Emby FILM CLUB

[TolkienBard 54]

I really enjoyed The Kingdom. I saw that one when it was first released on disc. I had mostly forgotten about it until you mentioned it here though. It's been added to the viewing queue for this weekend now. What I enjoyed about it was the blend of action and intrigue with slightly more realistic  than normal character responses to the situations and events. The cinematography was also nicely done. I am so sick of this "combat action" movies that rely on letting the camera bounce around to "add to the feeling". Seriously, the gimmick is getting old. It's as bad as the "found footage" films. The Kingdom avoided using this technique, despite having a number of tense scenes that might have "benefited" from it.

 

God's Not Dead was, well, it wasn't quite what I was expecting. I knew more or less what I was getting into when I popped it in. I must confess though, I was disappointed with the lack of exploration of the subject of the film. Surprisingly, Kevin Sorbo did not ruin this film for me, though the jumps in characterization his particular character made did put me off a bit. I get that the very premise of the film almost mandates that there be deus ex machina involved. Some of it felt entirely unnecessary to me though, portraying a guiding hand involving itself where normal circumstances could have worked just as effortlessly. I think that took me out of the story a bit. It would have been nice to explore the actual topic more and to have a chance to compare/contrast "normal" life and developments with a sudden interference by a higher power.

 

I think I would have enjoyed the movie a great deal more if it had spent time on crafting a good Hollywood story that also happened to involve God, than for them to go the route of making it essentially a video version of a Sunday School tract.

[Belom 0]

Hello how can I delete or add a genre?

[AdrianW 1053]

Hello how can I delete or add a genre?

 

Wrong thread for that question. But, you need to use the metadata manager from the WebUI (click the icon at the very top left), locate your movie and then adjust the genre list in the right hand panel.

[Heckler 147]

I thought I'd commented that I saw Ex Machina the other week... But I'd done a mini review elsewhere... So I'm just copying and pasting it here.

 

Ex Machina Movie Review

May contain spoilers, although I do try to keep them very mild.

Written and directed by Alex Garland, this movie delves into the potential minefield that is humankind's experimentation with A.I. (artificial intelligence).

The film borrows heavily from others that have come before it, to me it reminds me of Kubricks '2001' and Spike Jonze's 'Her' from 2014. It also plays out like a cross between Blade Runner and Frankenstein. Garland is better known for his writing/screenplay work on films such as Danny Boyle's '28 Days later' and 'Sunshine' as well as the novel 'The Beach'.  But I was most surprised to find out that he also did the screenplay for the excellent 2012 version of 'Dredd'.

Ex Machina marks his first directing role and he accomplishes this very well. The direction, lighting, cinematography and locations/sets are all very good.

The film itself is well crafted, although a little predictable in parts. The actors play their parts very well. Alicia Vikander as 'Ava' in particular stands out. This isn't your average Sci-Fi movie, nor is it an average thriller... instead it blends the two together in an intellectual and thought provoking manner. One that leaves you asking almost as many questions as it answers... and that is it's single flaw. I felt that it has the potential to confuse as many people as those who understand it's complexities and subtleties. Thus it's mass appeal seems limited by it's own excellence.

Sadly... for me, the movie fails to offer any new way to conclude the story. Every option has been covered many times before and Ex Machina fails to offer us a new twist on the tale and instead falls back on something simpler. This left me feeling a little underwhelmed after roughly an hour and 40 mins of being captivated.

I do recommend watching it though, especially if you like you're sci-fi with a more intellectual take on it. I am a little conflicted, I love the build up, the characters are great the direction, lighting and cinematography are all superb. But the predictable moments and the conclusion left me a little unfulfilled.

I'm giving it 7/10, definitely a movie I shall come back to at some point and watch again... Maybe there are some subtleties I missed.

[fantaxp7 190]

I think there are a lot of subtleties to ex machina. I left the theater thinking over and over how it could have been written better and I came to a few conclusions, went to some message boards who discussed the film and pretty much everything I could think of had an explanation and people provided better explanation to the ending that made me appreciate the film more. I'll admit I never saw Her and I don't remember too much of 2001. But it felt like a fresh take on that type of story. 

