Last Film You Watched

[The Cowboy]

Only seen it once shortly after it came out, found it overrated with a really annoying Batman, that gruff growly voice is just silly. Heath Ledger's Joker was even better than the hype, he saved that film, turning a 5/10 into a decent 7/10 experience.

It's something like the 4th best film ever on IMDB - a review aggregate I trust more than any other - so gonna give it another watch at some point, maybe it's better than I first thought.

Batman Begins was that 5/10, all quite forgettable. Dark Knight Rises another 7/10 despite a lot of weaknesses: more growly Batman, weak Catwoman, worst on-screen death ever. Bane was great and just slightly behind Heath's Joker in watchability, and generally found Rises a tad more entertaining than Dark Knight.


The perfect Batman film is this one:



Had everything, and did it all very well.

I thought the Dark Knight was turd. Incomprehensible plot masked my industrial-scale pyrotechnics every other minute. Rubbish. Never much liked fantasy films anyway, and this was the final nail in the coffin.

 

[dholliday]

I thought the Dark Knight was turd. Incomprehensible plot masked my industrial-scale pyrotechnics every other minute. Rubbish. Never much liked fantasy films anyway, and this was the final nail in the coffin.

I didn't mind the plot being daft, especially with an antagonist like the Joker...but did find it dull at times, the characters being mostly bland didn't help, and lots of explosions dull my senses too when they're overdone.

Regarding the fantasy genre, the trick is to avoid the big blockbusters...mostly bollocks. Try these fantasy films, if you haven't already:

Excalibur
Kontroll
Paperhouse
Save the Green Planet
Big Fish
Perfume

 

[PhilM]

Sat and watched Dr Strangelove before for the first time in a good few years. Top movie!

 

[tadao]

am a fan of found-footage horror...it is indeed one of the better ones.

Top 5 of this ilk:

Paranormal Activity 1-3 (later sequels are weak)
REC 1-2 (ditto)
The Taking of Deborah Logan
Blair Witch Project
Cloverfield

Paranormal Activity - Haven't seen the fifth but the fourth at least tied in, at the end, to the overall plot
REC 3 - was funny
The Taking of Deborah Logan - not seen it
Blair Witch Project - For some reason it really freaked me out, mainly the ending, but then watched it again and wondered why.
Cloverfield - Was ok, but haven't seen 10 Cloverfield Lane which isn't linked to the original. There is talk of a third film to tie up loose ends?

Some others -
The Last Exorcism
VH/S
Grave Encounters

 

[The Cowboy]

I didn't mind the plot being daft, especially with an antagonist like the Joker...but did find it dull at times, the characters being mostly bland didn't help, and lots of explosions dull my senses too when they're overdone.

Regarding the fantasy genre, the trick is to avoid the big blockbusters...mostly bollocks. Try these fantasy films, if you haven't already:

Excalibur
Kontroll
Paperhouse
Save the Green Planet
Big Fish
Perfume

Kontroll, the one set on the Budapest underground? I loved that one.

The best fantasy film is Pan's Labyrinth.

 

[dholliday]

Sat and watched Dr Strangelove before for the first time in a good few years. Top movie!

Still a few Kubricks to watch, that's one of them. Looking forward to it.

The Last Exorcism
VH/S
Grave Encounters

agreed Grave Encounters is also good, will check out the other two.

REC 3 was an abomination, the first two were proper dark so it was a real offkey way to continue the series. They even ditched the found-footage aspect. REC 4 was like a mishmash of the two styles, didn't do much for me either. I can understand 3 & 4 being alright as standalone action-horror but coming from the first two it was hugely disorientating.

REC 1 & 2 are in my top 20 of all time.

 

[dholliday]

Kontroll, the one set on the Budapest underground? I loved that one.

The best fantasy film is Pan's Labyrinth.

aye, that one...excellent camera-techniques and quality acting all round.

Haven't seen Pan's yet. I was underwhelmed by Del Toro's other fantasy-horror films: The Orphanage and Devil's Backbone. And Pacific Rim was awful. I'll still give it a go at some point as it's well-regarded, tho' me and my lady did start it once and the first scene is of a brutal fatal beating by evil Nazis...not really our kind of film so we're saving it for a rainy day.

 

[The Cowboy]

aye, that one...excellent camera-techniques and quality acting all round.

Haven't seen Pan's yet. I was underwhelmed by Del Toro's other fantasy-horror films: The Orphanage and Devil's Backbone. And Pacific Rim was awful. I'll still give it a go at some point as it's well-regarded, tho' me and my lady did start it once and the first scene is of a brutal fatal beating by evil Nazis...not really our kind of film so we're saving it for a rainy day.

It's been a while since I saw it, but there was nothing 'fantasy' about Kontroll. It was a sort of mild horror / suspense thriller.

