Jump to content
NEurope
bob

Your 2016 Film Diary

Recommended Posts

Oh man, totally agree. I feel like such an idiot for not mentioning Lubezki, i'm sure he'll win again he's such a great director of photography. The fact he didn't win for 'The New World' is one of the greatest mistakes in Oscar history, one of the most beautiful films ever made and quite apt you bring it up in reference to 'The Revenant', the two films work really well in tandem with each other.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I went and seen The Revenant last night. I was sat during the movie debating with myself on whether I liked it or not. I figured if I was having to think about it then clearly I didn't care for it. I found the whole thing far too slow and it could have been trimmed down a lot to make things flow a bit better.

 

When we came out of the cinema, my mate said the exact same thing. A few people actually walked out and never came back in. There was also some muppet who clearly got bored, whipped his phone out and kept checking his messages.

 

DiCaprio was great but I feel some of his other roles were far better and I find it weird that this role may be the one to nab him an oscar. Well, that's if the academy don't screw him over....again.

 

Disappointed. :(

 

Films I plan on seeing next week are 13 Hours and Spotlight. Looking forward to both of these.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I had an awesome birthday on Saturday and saw Creed.

 

It surpassed my expectations. I thought Michael B. Jordan did a fantastic job, but Stallone gave a top class performance and stole the show for me.

 

Some of the dialogue in this was superb. My favourite overall part of the film was part way during the final fight.

 

That talk that Stallone gave to Creed during the match and Creed uttered that one line that was at the back of people's minds without them ever being aware of it. About making sure that he wasn't "a mistake". Fucking brilliant.

 

 

Every time I had a question, this film seemed to answer it.

 

I was thinking throughout the film about Apollo having an affair and thinking, "they haven't really shown his wife at all acknowledge this"...then they did it, but so briefly and so subtly during that scene when the world finds out who Johnson really is. Thought that was brilliant and an excellent piece of film-making.

 

 

The casting of Michael B. Jordan was a superb choice. He looked the part, he acted brilliantly and he's a really watchable character. I emphathised with him and felt like I understood his struggles.

 

Overall, awesome, awesome film. SO happy. :D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bought 36 film tickets (the race is on guys :P) for IFFR.

 

I decided to skip most of the high(er) profile films, I know a lot of them will have a regular release anyway. I can watch The assassin and Anomalisa at the end of the month for example. But I am going to watch Room and High-Rise for example, oh and Green room, to name a few more known films. Room especially I guess, with the Oscar nominations.

 

Films festival starts wednesday, in the days before I'll try to catch up on the regular programming while I can (it's hard during the festival, most cinemas in Rotterdam take part). The likes of The Danish girl and The Revenant and such.

 

For those interested, this is what I'll be watching: https://iffr.com/nl/account/8aac3e04-db42-47fe-9a0a-2f60229e926f/agenda

 

I'll post updates on the regular films, and after the festival (and during if I can find the time), I'll post my favourites.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Watched the Big Short a couple of days ago and absolutely loved it. From the funny cameo moments to the way the film broke down and explained all the financial mumbo jumbo...deffo go and watch it!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Bloody hell @Sméagol, I think watching that many films in a week would totally burn me out! How much do you pay per ticket?

 

Creed

 

I liked it, but I wasn't blown away. It's clearly a good film, but it doesn't really do anything new, it felt like your typical boxing movie to me. The camera work/direction were great though. Stallone will probably win an Oscar for this. But can someone make a boxing movie with a new plot please?

 

Room

 

Very good, would recommend. Brie Larson deserves all the praise she's getting for this, but the stand out performance was really from the kid playing her son, Jacob Tremblay. It's the type of film I don't see myself ever watching again, but I'm glad I did see it as it was an excellent piece of cinema.

 

Dirty Grandpa

 

Really trashy. But somewhat enjoyable. Robert De Niro looked like he was having fun. Got more laughs out of me than Daddy's Home!

 

The Revenant

 

Another beautifully shot movie. A very intense performance from Leo. I think it was just that little bit too long though, half way through I found myself looking at my watch willing the film to hurry up and get to the climax. In the end I felt it was just a little too ponderous for me to think it was a truly great movie, despite it having all the ingredients of a classic.

 

My 2016 Film List

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Daddy's Home

The Danish Girl

Creed

Room

Dirty Grandpa

The Revenant

 

Will probably see The Big Short this week; really tempted to see Star Wars again too before it disappears from cinemas!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Bloody hell @Sméagol, I think watching that many films in a week would totally burn me out! How much do you pay per ticket?
It's 9 days actually (or 10 days if had a ticket for the opening film).. And even though I can watch 6 films on a day easily, doing an average of 4 films a day, 9 days in a row is going to be tiring, but also a lot of fun. This film festival is basically my holiday each year.

