Films you've seen lately

[Nick Armstrong]

It's even better in 3D on our 46'' screen, in fact I think it is one of the few films that uses 3D effectively to intensify the drama, rather than just to give a visual thrill. Of the other 3D films we've watched at home, a few really impress, notably Toy Story 3, and Martin Scorses's Hugo.

Ferret you have reminded me that the TV here has 3D capability, which hasn't once been tested due to my general scepticism... But yes, Pi would be the perfect one to try it on - unlike Flossie (and as mentioned in #1 above) the 3D really worked for me, as it did for you.

I must investigate.

[Tevot]

It's even better in 3D on our 46'' screen, in fact I think it is one of the few films that uses 3D effectively to intensify the drama, rather than just to give a visual thrill. Of the other 3D films we've watched at home, a few really impress, notably Toy Story 3, and Martin Scorses's Hugo.

Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder and The Creature from the Black Lagoon are the only 'historic' films I've seen restored. The Creature is fun to watch for 50s nostalgia, the Hitchcock makes very good use of 3D in a film mostly made on a single set, but it isn't one of Hitch's best.

The one stereoscopic film I would love to see reissued on Blu Ray is the hugely enjoyable MGM Kiss Me Kate, a film in which a real attempt was made to design the dance numbers for the 3D medium, but so far it has not surfaced.

Hello there,

Interesting that you mention Hugo. Visually it looked impressive - even on a bootlegged Chinese DVD - whereas with Life of Pi some of the effects were clearly computer generated images and were distracting. For me the most telling moments of Life of Pi were the scenes where he explains himself to the author interviewing him. I wouldn't, however, consider the film a failure as it has persuaded me to read the book at some stage

With Hugo - I found the visuals impressive but some of the characters irksome (Sacha - Baron Cohen's Station Inspector was too broad to the point of caricature...) On second viewing I realised that Papa Georges was played by Ben Kingsley. What a great actor he is! Again I've not seen this in the Cinema ( I forget when I last went!) let alone watched it with 3 D specs on... The story was captivating enough.

Gravity imho is a wonderful film despite its B Movie plot. I think it well deserved its 7 Oscar awards - and the visuals are quite breathtaking on a large screen. It would be staggering on IMAX It gripped me from beginning to end. Another of Alfonso Cuaron's films well worth watching is "Children of Men" a visually stunning and quite harrowing picture set in a dystopian Britain of the very near future...

Another recent 3D film that I've yet to see is Godzilla. Yes - it sounds totally absurd but the trailer is enticing and the soundtrack may be disturbingly familiar to some forum members You decide !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-EEqJ9HyTk

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Ferretfancy]

Hello there,

Interesting that you mention Hugo. Visually it looked impressive - even on a bootlegged Chinese DVD - whereas with Life of Pi some of the effects were clearly computer generated images and were distracting. For me the most telling moments of Life of Pi were the scenes where he explains himself to the author interviewing him. I wouldn't, however, consider the film a failure as it has persuaded me to read the book at some stage

With Hugo - I found the visuals impressive but some of the characters irksome (Sacha - Baron Cohen's Station Inspector was too broad to the point of caricature...) On second viewing I realised that Papa Georges was played by Ben Kingsley. What a great actor he is! Again I've not seen this in the Cinema ( I forget when I last went!) let alone watched it with 3 D specs on... The story was captivating enough.

Gravity imho is a wonderful film despite its B Movie plot. I think it well deserved its 7 Oscar awards - and the visuals are quite breathtaking on a large screen. It would be staggering on IMAX It gripped me from beginning to end. Another of Alfonso Cuaron's films well worth watching is "Children of Men" a visually stunning and quite harrowing picture set in a dystopian Britain of the very near future...