Pan's Labyrinth is so well regarded due to the seamless interlacing of historical drama and pure fantasy. It's almost unique in that aspect.

 

[SuperTimCahill]

I didn't mind the plot being daft, especially with an antagonist like the Joker...but did find it dull at times, the characters being mostly bland didn't help, and lots of explosions dull my senses too when they're overdone.

Regarding the fantasy genre, the trick is to avoid the big blockbusters...mostly bollocks. Try these fantasy films, if you haven't already:

Excalibur
Kontroll
Paperhouse
Save the Green Planet
Big Fish
Perfume

Ah, Big Fish. One of my all-time favorites. Great pick, mate.

 

[coollino]

Ah, Big Fish. One of my all-time favorites. Great pick, mate.

For a big Tim Burton critic, I find it hard to fault Big Fish

 

[Ashtonian]

Only seen it once shortly after it came out, found it overrated with a really annoying Batman, that gruff growly voice is just silly. Heath Ledger's Joker was even better than the hype, he saved that film, turning a 5/10 into a decent 7/10 experience.

It's something like the 4th best film ever on IMDB - a review aggregate I trust more than any other - so gonna give it another watch at some point, maybe it's better than I first thought.

Batman Begins was that 5/10, all quite forgettable. Dark Knight Rises another 7/10 despite a lot of weaknesses: more growly Batman, weak Catwoman, worst on-screen death ever. Bane was great and just slightly behind Heath's Joker in watchability, and generally found Rises a tad more entertaining than Dark Knight.


The perfect Batman film is this one:



Had everything, and did it all very well.

In the simplistic sense , what makes the dark knight so good is what makes other batman films that are focused on him, terrible. The very first two are less focused so enjoyable and brilliant in their own right.

But yeah, unlike other superhero films , the joker has no motive , no big plan and no grand scheme. The film amazingly plays out the simple thing, challenging how good people are. It is essentially told you in the film the joker wants to challenge the one rule of batman (no killing) and yeah, the plot was written perfectly for the idea behind it I think.

Side note, the new one was terrible for the same reason. They just lifted famous comics which may have made good.films by themselves and just tried to make a 2 hour film out of them all.

 

[dholliday]

It's been a while since I saw it, but there was nothing 'fantasy' about Kontroll. It was a sort of mild horror / suspense thriller.

big spoiler here lads for those who haven't seen it:

Spoiler: Kontroll ending spoilage

He's in afterlife limbo being demonised by his dark side but meets an angel who shows him the stairway to heaven

Ah, Big Fish. One of my all-time favorites. Great pick, mate.

For a big Tim Burton critic, I find it hard to fault Big Fish

Seen it twice, the second time round was so much better...proper feel-good film, everyone's so charming.

 

[Ashtonian]

Just watched the killing joke .

Generally it was enjoyable but I imagine the intended audience was comic fans as it didn't have the oomph I was expecting. Probably not the best animated batman out there but good if like me you have never seen the comic.

 

[dholliday]

In the simplistic sense , what makes the dark knight so good is what makes other batman films that are focused on him, terrible. The very first two are less focused so enjoyable and brilliant in their own right.

But yeah, unlike other superhero films , the joker has no motive , no big plan and no grand scheme. The film amazingly plays out the simple thing, challenging how good people are. It is essentially told you in the film the joker wants to challenge the one rule of batman (no killing) and yeah, the plot was written perfectly for the idea behind it I think.

Side note, the new one was terrible for the same reason. They just lifted famous comics which may have made good.films by themselves and just tried to make a 2 hour film out of them all.

Good post Ash, but I think I'm just not very friendly with Nolan's films. There's a coldness to the characterisation, and an irritating conviction in the dialogue. Interstellar was awful and Memento was all flash no fun. Inception is the only one I enjoyed without much reservation, tho' not the future classic many people think it to be. The magician one I still want to see, hopefully that's decent.

 

[Ashtonian]

Good post Ash, but I think I'm just not very friendly with Nolan's films. There's a coldness to the characterisation, and an irritating conviction in the dialogue. Interstellar was awful and Memento was all flash no fun. Inception is the only one I enjoyed without much reservation, tho' not the future classic many people think it to be. The magician one I still want to see, hopefully that's decent.

I'd imagine yeah Nolan would have an imprint on the film so that would affect personal view on certain things. Like me and tarantino or scorsesi, I tend to enjoy their films a lot more than others from the same director.

To be honest I'm not watched up on Nolan films on a whole, been wanting to see inception for a long time but never got round to it. I do like him generally because of the challenging films he seems to take on, whether I really like them or not I need to find out haha

One good one from Nolan was the prestige. Really well made film that although isn't the greatest, was very well constructed when you take the whole meaning of the film. Not many people seemed to pick up on that though which is odd.