Last Film You Watched

[Ian]

Blow Out. John Travolta is a Hollywood sound effects guy who accidentally records a car crash that kills a Presidential candidate - but something about the tape and the official story just don't add up. Accident - or political assassination? Nancy Allen and John Lithgow co-star in this edgy early 80s thriller. Great stuff!

[fish]

I remember bits of that from years ago.
As I recall it was pretty good.

[Ian]

Looked beautiful on Blu-ray too.

[fish]

Blu-ray

Ptttttttttttt!

[Ian]

I didn't want to be the one to do it.

[Ian]

Deliver Us From Evil at the cinema. Oh dearie me. To be fair, it started off okay but just got dumber and dumber and with cliche piled on cliche. By the climax I was praying for salvation... for it to end. Joel McHale did okay as the cliched-in-itself "smart-ass partner/sidekick" but that was a pretty rum movie. Deeply mediocre.

[fish]

And you paid good money for this, did you?

[DMt.]

...to watch it on a screen about the size of a modern domestic TV? I hope not.

Found a copy of Inception on the street, last time I was at my Ma's, and finally got over my dislike of Hollywood [and di Caprio] enough to watch it. Despite the usual violence-glorifying, hard-man clichés it wasn't bad at all; a clever plot with a nicely disorienting and creepy premise about dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams within dreams...

[Ian]

And you paid good money for this, did you?

Unfortunately. I have come to the conclusion that it is not in fact my imagination and that modern movies are indeed getting worse.

[Ian]

Theatre of Blood. Vincent Price is a deranged ham actor who embarks on a campaign of murderous revenge against all the critics that ever slagged him off in this wickedly funny and macabre 70s British black comedy-horror. Highly amusing, with a great turn from Price (his disguise as the camp hairdresser just about had me on the floor) and some surprisingly gruesome moments. Wonderfully warped!

[fish]

... Wonderfully warped!

Sounds like he'd fit in well around here.

[Ian]

Saw Sabotage last night. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the leader of a DEA team that decides to steal $10 million in drug money for themselves. Unfortunately someone then steals it from them - and then team members start dying one by one... This latest Arnie flick seems to have been very much love it or hate it and, frankly, I'm much more in the former camp. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable nasty action thriller, filled with spectacular bloody violence - the way such movies used to be before even action films got sanitised and de-blooded. On the downside, it could be said that most of the supporting cast are pretty forgettable - although Michael-from-Lost is quite funny as one of the cops on the case - but they're all obliterated anyway when Arnie's doing his thing. I enjoyed it a lot, and it's certainly baffling that this got denied a cinema release in Australia but they can put out utter tripe like Deliver Us From Evil (what a pile of crap that was!). Good stuff, I'll happily pick up the Blu-ray when I can afford it.

[ArcticMonkeys]

Saw Sabotage last night. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the leader of a DEA team that decides to steal $10 million in drug money for themselves. Unfortunately someone then steals it from them - and then team members start dying one by one... This latest Arnie flick seems to have been very much love it or hate it and, frankly, I'm much more in the former camp. I found it a thoroughly enjoyable nasty action thriller, filled with spectacular bloody violence - the way such movies used to be before even action films got sanitised and de-blooded. On the downside, it could be said that most of the supporting cast are pretty forgettable - although Michael-from-Lost is quite funny as one of the cops on the case - but they're all obliterated anyway when Arnie's doing his thing. I enjoyed it a lot, and it's certainly baffling that this got denied a cinema release in Australia but they can put out utter tripe like Deliver Us From Evil (what a pile of crap that was!). Good stuff, I'll happily pick up the Blu-ray when I can afford it.

Agree it's on a few people's worst of the year so far list's which I find crazy. I liked it a lot more then the stupid Expendables 3, which was utter rubbish. I saw the twist coming a mile off though if you like this then check out Director David Ayer brilliant End of Watch with Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena.

[ArcticMonkeys]

The Raid 2

Still the best film I've seen this year so far, the way a action film should be made that sadly Hollywood seems to have lost it's touch with. The last 45 minutes of this film is pure cinema greatness, from one of the best car chase scenes I've seen in years, to the best hand on hand combat fight I've seen in action cinema. Some have complained about the two and half hour running time but I think cause the first Raid film (which is also awesome) is pure action from the first minute until the end at a lean 90 minutes. While this sequel has more depth and character, the bad guys are far more enjoyable in this and Iko Uwais is far more impressive in this (in terms of the drama) you feel for his character more then you did in the first film. The beautiful Julie Estelle as Hammer Girl will go down as one of the most striking villains in action cinema history. Welshman Gareth Evans has signed his Hollywood career with a bang, here's hoping the third film in the trilogy will be as awesome as it's first two enteries. 10/10

We are the Best

One of the best surprises of 2014, the return of Lukas Moodysson to his lighter comedic roots of his first two and best films (Fucking Amal and Together) and for me this is his best film since Together, Adapted from his wife Coco graphic novel about her teenager years in 80's Stockholm in an all girl punk band . This is fun and full of charm with wonderful performances from the three leads (although Mira Grosin's Klara is probably the star making performance) and the Swedish punk soundtrack was very good. I still think this is Moodysson's Strength working on lighter films instead of grim and downbeat work (lilya 4 ever even though well meaning was just a little too preachy for me). The only real falling out the girls have is over a boy and that only lasts a minute before they are friends again. It has some very tender moments (the scene when a very drunk Bobo tells Klara that no boy will ever love her, breaks the heart) Sadly this film although getting great reviews seems to have gone by unseen (it only got a week of screenings where I live, in Ireland) and I had to send away for it to get it on DVD as no one had it stocked on it's release on that format on July 18th. I don't know where it places in his best films, it could with a few more viewings seriously take Fucking Amal as his best film yet. 9.5/10

[Dahls]

We are best came out 2013 actually, but that doesn't matter (It reached Ireland in 2014 I guess).

I loved it too, a seriously charming movie.
I'm astonished on how Lukas keeps getting such great performances out of inexperienced first time actors/actresses.


My pick of best film out of Sweden the same year is another one though.

Känn ingen sorg. (Shed no tears)

I think you'll like it, it's a true feelgood film about a young musician with stage fright in Gothenburg.
A very funny, touching and beautiful film, maybe my top pick of movies in general last year.
It's based on the lyrics of Swedish pop/rock artist Håkan Hellström.