Interesting read, Slayed. I very much loved Black Swan, but more on that later...
There has been a somewhat lack-of-Ciall in this thread in the last month, so nice to read people's views on films other than the usual dominance of me and peep
Prepare for a mega-post of most of the films I have watched in my absence, in no order whatsoever:
The Dilemma was ok, but was a bit thin on the ground. The storyline seemed dragged out, and could have easily been a sub-plot within another film, but was for some reason a massive feature film filler. Humour was there, and was smirk humour, and the acting was as you'd expect. It just didn't have much going for it at all, really...
5/10
Little Fockers turned out to be below my already low expectations. Simply awful. You could tell the film was made simply for money-snatching purposes, smirked only once or twice, brought nothing to the series and was a complete waste of an hour and a half. Avoid at all costs.
3/10
Henry's Crime - I wasn't sure about the film before I saw it, and was VERY surprised by it. It was witty, dark humoured, slow, but had an undescribable likeability factor. I dunno why, it just was really enjoyable and entertaining. I simply loved it, even though it wasn't amazing. It can only be explained by watching it yourself. Great film, pleased I watched it.
8/10
The Ward by John Carpenter. It very much had the JC style to it, much similar to his classic films with "jumpy" moments, false suspense etc. None of these mad me jump, but the person I was with was jumping like a mad-man (woman) bless her :') The plot itself was ok, and the ending was very Shutter Island in style, but it wasn't awful by any shot.
6.5/10
Vertigo. Once again, an amazing Hitchcock film which really does leave you breathless, and really isn't as dated at it should. Great twist, quirky ending, and simply a masterclass to watch.
9/10
The Fighter - It was good, granted, but not amazing. Boxing films always tend to get overrated in my opinion, and tend to get lots of awards at the awards ceremonies, and I must say that it was by no means boring at any point. Christian Bale was great as the supporting role, and really does challenge Geoffrey Rush for supporting actor awards. A good watch.
8/10
Black Swan was watched after I was nomming over it for a few months. It was very good - excellent performances, brilliantly shot and just amazing to watch. It really does stand out amongst the crowd and I can see why it's getting all the accolades it so richly deserves. Just pure brilliance (sorry Slayed
)
9/10
Biutiful – excellent foreign langauge film. Touching, moving, excellent story and an all round good cinematic experience. Muchly enjoyed.
8/10
Forgetting Sarah Marshall - Last year I watched the somewhat loosely related sequel (Get Him to the Greek) and found it to be complete tosh, however, FSM was actually very good. Humour mixed with a basic, but deeply enjoyable storyline, coupled with a (for once) tolerable Russell Brand led to me really enjoying the film.
7.5/10
Love and Other Drugs was quite good. It kind of felt like a soft porn film - LOTS of nudity from Anne Hathaway, and lots of sex scenes. I kind of felt that it could have been better without the humour, not as the humour wasn't funny, but as it was very sensitive film and could have been better shown without silly little gags every now and then. Nonetheless, enjoyable.
7/10
127 Hours - It was very good, had a lot of Boyle-esque camera work and features, was gripping and was very well made. The film had some nice depth to it, and the "bit that made people faint and vomit" wasn't that bad at all. Highly recommended, and much better than Slumdog Millionaire in my opinion.
8.5/10
The King's Speech was superb! Excellent acting by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush - truly remarkable. Simple story based around history together with excellent direction and believable characters (due to the sublime acting) leads to a truly excellent film.
9/10
Run Fatboy Run was on TV, and as I hadn't watched it, I gave it a shot. As I expected - moderate storyline, some comedy, and some Simon Peggness. Nothing spectacular, nothing I would watch over and over, but a decent enough film.
6/10
City of Men. It was ok, nothing near as amazing as City of God, but still had the same style. It was a lot for boring, bit harder to follow, and just didn't seem to have that glimmering touch. By no means bad, but doesn't live up to the almighty task of matching it's predecessor.
7/10
It's a Kind of Funny Story - it wasn't funny...at all, though it was supposed to be more of a drama...I hope. It was ok - nicely done, a tad dull in points, but a film which had some charm to it. Nothing I would neither recommend nor ask to avoid, just cute.
6.5/10
I watched
About Schmidt which was on my list. It was a very good film - Jack Nicholson's performance is amazing - career best in my opinion. The screenplay is excellent, and you really do see his breaking down and tearing through the lonely times of his life. Would highly recommend, though it is a bit of a dark comedy, if comedy can be applied to the film.
8/10
28 Days Later was another film from my list, and I enjoyed it, but didn't feel it lived up to some of the hype surrounding it. Geeky film stuff aside, it was ok - nothing amazing, but certainly not bad - once again I could see the Boyle-esque style to it all, and enjoyed this very muchly.
7/10
E.T: The Extra Terrestrial was, unfortunately, a tad over-rated. I've had people my whole life going "How could you not have seen it?! It's amazing!", and I was left feeling that it was not "amazing", but just good. It was cute, it was a little soppy, and felt the whole "being taken away/experiments" thing kinda wasn't needed and spoilt the warmth from the film, but it was good...not amazing.
7/10
Trainspotting – highly enjoyable, occasionally laugh out loud funny, crude and very well made film which really did jump out at me. Truly great British film which made me very happy when I finally got to watch it
8/10
One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest was WOW. Simply wow. Strangely made me feel good for the most part, brilliant acting from all, massively enjoyed. One that I certainly would love to watch over and over.
10/10
Right, I'm bang up to date now
I feel better