 

I pay more than I'd like :p. It used to be cheaper, but now I pay 18 euros for a discount pass, and then 8 euros a ticket. Without a discount it's 11 euros. You can go much cheaper by simply buying last minute tickets, but this won't get you into the popular screenings, so I like to play it safe and order most of my tickets in advance. I'll make use of the last minute tickets for the few gaps I have in my schedule. And I get a free ticket from work (whoo!).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The big short ♥♥♥♥

Probably the last regular films I'll see before the festival starts (other films will have to wait). Just like Baboo, I loved it. Absolutely love the style, and the film's tongue-in-cheek and self-awareness humour. Lots of 4th wall breaking. I wasn't sure how you'd make something as boring as the financiel market interesting, but they nailed it. Steve Carrell is great.

Margot Robbie in a bubble bath

 

Joy ♥♥♥♥♥

Star Wars: the force awakens ♥♥♥♥♥

The hateful eight ♥♥♥♥♥

The hunger games: Mockingjay part 2 ♥♥♥♥

The big short ♥♥♥♥

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hoping to go see The Danish Girl or Joy tonight, might actually try and keep up with this thread and use it to make sure I go to the cinema more!

 

Ended up seeing The Danish Girl - I really enjoyed it and found it quite moving in places with excellent performances from both the leads - but I felt it started to drag a bit towards the end and sort of gave up caring. I maybe lost patience due to having a little sesh in the pub prior, though.

 

This week I went and saw Creed. Glad to have seen @Goron_3's posted as I know he's a huge Rocky fan! Personally I only saw Rocky for the first time properly a few years ago, followed by II, III, most of IV and then Rocky Balboa sometime after it was out. Given that - I thought Creed was an excellent and faithful sequel for the series. Stallone and Michael B Jordan were both great, and even if it could be argued that lots of it wasn't terribly original, it still felt to me like it managed to somehow capture that magic of the earlier films with a slightly fresh twist. Of the four of us who went to see it, one has never seen any of the Rocky films and he quite enjoyed it - looking forward to showing him the original sometime soon to see how he compares it!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I seen Spotlight on Friday. Amazing film. Easily one of the best films i've have seen in a long time. Me and my mate ( who normally doesn't like films like this ) came out shocked by the subject matter and what went on in Boston but thought the film was outstanding.

 

Mark Ruffalo done an excellent job, as did Micheal Keaton, Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci. Brilliant acting from everyone, really. Highly recommended.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Really want to see that, along with the one about the banking crisis, but neither have come to my cinema yet!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The Big Short

 

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would. Really entertaining, actually. Had a great style to it and just the right amount of humour to make the subject matter accessible, yet still serious. I haven't enjoyed Steve Carell in a more serious role before (hated Foxcatcher) but he was great in this.

 

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

 

Wanted to see it one last (4th!) time before it disappears from the cinemas. Mixed it up by trying D-BOX for the first time at the cineworld at the O2, which was very good. Lends itself to Star Wars very well, almost felt like I was on the ride at Disneyland! Wouldn't necessarily recommend it for a first viewing as it is quite intense, and is an added cost over a normal ticket, but only cost me £4 thanks to my unlimited card so worth a try, definitely.

 

The film, I loved it.

 

My 2016 Film List

Star Wars: The Force Awakens x 2

Daddy's Home

The Danish Girl

Creed

Room

Dirty Grandpa

The Revenant

The Big Short

 

Will go and see Spotlight in the next few days.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Really can't say enough about Spotlight, great cast, compelling story. Took incredibly hard source material and did it justice and then some. One of the best movies i've seen in a long time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Looks like we've all been forgetting to update our film diary. Whoops. Anyway, let's catch up. Won't go into too much depth otherwise I'll be here all night :D

 

Spotlight

 

Great. I tend to like most shows/films with journalism at their core but this really stood out. Brilliantly acted, gripping stuff. A deserving winner of the Best Picture Oscar, despite the tough competition.

 

Dad's Army

 

A real meh. Mildly amusing. Doesn't compare at all to the series.

 

Deadpool

 

Bloody brilliant. Exceeded all my expectations. Loved the fourth-wall breaking humour and subversion of the usual superhero tropes. Most enjoyable film of the year so far? Maybe, but seeing Star Wars was still out in January, probably 2nd place :p

 

Triple 9

 

It was only a few weeks ago that I saw this, but I remember so little about it. Had a good cast, like some really good names in there, but otherwise was your standard crime/heist thriller. Unremarkable.

 

Grimsby

 

Definitely not Sacha Baron Cohen's best, nowhere near the level of Borat. But I found it pretty funny. Very crude in places, one part in particular.