[Heckler 147]

I think that any movie that requires you to go and read forums/blogs/message boards to try and gain an understanding of it (through the opinions of people who didn't make the movie)... has utterly failed in it's primary task... that of telling a comprehensible story.

 

Now I'm not saying that you were required to do that... it's a generalisation about all movies.

 

Whilst I don't think this failed to do that, and I understood most if not all of it's underlying meanings... I was captivated right up to that last few minutes and the ending left me empty... and that's my conflict.

[fantaxp7 190]

I think that any movie that requires you to go and read forums/blogs/message boards to try and gain an understanding of it (through the opinions of people who didn't make the movie)... has utterly failed in it's primary task... that of telling a comprehensible story.

 

Now I'm not saying that you were required to do that... it's a generalisation about all movies.

 

Whilst I don't think this failed to do that, and I understood most if not all of it's underlying meanings... I was captivated right up to that last few minutes and the ending left me empty... and that's my conflict.

Yea I hear ya. It was a discussion thread over at reddit. I just like seeing what others have to say about films (much like this thread). 

 

To each their own, 

[Heckler 147]

 

Kingsman: The Secret Service movie review

This one will contain minor spoilers... look out for the spoiler tag and skip that paragraph.

From the writer/director team that brought you Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class comes a movie that takes spy movies to another level.

Matthew Vaughn once again proves he has a knack for directing films that are both action packed and have bags of fun and humour. This in part is down to the excellent screenplay from Jane Goldman who has a knack for crafting characters that are very British, but not so much as to alienate the audiences from around the world. There is a stereotypical theme to them, from the quintessential English Gentleman, the young scruffy hooligan right through to the over the top villain.

The direction is top notch, lighting, cinematography set design is all excellently done. The sets in particular seemingly designed as a homage to those Bond movies of the Connery era.

The action pieces are wonderfully executed, blending fast fighting and slow-mo camera work perfectly. But if you fail to concentrate fully on scenes you may miss those little bits and pieces that make them so great... Some of the fight sequences alone give this movie a repeat viewing factor, as you'll be seeing little bits you missed previously.

The cast is just wonderfully chosen, the acting superb throughout. From Colin Firth and Michael Caine to Samuel L Jackson as the villain... right down to the lead role of Taron Egerton as Eggsy. Smaller parts are filled with names you'd instantly recognise (certainly if you are from the UK) Mark Strong, Jack Davenport and you even get a small part from Mark Hamill which was a wonderful surprise to me.

SPOILERS
Then there's the humour... which is both brilliant and roll on the floor funny at times... and yet still very British with a large element of slapstick. From the exploding head scenes to the Scandinavian Princess and the offer of doing it in the arsehole... I was left laughing so hard and for so long that it surprised even me.  When a movie can do that to you, it's a special thing. The film is not without a few flaws though, and those are so minor for me that I can gloss over most of them... Aside for the last one involving the villain having to keep his on the computer/machine for it to work.. Yes, I know they tried to explain it earlier in the film... but it's just really stupid and is the only sticking point for me.

If you like your action hard and fast, but without being grusome and you like well crafted action sequences, good acting, decent character development (for most) and your humour with a little slapstick along with crude and a little black... Then you will like this movie.

I will watch it again, but then again I loved the first Kick-Ass movie and X-Men: First Class... this writing/directing team just can't seem to put a foot wrong at the moment and all credit to them.

9/10

[Scott84Z28 39]

 

 

Kingsman: The Secret Service movie review

 

This one will contain minor spoilers... look out for the spoiler tag and skip that paragraph.

 

From the writer/director team that brought you Kick-Ass and X-Men: First Class comes a movie that takes spy movies to another level.

 

Matthew Vaughn once again proves he has a knack for directing films that are both action packed and have bags of fun and humour. This in part is down to the excellent screenplay from Jane Goldman who has a knack for crafting characters that are very British, but not so much as to alienate the audiences from around the world. There is a stereotypical theme to them, from the quintessential English Gentleman, the young scruffy hooligan right through to the over the top villain.

 

The direction is top notch, lighting, cinematography set design is all excellently done. The sets in particular seemingly designed as a homage to those Bond movies of the Connery era.

