What Are You Watching?

[Highly Psychological]

A film called FISH TANK with Michael Fassbander in it, came out 2 years ago, won virtually every award going. MASTERPIECE.

About a teenage girl living on a London sink estate who is lost. Has no hope. Escapes through music and dancing. Gets involed with her mothers boyfriend. Anyone who has ever been involved with a dodgy boyfriend or girlfriend will understand completely why she goes with such a scummy man. What it does for her and him, it made me feel euphoric watching it. Its better than it sounds. It looks like it could have been shot by Stanley Kubrick, on a lower budget very atmospheric its a piece of art.

People have been telling me to see it for ages, i did not expect it to be so good, it touched my soul in a way few films have recently. Its beautifully shot. Its beautiful in general.

[theruiner]

^^I remember hearing about it when it came out. It was getting really great buzz. I'll have to check it out.

[orestes]

Fish Tank is, indeed, very good.

Currently watching disc two of the 15-disc blu-ray box set of Lord of the Rings. This may take awhile.

[theruiner]

Wow, did Red State suck. WOW. It was just ok, bordering dangerously close to bad, all the way until the end. Then the last ten minutes came along and put it squarely in the bad category. Absolutely terrible ending. Terrible. The only thing that salvaged it from being a complete waste of time were a handful of moments that were actually decent. But they were outnumbered by stuff that was downright laughable. Stephen Root is completely wasted in this. There's no room in this movie for a bumbling detective straight out of a Farrelly Brothers movie. I didn't care about a single one of the characters. Actually, that's not true. There were some little kids in the movie that I kind of gave a shit about. And the dialogue was awful.

Spoiler: Oh, and we don't need to be having a long-winded, stilted, overly dramatic and unrealistic conversation in a barn while there's a huge firefight going on outside. Just...just no.

Actually, now that I think about it- the only part that actually moved me emotionally involved the kids. And that's just way too easy.

Anyway...yeah. Avoid at all costs.

[bgalbraith]

The animated version of The Hobbit. On the same recorded-off-tv VHS tape I watched over and over as a kid.

[kitz]

I saw Max Manus (a Norwegian film) last night. It was very very good. Highly recommended.
Another Norwegian film I really enjoyed was Kongen av Bastøy. If you are willing to read subtitles... :P

[kdrcraig]

Currently watching disc two of the 15-disc blu-ray box set of Lord of the Rings. This may take awhile.

That's what I'm watching as well. Gonna watch all the movies and then hit up all the special features. I don't usually watch many special features but these are just fantastic. Watched them all when the extended editions first released on DVD and am excited to watch them again.

[Aaron]

I saw "Young Adult" last night, with Charlize Theron and Patton Oswalt. I wouldn't have seen it if some friends weren't going, but I wasn't totally against it either. Man, did it blow. Theron plays this terrible woman, a grown-up popular kid from high school who has not matured or really grown up one bit. She sucks. She tries to steal her high school boyfriend from his wife and kid, she's totally delusional and nothing is ever redeemed about her. Patton Oswalt is really the only good thing about the movie, as a grown-up geek who was beat up by jocks in high school, and left crippled. You think she might learn something from him, but she doesn't. The only thing I can tell that she learns is that small towns suck, and she's better off in her meaningless life in a soulless apartment in the big city.

It's not funny enough to justify having such a horrible protagonist, and it's got too many attempts at poignancy to really convince you that the movie hates her too. The movie is simply depressing. I actually found it pretty misogynistic, being written by Diablo Cody ("Juno" scribe), as all the women back in her small hometown still envy this awful woman, despite how shitty she treats them all, and continues to, right up through the end of the film. The only redeeming major character in the movie is a man (Patton Oswalt), and, of course, this being a Jason Reitman film, the cast is a disappointing sea of white white white faces. Throw in obligatory coolguy references like Pixies, the Breeders, the Replacements, and fucking Four Non Blondes, and you've got yourself one problematic movie with shitty characters and few laughs.

