What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Roman Holiday (1953)

Audrey Hepburn swans round Rome for the day with Gregory Peck and the city becomes the epitome of post war cool.

For those who haven't seen it, Hepburn plays a European princess who falls for an American reporter (Peck) during an official visit to Rome in the early fifties. However neither princess or reporter want the other to know who they are.

Whilst Gregory Peck is excellent (Is Peck ever not excellent?) it was the newcomer Hepburn who became the sensation in her debut major screen role. Elevated to equal headline billing on Peck's insistence during filming Hepburn positively shines.

It's credit to director William Wyler who wanted someone unlike the typical curvy Italian actresses of the day and he thought Hepburn the prime candidate saying "She was perfect ... his new star had no arse, no tits, no tight-fitting clothes, no high heels. In short a Martian. She will be a sensation" - He wasn't wrong.

It has just the right level of will they or won't they romance to avoid being saccharine and similarly honed levels of comedy. In fact it's a model in style and grace in both performances and script. It's beautifully shot by Wyler but even with all the superb compositions around the city his final shot of Peck walking out of the palace trumps them all.

A film to treasure.

[MrBarlow]

Cradle 2 The Grave. 2003.

DMX is the artistic jewel theif with crew Anthony Anderson, Gabrielle Union and Drag-On who manage to steal some black diamonds that aren't what they appear to be. Jet Li is the Taiwanese detective who wants the stones and to destroy them. Mark Dacascos is the antagonist who plans on selling the stones to the highest bidder of world terrorists.

Jet Li seems like he has very little dialogue and mostly saddled as a co star rather than the lead, DMX does take the lead and and has a mix of a tough guy and sentimental father that is a bit laid back. Anthony and Tom Arnold team up again from Exit Wounds and share screen time together at the end talking about the previous film mentioned and totally take the piss discussing the characters. The fight scenes are decently choreographed especially with the cage fight 1 on quite a few and the finale mixed with a bit of girl on girl fight. Not the best but entertaining.

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[SymbioticFunction]

Watched latest Mission Impossible. Feel a bit disappointed.

btw I thought films 4-6 were great. It's a hard film to judge as opening half hour, a segment where Pegg is trying to defuse a bomb (early on) and the last 25 minutes are excellent but the rest of this 150 minute film didn't do too much for me. Not quite the slam dunk that I was expecting.

Much of the remainder felt like a step backwards. If you also love the first three then you will probably also like this. I'm a bit torn, I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it and I think that I probably can't properly judge it until the second half arrives.

Further btw I got a bit fed up by the sheer number of times a new character shafted over Ethan, became a bit tiresome.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Excalibur (1981)

I'm no stranger to John Boorman's take on Arthurian legend but after seeing this on Blu-ray for the first time last night i'm still undecided as to whether this is a visionary piece of film making or a convoluted self indulgent mess.

Whatever it is Excalibur is a film you can't take your eyes off thanks to the crazy speed at which pivotal events unfold. Boorman's filming is strange and very off kilter for the era everything has a kind of smoky shine to it giving the film a truly ethereal feel to it and whilst characters come and go with many under developed Excalibur 's magic lies in it's eerie weirdness rather than any film making logic.

[J Harker]

Interested to read your thoughts on Excalibur Dem. It's a film I'd wanted to see for years, I remembered looking with fascination at the artwork a number of times over the years. Yet despite having the Premium release for well over a year now, I've still not got around to watching it...

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Interested to read your thoughts on Excalibur Dem. It's a film I'd wanted to see for years, I remembered looking with fascination at the artwork a number of times over the years. Yet despite having the Premium release for well over a year now, I've still not got around to watching it...

You should definitely give it a go. Although plan for it as it's almost two and a half hours long.

[nicholasrope]

Mission Impossible: Dead Awakening Part 1

Tom Cruise and the gang are back and this time they are trying to get to A AI machine that can be used as a weapon. There are some good Action sequences and a car chase involving a yellow mini but it's too long and I knew that I wasn't getting a conclusive ending to this Movie.

Anchorman 2: Legend Continues

Ron is fired from his job when his Wife gets a promotion so he and his friends end up working for the 1st 24 hour News Channel and end up being the most popular on the channel. I believe that this is the better of the 2 but it's rather hit and miss. Harrison Ford is quite good as his former boss and James Marsdan is funny as his arrogant rival as well as the cameos for the battle scene near the end.

Sworn To Justice

Cynthia Rothrock is attacked in her home and her Sister and Nephew is Murdered but she ends up gaining a psychic ability and becomes a Vigilante. A rather decent and enjoyable effort with some appearances from the 90's Martial Artist P/M Entertainment Films I liked. Not sure if there was meant to be a sequel or some TV Series because there was a sort of set up for one.

Switch

Jennifer Aniston wants a Baby so she get's a Donor (Patrick Wilson)and at the Insemination Party (Yes I know but it was on the cover) but her best friend (Justin Bateman) accidently destroys the sample so has to replace it. Seven years later, she has the kid but has his neurotic tendencies. It sounds like a Comedy but it's more of a Drama but I really enjoyed it. It has some really good performances and I liked that they didn't make anyone a jerk. Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis co-star.

[iank]

Dead Reckoning.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

A military action movie with strong sci-fi elements based on the Hasbro toy line G.I. Joe. Anyone who is familiar with the toys / characters of Duke, Ripcord, Storm Shadow, The Baroness, Scarlett, Snake Eyes, Destro and Cobra Commander, well they are all here. Some albeit very briefly.

The plot is far too complex to sum up in a couple of lines here but this is a fun movie with a superb 12 minute action sequence set in Paris that begins with a couple of characters running and culminates with the Eiffel Tower crashing to the ground.

This happens at the midway point and though the film never betters this sequence what follows is still a wild ride. The script borrows snippets from everywhere and there was a definite Vader, Luke and the Emperor vibe going on with the Baroness, Duke and Destro for starters.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra won't change your world but it should entertain you for a couple of hours. It did me.

[Nordicdusk]

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After the Guardians are attacked by an unknown very dangerous but quite well spoken and polite golden man his failed attempt to kidnapp Rocket leaves the gaurdians devastated as Rocket is left fighting for his life. Inside Rockets chest they find a kill switch that is stopping them from saving him and the only way to deactivate it is to go to the place Rocket came from to get the code.

I don't watch many superhero films but I do love the Gaurdians it has it all genuinely funny and the dynamic between the characters is spot on you just believe they are family and love each other and visually these films have always been amazing and with chapter 3 they really push the visuals into the stratosphere it looks absolutely crazy. There are so many different creatures and the places they visit are all mind blowing honestly at stages I felt like I was in some sort of strange psyadelic dream.

As with the first two films the acting is excellent keeping that strong bond going between the characters and keeping the humour flowing especially Drax without doubt my favourite character in the Gaurdians sadly this was Dave Batista's last one.

It's not all sunshine rainbows and blowing sh!t up there is a real gloomy feel to most of the film with Rockets origin story giving a lump in the throat every single time there is a flash back it doesn't ruin the film but it's makes it a different experience for sure.

The soundtrack is pretty great but a couple of more recent songs didn't do it for me but maybe that's just me.

My only real complaint was Sly Stallone is only in two scenes just a waste he could of been funny.