Very bored, haven't commented in here for a while and I've watched a lot of very good films lately. I'll limit them to recently released films, here goes:
Hangover 2
3/10. Utter shite, redeemed by the presence of a very pretty Asian, and once again, the clips as the end credits roll. During Hangover 1 I didn't laugh once until those end credits. The sequel was even worse. I can't say anything more damning than I watched this high and still found it unfunny.
Just Go With It
1/10. Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy. Forced to watch this on the plane by Iberia's lack of alternative entertainment. This is solidly in the category of tired, uncreative, unartistic, unwitty, overpolished trash that is consumed by the zombies who do before thinking.
Inbetweeners Movie
7/10. What a shame. Inbetweeners series: hilarious, but couldn't possibly cope with another one. Bringing the boys on holiday was the only possible option - and you know what you're going to get with a lads on tour film. In that sense, so long as it's still funny, this film can't fail for an 8 out of 10. But it does, because they decided their core demographic couldn't go and see 18s, so they had to tone down the humour to get a 15 rating, which made the film far less funny than the series. But I still enjoyed it.
Attack The Block; Anuvahood.
8/10. I'll score these films together because I enjoyed them for roughly the same reasons. The first is Shaun of the Dead meets Kidulthood, while Anuvahood is a big spoof of Kidulthood & various other grime/ yoof culture Channel U type stuff. If you didn't grow up in London in the past decade, you probably won't get these films. You certainly won't understand the slang. But I did, and I found them both brilliantly funny. Definitely watch high.
Horrible Bosses
7/10. It is rare that I enjoy American comedies. But for some reason, the characters in this film are so well developed that even cynics find it funny. Plus, I've never seen Jennifer Aniston look hotter. Another one improved with herb.
Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides
5/10. Entertaining, if not painfully contrived.
Four Lions
8/10. If you haven't watched this film, watch it. It's a classic British farce, guided in its writing by Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong (the brains behind Peep Show, The Thick of It & Fresh Meat so already legends), and starring the Fonejacker. Homegrown terrorists who are **** at being terrorists. Hilarious and slightly disturbing film.
Midnight in Paris
8/10. Woody Allen light comedy with Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdam (looking pregnant in this and not her usual self). Simply, this is a well-told, light-hearted yarn without too many laugh out loud moments but still endearing. And its biggest star is Paris, which is filmed beautifully.
Tree of Life
8/10. Won the Palm d'Or at Cannes, so I thought I should watch it. Very strange film in that it doesn't really have a structured narrative, and nothing that happens in one scene is directly related to what happens in the next. It's a very 'arty' film, and don't watch if you don't like that sort of thing. The photography in this film, however, is outstanding, and it is for some reason very emotionally touching.
Patagonia
8/10. The UK's entry at the Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, because its in Welsh and Spanish. It tells two unrelated stories, one about a dying Argentine woman from Patagonia who travels with a young man to Wales in order to find her mother's farm, and the other about a Welsh couple who travel to Patagonia (where some people speak Welsh still). It's beautifully filmed, very touching and well-acted, tragic, romantic and makes a slightly unbelievable plot seem feasible. In other words, a very British film.
Elite Squad; Elite Squad 2
8/10 & 9/10. How often are sequels better films? Almost never. But these are effectively two completely different films, linked together by the same characters. The main protagonist in both is a Colonel in the Rio di Janiero paramilitary wing of their police, the Elite Squad, whose main job is to confront the city's violent drug gangs.
In film one he tells of how he wanted to quit, and how he chose his successor out of two potential candidates. It's a brutally violent and aggressive film, but engrossing nonetheless. It's based on real life, and it feels realistic. And it makes you think, and it makes you root for the main characters without liking them.
Film two is so much more. Imagine The Wire has moved to Rio, and is condensed into 3 hours. Alternatively, imagine the first film is mixed a little with Blood Diamond. This film is the best I've watched in years. It's up there with Pulp Fiction, Lock Stock, Shawshank, etc. It's outstanding - the acting, the cinematography, the plot, the message - everything. It's hugely ambitious and it achieves everything it sets out to do. This is Brazil's nomination for Best Foreign Language Film - it should win it. It should win every other category too. Watch it.
Tropa de Elite 1
Tropa de Elite 2
loving it