[the duder]

Dexter, Season 1. Again. Yes.

[Elke]

Category 6: Day of Destruction. Everything about it screams MADE FOR TV, but at least it was fun!

[theruiner]

I just finished the first season of The Wire. Not bad, I have to say. Quite good. I can't say I love it (yet), but I definitely enjoyed it. I don't think it comes even close to the hype, though...so far, anyway. I know it's just the first season, so maybe I'll change my mind on that. I'll definitely be watching season two.

[cashpiles (closed)]

The Man Who Would Be King starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery. It starts slow but soon you are completely enveloped in the story. So good.

[konstantin]

Absolutely Fabulous - Identity (Christmas Special)

They stuffed in jokes for an entire season, but it was still absolutely hilarious! "we're in Brixton? play some dubstep darling!" And the Sarah Lund (Forbrydelsen aka The Killing) cameo was quite the treat.

[butters]

(a bit late on the conversation here but...) you guys all liked Fish Tank? Wow, I absolutely hated that movie. Finding an unknown actress can be risky and rewarding but in this case it was a detriment. I thought she and the film were pretty terrible all around. Her character wasn't likable/relate-able (bad writing) and the actress didn't make that fact any easier (bad acting.) I actually forgot Fassbander was even in it since all I remember is how bad the actress was. Personal opinion I guess, since it still gets decent feedback.


On a better note - I finally saw 50/50! Holy crap that was good! Legitimately laughed and (sorta) cried during the same film... doesn't happen often these days. The scene when he was yelling in the car just really got to me. I have a few nitpicks about the movie (therapist-patient stuff,) but I'm willing to overlook them since the rest was so good.

[Highly Psychological]

(a bit late on the conversation here but...) you guys all liked*Fish Thank? Wow, I absolutely hated that movie. Finding an unknown actress can be risky and rewarding but in this case it was a detriment. I thought she and the film were pretty terrible all around. Her character wasn't likable/relate-able (bad writing) and the actress didn't make that fact any easier (bad acting.) I actually forgot Fassbander was even in it since all I remember is how bad the actress was. Personal opinion I guess, since it still gets decent feedback.

For me I find it mindblowing you could HATE the movie, but there are many many films that have been lauded to high heaven which I have hated. Half Nelson, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Napoleon Dynamite to name a fucking few. However this to me seemed like one that was different and acctually lived up to the hype that people kept barking on about and which is usually annoying. I thought she was amazing. She was not actually an actress she was spotted by the director on the street in real life having a fight with her boyfriend. She seems pretty spot on, the fact that it did not seem contrived was what I liked, really realistic of those types of girls that grow up on impoverished drug ridden, depressing estates or projects. Michael Fassbander portrayed a pikey perfectly.

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol, blew me away. Surprisingly unbelievably really really good, apparently a lot of people seem to think so too, and i hate sequels so was not expecting this. Best by far. I did not expect it to be that good. Ive never really been a fan of the series.
The first one seems like it was released aeons ago. Only 1996 but seems far far away. The second one sucked it alo had that Limp Bizkit song in it, the Third one was OKAAAY.
This one was just amazing. Seemed like a different franchise entirely. Infact they should have got rid of the name Mission Impossible, filmed with IMAX cameras its very easy on the eye. Ive never seen a film look so crystal clear, everything looks stunning. Tom Cruise was good in this too, he looks really amazing for 49. He looks younger about 42.
Because its the 4th one in the series i worry this wont get the respect it deserves. If i had not been dragged to see it, i would have been like yeeeeaaah but.....
The story was engaging, really gripping, loads of exciting out of this world stunts. Really great film, best action film of the year. This is what more franchise sequels should be like.

[marodi]

Alien Quadrilogy.

The trailer for Prometheus made me want to watch the Alien movies again. I've always loved the first two but I only had vague memories of the others. I did remember how much hate they were getting though!

