced in where the story takes place. Excellent plot, ending is a little bit naff and sets the tone for the sequels Matrix Reloaded 6/10 - while I like the film, it does do overkill on trying to explain everything, on silly Buffy type fights except this and the bullet shots are where it goes way overboard on special effects. The saviour of the human race almost becomes inexplicably super, the plot just about carries the film even if it almost seems like a filler between I and III. Matrix Revolutions 4/10 - mainly giving it a 4 and not a 5 because even though it does have some very good scenes, again it overdoes it on various fronts including special effects and the fight scenes. The ending is completely disappointing, and the growing Trinity-Neo thing is just OTT. If they took those bits out perhaps it wouldn't have brought to mind a possible rename - Matrix Unplugged. I bought it recalling it as better than it was, I'd give it a 5/10 maybe 6/10. Some scenes, mostly early, are pretty good, but then it meanders a fair bit. As for "one of the best WW2 films ever made", I'd say probably not. Off the top of my head, I'd watch The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, The Bridge At Remagen, Battle Of The River Plate, The Guns Of Navarone and a few others first, and probably to be fair quite a few others as I'm logging off in a second so not got time to think of and list more. In fact if I had time to think about it and list a top 10, Cross Of Iron wouldn't make it, might not even make the top 20 or 30 let alone be "one of the best"
The purge - fails on multiple counts mainly the fact that predictability and tension doesn't mix Not worth rating
A bit long, with the same basic (tired) plot device of repression (had the very same thing with Snowpiercer). The romantic interest was horrible, and also tired. Cut it down to 90 minutes or so (it's 2 hours 15 long, just about) and it would be much tighter.
47 Ronin - 5.5/10 I expected to be disappointed tbh. Very dull at times, too long, the action wasn't even that good and they used the term 'half-breed' a little too much for my liking. The acting & cinematography saved it from being a 5 or less. One thing that I found strange was the inclusion of Zombie Boy or whatever he calls himself, he's on the poster for the film and shown in the trailer, but his "character'' has one line (dubbed over in a Cockney accent ) and is literally shown for a few seconds . Nymphomaniac - 8/10 I did not expect this film to be good...I was wrong. Antichrist is the only other Lars film I'd seen and I hated it, it was just so boring, but this is much, much better. There was a few things wrong with it, like the film's runtime (it's split into two parts, but once the first volume ends you just want to jump into the next one), the amount of dick that flashes up on the screen and Shia's ridiculously bad English accent (he bounced between Aussie and South African ). It was slightly pretentious too, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Chapter 3 was my favourite, which starred Uma Thurman who gave the best performance in the entire movie IMO. I had sympathy for her character, but I did laugh throughout the few minutes she had on screen, I thought it was hilarious. The cast was brilliant (excluding Shia and the weak performance from Christian Slater), the movie was beautifully shot, the dialogue was great for the most part and the characters were very interesting.
Yeah, the pacing wasn't very good and as a result the second act just dragged with a whole lot of nothing really going on.
47 Ronin was a good story but would have been much better if it was authentically Japanese. Keanu is just shit tbh.
http://www.moreflicks.com/ Searches Netflix (and others) and if any of them have it, it tells you which countries 'store' it belongs too.
The Den (2013) Interesting take on the first person camera (Blair Witch thing) with the entire film taking place on web cams. Snuff movie flick, and decent, imo.