 

London Has Fallen

 

This got pretty terrible reviews, but I thought it was fairly enjoyable. Nothing really bad about it, but not the most comfortable film to watch though when you live in London!

 

Hail, Caesar!

 

Loved the style and the throwbacks to the old Hollywood, and was plenty enjoyable, but the plot was pretty lacking, and just fizzled out and ended abruptly. Was looking forward to it from the trailers but was left slightly disappointed because of the poor plot. Good probably outweighs the bad though.

 

Allegiant

 

The third in the Divergent series. I enjoyed the books, and have found the films so far fine, if average, and this was more of the same. Average young adult sci-fi action. My main disappointments came from what was cut from the books, and the fact that once again, this is a final book being split into two films, this being the first, yet this one ends quite near to the end of the book, so god knows how they'll pad out a final film.

 

My 2016 Film List

Star Wars: The Force Awakens x 2

Daddy's Home

The Danish Girl

Creed

Room

Dirty Grandpa

The Revenant

The Big Short

Spotlight

Dad's Army

Deadpool

Triple 9

Grimsby

London Has Fallen

Hail, Caesar!

Allegiant

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I was stunned to find that London Has Fallen has had terrible reviews online. I watched it yesterday (literally hadn't seen any kind of review about it at all) and loved it. Great cast and great action. As you say, pretty uncomfortable viewing, at one part (when I was enthralled) I was thinking "jeez, is it okay to be enjoying it this much?". Popcorn movie, but with enough entertainment to make it rise above the rest in my opinion. Particularly the siege scene was fucking tremendous! Long drawn out shot, epicness.

 

I saw Disorder last week. AKA Maryland. Slow as shit.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I was stunned to find that London Has Fallen has had terrible reviews online. I watched it yesterday (literally hadn't seen any kind of review about it at all) and loved it. Great cast and great action. As you say, pretty uncomfortable viewing, at one part (when I was enthralled) I was thinking "jeez, is it okay to be enjoying it this much?". Popcorn movie, but with enough entertainment to make it rise above the rest in my opinion. Particularly the siege scene was fucking tremendous! Long drawn out shot, epicness.

 

Pretty much agree with every word, I just couldn't be bothered writing it all!

 

And any film that has Morgan Freeman and his wonderful voice in it gets boosted up a couple of points for me :p

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Is there anything particularly good on at the moment? I feel like making use of my cinema card as I haven't been since Deadpool, but the only thing I want to see atm is probably Grimsby. Nothing's been taking my fancy in adverts anywhere; not even sure what the next 'big film' due out is.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Went to see Hail Caesar! on Tuesday. I thought it was really good! Better than I'd heard it was anyway. Some good use of cameos, reasonable plot, humour used sparingly, but still funny.

 

Best bits were the dancing with Channing Tatum, and the directorial bit with Ralph Fiennes - "Would that it were so simple!" etc.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Went to see Hail Caesar! on Tuesday. I thought it was really good! Better than I'd heard it was anyway. Some good use of cameos, reasonable plot, humour used sparingly, but still funny.

 

Best bits were the dancing with Channing Tatum, and the directorial bit with Ralph Fiennes - "Would that it were so simple!" etc.

 

I've seen the trailer for that a few times and it does look like it's quite good, but I can't decide whether it's worth paying to see in the cinema or if it's better to wait a while and watch it later. The cast seems great!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would wait maybe and catch on dvd? It's good but perhaps a bit flat for all cinema experience.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I went and watchdd 10 Cloverfield Lane last night. I was enjoying it until the end when it became just stupid and very silly.

 

Yeah the ending actually ruined the whole film for me.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I went and watchdd 10 Cloverfield Lane last night. I was enjoying it until the end when it became just stupid and very silly.

 

Yeah the ending actually ruined the whole film for me.

I loved the ending actually. I'll post an elaborate update later.. Haven't seen that much films since the internation film festival Rotterdam almost 2 months ago, but I'm slowly catching up.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Watched It Follows the other night. Premise is there's a demon that follows people but can only be passed on to someone else by having sex with them.

 

Great fun - well characterised, good jump scares, and shot in this kind of Twin-Peaksy way with fab synth music. Good group watch with the 'what would you do' scenario. Go see it!

 

I also watched Anomalisa which is great if you're into long hyper-realistic puppet porn.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Watched It Follows the other night. Premise is there's a demon that follows people but can only be passed on to someone else by having sex with them.

 

Good group watch with the 'what would you do' scenario.

 

I'd probably just not have sex with the person who currently had the demon following them.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I'd probably just not have sex with the person who currently had the demon following them.

 

Don't worry Bobski they've got that covered - you can only see the demon in question if you have or have had it passed on to you. So, what would you do?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

×