 

The action pieces are wonderfully executed, blending fast fighting and slow-mo camera work perfectly. But if you fail to concentrate fully on scenes you may miss those little bits and pieces that make them so great... Some of the fight sequences alone give this movie a repeat viewing factor, as you'll be seeing little bits you missed previously.

 

The cast is just wonderfully chosen, the acting superb throughout. From Colin Firth and Michael Caine to Samuel L Jackson as the villain... right down to the lead role of Taron Egerton as Eggsy. Smaller parts are filled with names you'd instantly recognise (certainly if you are from the UK) Mark Strong, Jack Davenport and you even get a small part from Mark Hamill which was a wonderful surprise to me.

 

SPOILERS

Then there's the humour... which is both brilliant and roll on the floor funny at times... and yet still very British with a large element of slapstick. From the exploding head scenes to the Scandinavian Princess and the offer of doing it in the arsehole... I was left laughing so hard and for so long that it surprised even me.  When a movie can do that to you, it's a special thing. The film is not without a few flaws though, and those are so minor for me that I can gloss over most of them... Aside for the last one involving the villain having to keep his on the computer/machine for it to work.. Yes, I know they tried to explain it earlier in the film... but it's just really stupid and is the only sticking point for me.

 

If you like your action hard and fast, but without being grusome and you like well crafted action sequences, good acting, decent character development (for most) and your humour with a little slapstick along with crude and a little black... Then you will like this movie.

 

I will watch it again, but then again I loved the first Kick-Ass movie and X-Men: First Class... this writing/directing team just can't seem to put a foot wrong at the moment and all credit to them.

 

9/10

 

 

I watched this on the weekend as well.  The camera work on the fight scenes was awesome.  I wonder if the church scene was a single take, or just really good editing.

The version of the movie I watched didn't have the princess joke though!!

[ScottIsAFool 517]

I watched this on the weekend as well.  The camera work on the fight scenes was awesome.  I wonder if the church scene was a single take, or just really good editing.

The version of the movie I watched didn't have the princess joke though!!

Weirdly, I watched this film on a plane, and it *did* have the princess joke There is an uncut version coming that will probably include it.

[Heckler 147]

I watched this on the weekend as well.  The camera work on the fight scenes was awesome.  I wonder if the church scene was a single take, or just really good editing.

The version of the movie I watched didn't have the princess joke though!!

 

 

Funny you should say that... I downloaded a webrip of it a while back that included the joke... I then replaced that with a better copy and noticed a few cuts were swearing and other references were taken out... Like the McDonalds Secret Sauce, wanking reference.

 

It's this reason why I wait before I consider buying anything of Bluray... so I can get the best version without the cuts as they vary greatly from region to region... and if the UK version isn't the best... I simply won't buy it due to region locking. Not a problem with DVD's but I am unaware of a way to make my bluray players region free.

[fantaxp7 190]

I watched a documentary I had in my collection for some time and had been meaning to get to it...The Imposter...wow. I knew nothing about it going into it which made it that much better. A little slow at times but overall a solid documentary. 

[Heckler 147]

Watched Blackhat last night....  Was very disappointed, it was ultimately very dull and boring to watch and at the end I was left feeling entirely unimpressed... But not enough to stop watching, I kept hoping that it would get better.

 

The performances were mediocre at best by the entire cast, not a single person stood out and the plot line jumped about far too much and characters made ridiculous insights/realisations about what was going on... through to some scenes feeling like were simply added to try and create some kind of tension... and failing miserably.

 

Right up to the conclusion the viewer simply cannot believe what they are watching and the ending was a complete anticlimax.

 

 

It's not the worst film I've seen this year, but it is one of the most bland, generic, formulaic attempts I have seen to tackle the 'hacker' kind of storylines.

 

I can only give it a very bland 4/10

[thefirstofthe300 291]

Ok. Jumping on the Kingsman Secret Service train here. Amazingly funny movie. Never thought I would hear Samuel Jackson with a lisp. This movie is the only time that I actually enjoyed hearing Pomp and Circumstance.