Another recent 3D film that I've yet to see is Godzilla. Yes - it sounds totally absurd but the trailer is enticing and the soundtrack may be disturbingly familiar to some forum members You decide !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-EEqJ9HyTk

Best Wishes,

Tevot

Opinion does seem divided about Gravity. I'll happily admit that the visual impression was often stunning, but I found that after the first few reels i Began to think -so what?
I was also bugged by the impossibilities. As an example, it actually takes ages to don a space suit, and zooming around the wrecked ship in the opposite direction to the vessel's flight at 17,000 miles an hour would be hard work!

As for Sandra Bullock crawling out of a conveniently placed lake after surviving re-entry --!!

Re Hugo, do try to see it in 3D if you can. All those sequences inside the station clock are very involving. Scorsese's imagination really works here, as does Spielberg in Tin Tin, although the film is not quite so much fun.

Bws
Ferret

[jayne lee wilson]

Yes, I found Gravity (32" Blu-ray at home again) to be - a good but not a great space adventure... (I'm sure it must be amazing in bigscreen 3D - even Mark Kermode, a 3D sceptic, loved it that way, and commented that as a small-screen experience it was very different...) but part of the problem (for me at least) is that Sandra Bullock just doesn't have the screen presence to carry so much of the film. I just didn't care about her enough. When Clooney** (who I have a lot of time for, idol or not) comes back on the screen, and gives her advice in her dream, there's a palpable increase in warmth and interest. And nor did I like that over-obvious evolution symbolism at the end...

.**.ever see Up in the Air (2009)? - Clooney at his best in a film of great comedy, depth and sadness. Do seek it out.

[johncorrigan]

Yes, I found Gravity (32" Blu-ray at home again) to be - a good but not a great space adventure... (I'm sure it must be amazing in bigscreen 3D.

It was a wonderful, jump on for the white-knuckle ride for me - absolutely great - not sure I'd watch it on the small screen.

Best film I saw lately; me and Mrs C sat down to a DVD of the French movie 'Untouchable'. Funny, smart, thoughtful, great performances...a wee gem, we both thought!

[Honoured Guest]

Yes, cinema can still surprise with new things, even after well over a century. Last year, Gravity. This year, Boyhood, Richard Linklater's family drama filmed with the same actors over twelve or thirteen years. And with a final formal twist in the very last frames before the end credits.

[gurnemanz]

Yes, I found Gravity (32" Blu-ray at home again) to be - a good but not a great space adventure... (I'm sure it must be amazing in bigscreen 3D - even Mark Kermode, a 3D sceptic, loved it that way, and commented that as a small-screen experience it was very different...) but part of the problem (for me at least) is that Sandra Bullock just doesn't have the screen presence to carry so much of the film. I just didn't care about her enough. When Clooney** (who I have a lot of time for, idol or not) comes back on the screen, and gives her advice in her dream, there's a palpable increase in warmth and interest. And nor did I like that over-obvious evolution symbolism at the end...

.**.ever see Up in the Air (2009)? - Clooney at his best in a film of great comedy, depth and sadness. Do seek it out.

Gravity in 3D in a decent cinema was very good. I also enjoyed "Up in the Air" - appropriately - up in the air. We don't go that often to the cinema but did take in Scarlett Johansson in "Under the Skin" a few months ago which was excellent. "Tim's Vermeer" was fascinating on one man's obsession. Boyhood is actually on locally and we will probably go next week following rave reviews.

[Tevot]

Gravity in 3D in a decent cinema was very good. I also enjoyed "Up in the Air" - appropriately - up in the air. We don't go that often to the cinema but did take in Scarlett Johansson in "Under the Skin" a few months ago which was excellent. "Tim's Vermeer" was fascinating on one man's obsession. Boyhood is actually on locally and we will probably go next week following rave reviews.




Hello there,

"Under the Skin" has been on my radar for well over a year - having read a rave review about it at a festival (I forget which) where it was showcased.

Certainly its director - Jonathan Glazer - is one to watch, although he takes time making films. His previous works include "Birth" and "Sexy Beast" - the former I've championed on these boards and the latter featuring Ben Kingsley in a role as far removed from Gandhi as it is possible to imagine...

