dimtimjim wrote:Anyone seen Dredd?
The trailer looks ok to me, think I may get it later.
The Sweeney (2012)
This is a reboot of the 70s British cop show
It stars Ray Winstone, Ben Drew (AKA
Plan B) and Damian Lewis.
This is a really nicely executed Brit action movie. It doesn't have the budget of something like RocknRolla, but makes excellent use of locations, including some I've never seen in a film of this type, particularly during the HEAT-esque shootout.
I just looked up the budget and unbelievably it was made for £2m. It looks way better than that.
Even for me, about 1/2 the whispering * dialogue is incomprehensible, so I had to switch on the subtitles. Ironically, Damian Lewis is the only one
not whispering!
The plot is fairly simple and somewhat predictable -- as soon as that woman [spoiler]told Ray Winstone she was going to move in with him, I knew she'd be dead in the next scene,[/spoiler] but it's well made and very enjoyable.
To Rome With Love (2012)
Stupid, pointless, pretentious and annoying.
Midnight in Paris was excellent, one of Woody's best. This is pants. Penelope Cruz is very hot in it though.
John Dies at the End (2012)
Bill and Ted have a Naked Lunch and end up Evil Dead. I liked it. Recommended for horror/surrealism/quirkedy fans.
Compliance (2012)
Not as sexay, comic or sleazy as you might expect. Sad, and humiliating for everyone, including the viewer, really, but also a much better film than I was expecting. Ann Dowd (the store manager) is particularly good, especially in the final scene
and is funding her own Oscar bid, as did Melissa Leo (successfully). Strongly recommended for rental. Not a good date movie, though.
The Paperboy (2012)
Dull and pointless, unless you want see Old Nicole Kidman being all sexified. By Old John Cusack. Some reviewers say it's like Showgirls -- so trashy, it's good. I disagree, it's just trash.
Dredd (2012)
This has great production design, costumes, cinematography and special effects. It looks fantastic, especially the "Slo-Mo" effect. Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby are very good. Lena Headye is nuts.
However, there's really not enough story for an entire film. It feels more like a short story stretched out.
It's like a "bottle episode" of a TV show, it all takes place in one location, which makes it look a lot like Raid:Redemption. I can't believe it cost $45m. That money is not on the screen. It looks low budget it has no stars and could all be done in CG. It was even shot in South Africa. Where did all the money go? Up Alex Garland's nose? Apparently, he kicked the director off the edit. Well done, that worked. It was a huge flop.
Two docs that are worth a look:
In Vogue: The Editor's Eye (2012)Doesn't seem to take fashion as seriously as "The September Issue". It's always comical to see the Vogue people spewing nonsense about how fashion is important to the world. It is not. But, this is a good doc.
The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2011)Poignant, but uplifting doc that looks at some of the aftermath and survivors of the Japanese Tsunami.
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)Sanitized crap.
An American Werewolf in London (1981) [re-watch]This still has the power to shock over 30 years later. The makeup effects for the dead people still hasn't been surpassed. The werewolf effects have been superceded by CG and other effects of today, so look a bit cheesy, but overall, it's still * scary. It was one of, if not the, first movies to mix comedy with horror and was a big hit in Britain.
I watched all the bonus features, and I think when I first moved to the town I currently live in, I heard that one of my local pubs was used as the location of The Slaughtered Lamb, but I thought it was bullshit. It's true.
I was also surprised to see the man on the right here, who worked on the creature makeup:
He was my first room-mate when I moved to said current town. We only lived together for about 6 or 8 months and didn't really interact much as he was a bit odd. I knew he was working on the special effects for the new
Thunderbirds movie at the time, but despite my interest in the topic, he didn't want to really talk about that, he only seemed to want to complain that all the chemicals he had been exposed to over the years were killing him.
After watching the documentary about American Werewolf, I saw that it was "dedicated to the memory of Joe Ross".
*. He
died in 2008 of "
a muscular disorder".
chrismoyles.net