 

Talk about the antithesis of a James Bond movie...but in a good way. If you are looking for a movie that doesn't take itself seriously, I just have one thing to say: It just ain't that kind of movie .

[swhitmore 781]

I loved The Kingsman! Great movie. Good fun.

[Abobader 2948]

Good movie indeed

[Heckler 147]

Digging up and old one... Sat down and watched So I Married an Axe Murderer last night... Seen it may times before, but not for a fair few years.

 

Reminded me of how far Mike Myers has fallen, he used to be funny and he used to make great films... and this is one of them.

[dark_slayer 103]

@@Heckler I totally agree with your reviews of Blackhat and Kingsman (surprise or not? ;-) )

 

Didn't realize the same writer/director brought Kick-Ass and First Class, but it makes sense as I thoroughly enjoyed both of those titles as well

[DigiTM 60]

Don't go to the actual cinema much these days since I prefer the comfort of my home setup.  However went and saw Jurassic World.   Extremely good, total surprise.  There are some story plots which aren't that great but as a whole it's a great movie.  Not a movie for young ones (say this because one woman had her 8 year old child watching it and he was terrified).  If the young ones want to see a dinosaur movie this is not the one.
I will definitely pick this up on Bluray on release.
Still doesn't beat Mad Max Fury Road though, that one would have to be the best action adventure movie made in a decade.

[Angelblue05 4130]

I've just got around to watching Chappie. The story line was unexpected and quite refreshing. However, because of the crazy ugly hairstyles in the movie, it distracted me from the story and I ended up not liking the movie as much. Hugh Jackman with a mullet.... just No!.... Ugh 7/10 

[Heckler 147]

Don't go to the actual cinema much these days since I prefer the comfort of my home setup.  However went and saw Jurassic World.   Extremely good, total surprise.  There are some story plots which aren't that great but as a whole it's a great movie.  Not a movie for young ones (say this because one woman had her 8 year old child watching it and he was terrified).  If the young ones want to see a dinosaur movie this is not the one.

I will definitely pick this up on Bluray on release.

Still doesn't beat Mad Max Fury Road though, that one would have to be the best action adventure movie made in a decade.

 

Now you and I differ greatly on this... Because I thought Jurassic World was a complete let down... nothing more than 2hrs of advertising products with some lame dialogue that was so cringe inducing... you were actually begging for the next predictable action sequence to begin and hoping that they didn't just dump this out of a scriptotron 3000... and then realising that's exactly what they did as action sequence followed by lame dialogue followed by action sequence ad nauseum. Characters were bland, lacked any depth and the decisions they made just pathetic.

 

Not even my 12-14yr old friends kids thought it was any good.

 

 

Now Mad Max: Fury Road on the other hand was utterly fantastic... lack of dialogue relying on short and sweet direct, very little in the way of exposition regarding the previous trilogy... just right into the action... and what wonderful actions sequences they were... 95% of which was REAL,.. very little CGI in the movie at all. Old school writing, stunts and letting the actors do their thing and using facial expressions for much of the time... exactly the way it should be. A breath of fresh air amongst a sea of dreary bollocks.  

[fantaxp7 190]

I thought Jurassic World was good. I do not think it was a good movie. I know that makes no sense.

 

I think 90% of what I liked was how great the actual "world" was. I think they did a fantastic job of creating a modern day park. And they even acknowledge all of the excessive advertising, which at least makes it some what bearable. 

 

I think this guy broke down the problems pretty good.  https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/3abo8r/the_disconnect_with_jurassic_world/

Edited July 15, 2015 by fantaxp7

[AMenard 2]

My latest movie watched...

 

Conspiracy (2001) a made for TV movie about the Wansee conference where the Nazi decided the final solution. I give it a 9/10 rating. Tucci and Brannagh are both excellent in their role.

[TolkienBard 54]

My latest movie watched...

 

Conspiracy (2001) a made for TV movie about the Wansee conference where the Nazi decided the final solution. I give it a 9/10 rating. Tucci and Brannagh are both excellent in their role.

 

An often overlooked, but very fine Brannagh movie to be sure.,

[mediacowboy 438]

Best night ever Furious 7 was on my door step when I got home.