I chose to watch the Assembly Cut of Alien³ and it is so much better than I remembered the movie to be. Yes, it is still a very bleak and depressing movie but it it beautifully shot and it has a solid cast. One of the mistake they made with the theatrical release is to have cut almost all of the scene involving Paul McGann's character, Golic. Cutting those scenes only made the movie more confusing.

As for Alien Ressurection, it is indeed the weakest of the series (I'm not counting the horrible Alien vs Predator things) but again, it's not as bad as its reputation made it to be. The crew of the Betty have a great Firefly vibe (but maybe I'm the only one seeing that) and again, it has a good cast who gave solid performances. Ryder was great as Call and I quite like the new Ripley. Not a great movie but I've seen far worst.

Now I'm praying that Prometheus will live up to the hype.

[Sallos]

I just finished the first season of The Wire. Not bad, I have to say. Quite good. I can't say I love it (yet), but I definitely enjoyed it. I don't think it comes even close to the hype, though...so far, anyway. I know it's just the first season, so maybe I'll change my mind on that. I'll definitely be watching season two.

The second season is worse than the first, but in Season 3 is when it really starts kickin...

[Fixer808]

Apollo 18 sucks. You have been warned.

[theruiner]

The second season is worse than the first, but in Season 3 is when it really starts kickin...

Heh...I'm enjoying it more than the first so far, because at least something is actually happening. It took nine or ten episodes for things to get going in season one. I don't mind a show being slow at the beginning of the season as long as it pays off in the end, which The Wire pretty much did. But it is kind of nice to have a somewhat engaging story already instead of having to wait a long time for anything to start happening.

Anyway, I'm sticking with it. I guess at this point I would say it's good but not great. But, obviously, I haven't reached the later seasons yet, which I've now heard from more than one person (yourself included) are really good. So...I'm sticking with it.

[Sallos]

thing i didn't like about season 2 was the change of setting, from the streets to baltimores harbour/docks, plus being introduced to awhole new bunch of characters, but eventually they grew on me.

[theruiner]

Yeah, I'm much more interested in what the Barksdale crew is up to rather than this dockworker/mob thing that's going on. Plus, Bubbs hasn't shown up yet and neither has Omar.

[orestes]

In anticipation of season two starting next week, I've begun watching Downton Abbey. Very enjoyable!

[Reaps]

Sky High.. being a bruce Campbell fan has it's low points. quite a few.

[theburningreptile]

Watchmen: The Directors Cut. Big fan of the film so I decided to buy the Directors cut on blu-ray. I couldn't find the ultimate cut though, which sucks. Anyway, I want to buy the comics now and the merchandise, where is a good place to start with both?

[Rossva]

Apollo 18 sucks. You have been warned.

Ahhhhhh man.... I really liked the look of this; thanks for the heads up.

I watched the A team last night - daft, totally unrealistic... But a tonne of fun! Recommended...

[OSLIN]

Workaholics on comedy central is fucking fantastic.

[Elke]

Criminal Minds season 6. The depressing thing is that I actually liked this season. Less gore, I think.

[Sallos]

Boss with Kelsey Grammer, just watched the 2nd episode, enjoying it so far.

[Alexandros]

Watched all three movies of BBC's Sherlock Holmes (2010). I really enjoyed them. They've done a great job modernising the settings and characters without compromising the spirit of the stories. Both Cumberbatch and Freeman are great in their respective roles of Holmes and Watson. I think my favourite was The Great Game, followed by A Study in Pink, with The Blind Banker coming last. But they were all very good. I look forward to the second season!

[butters]

Terri [2011] - meh, kinda disappointing. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really get anything out of it either. (15-year-olds have self esteem problems? Thanks for telling me that.) The Terri/principal friendship should have been developed more as it was (usually) the focus and definitely the most interesting. And the uncle too I guess, but that went nowhere. Pretty "meh" movie all around.