[bb]

The problem with 'Life of Pi' is that communicating in images, 'Pi' is frequently profound, but when it opens its mouth to speak, only tinny commonplaces are heard?

[johncorrigan]

Yes, cinema can still surprise with new things, even after well over a century. Last year, Gravity. This year, Boyhood, Richard Linklater's family drama filmed with the same actors over twelve or thirteen years. And with a final formal twist in the very last frames before the end credits.

We're big fans of the 'Before...' films in this household, also by Linklater, and I was therefore really looking forward to Boyhood. It did not disappoint, though Mrs C found it a bit long. I could have sat for another couple of hours. The concentration on the small things in life was wonderful. Great performances, and like in the 'Before...' films Ethan Hawke absolutely wonderful.

[jayne lee wilson]

The problem with 'Life of Pi' is that communicating in images, 'Pi' is frequently profound, but when it opens its mouth to speak, only tinny commonplaces are heard?

Wonderful images, yes.. but no, I think you can't judge it that way. What on Earth would anyone find to say out on the ocean with a Tiger? It's about survival - crude "chance & necessity" - and the mistakes you make if you stop to admire the beauty for too long!
It works wonderfully well as a work of art on its own terms...is both agonising & moving for an animal lover, for anyone who respects creation; and has one of the all-time great lines: "And so it goes with God"...

A quote that works well in many (spiritual or secular) contexts...

[amateur51]

I've seen three rather good and very different films at the cinema recently ...

Chef is a nakedly feel-good movie about an ambitious chef who falls out with his boss (Dustin Hofmann on reptiliian form) and strikes out for independence and his relationship with his young son, until now a victim of his father's driven life. By the end I was both hungry and full of the joys of Cuban music. It is cheesy and it is not at all thoughtful about vegetarianism - you have been warned.

Finding Vivian Maier is an extraordinary 'find-the-lady' mystery about a real-life amateur New York street photographer and nanny named Vivian Maier. Her photpgraphs, taken on an ancient Hasselblad camera mostly in black & white, are remarkable, but all the more so because most of them were not seen until after her death. She was also a nanny to several families with children who provide gradually darkening insights into her work and personality. That she was an artist of considerable talent is beyond debate; but who she was and why she was as she was remain largely mysterious and thankfully the film doesn't descend far into explanation. A film to see several times, I'd suggest - the 'why?'s will just keep coming..

Boyhood is a scripted film made with the same group of actors over a twelve-year period by director Richard Linklater. The foucus is on a small boy at the start of the film and his journey through growing up, family break-ups, school, new parental relationships, bigger school, puberty, leaving homer, early relationships, what we all want from life etc. Watching the child grow into the young man is achierved with great care so that it doesn't appear jerky, but rather the seamless transition that age and experience brings to the external appearance. Linklater affords us insights into what's going on inside too, not just with the lad but also with his natural parents, their new relationships, work ambitions, his older sister, other relatives and his friends. A remarkable piece of film-making around two hours forty minutes long, with perhaps ten to twenty minutes too many.

[Nick Armstrong]

Nice spread of 3 widely-differing but intriguing films ams, thanks for the reviews which make me want to see all of them.

Watching the child grow into the young man is achieved with great care so that it doesn't appear jerky, but rather the seamless transition that age and experience brings to the external appearance.

There's a remarkable home-made version on a similar theme going the rounds at the moment - this young man took a daily selfie from the age of 12 to the age of 19 - i.e. apparently in excess of 2,500 selfies... and conflated them into this time lapse video:

[pastoralguy]

Very interesting 'selfie' although I also watched the young girl who took a series of photos entitled 'the worst year of my life' where there are lots of what looks like injuries from assault. Very disturbing.

[Blotto]

God's Pocket

I'd really like to recommend God's Pocket which I saw this afternoon.

It's Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks (who I didn't know) and John Turturro. The reviews have been mixed/ordinary but I thought it was really splendid, very funny, quite vulgar and unpredictable. It has something painful to say about provincial neighbourhoods. It won't be at the pictures for long so go quick.