8's a truly great film for me and this was almost there but not quite. But it was better than 'excellent' which is usually my 7.5 :)

The ending was very bollywood, although it didnt grate me as much as your regular bollywood film so that was a plus IMHO.

ps : saw heaps over holidays, reviews in bits and pieces soon. 

one of the best humor film i saw i last years 

Australia

Oh my God it's long. It has some good bits and some bad bits and so on but it's really so very long. How do people do this to themselves? This could have been a really pretty impressive 1.5 hour film, but instead Baz got hung up on the idea of an epic and we got this instead. Worth the watch though. 

So I raided my mates dvd collection a few days ago and took everything I hadn't seen without discrimination :)

This film is bleak, eerily realistic and quite touching in places. If you haven't heard of the name its about a near future (20 years) world in which every woman on the planet has become infertile and mankind is in its last days, and has in general gone completely down the shitter. its set in England and definitely feels like a British movie, as people are actually English and not the "American English" we all laugh at in Hollywood films these days.

Don't want to give away much about the story so I'll stop there, but its definitely a worth while watch.

Special mention goes to some very clever camera work and a few scenes where I wondered how they did that without cutting to a different shot. Also, this film is very unforgiving, brutal, and dirty in its delivery and setting. It almost felt like a post-apoc film set *just before the bombs went off* :)

This has not been the most coherent review I agree, but I am tired and really can't be arsed to spell long words right now or generally think of things to say, apart from this totally useless ending message, which is getting rather long now so I suppose I will stop. 

I thought it was a good film, I liked the part where they all stop shooting because they hear the baby. :) 

I agree that that was a very touching scene. It was very well done and could easily have been over the top, but wasn't. All in all a solid film with good performances, esp. from Clive Owen. The beginning reminded me of half life 2 for some reason ;-) 

Oh yeah, I get a huge Half-Life 2 vibe from Children of Men. Very cool movie. 

Babel

A bit like Australia, good in many ways, but just a bit over the top and up itself. I think Inarritu should have a few cream pies thrown at him and be given a spliff or something. 

was not good in any way in my opinion. I sat in the theatre staring at the screen in disbelief about how bad that movies was. There was nothing good about it, the story was dull and boring, the acting was bad, the child character was annoying as hell, even the nature shots looked like they were digitally created or altered... and it was way too long. I thought that the movie should have ended after the second act and kept wondering why it continued. Oh, and don't get me started on the dialogue! Oh god...

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind romantic movies if they are well done, but this one was a complete disaster. I wish I could erase the memories. And I wasn't the only one who thought so, the people in the theatre started laughing at the corny dialogue after a while, too! 

yes its pretentious but Innaritu is one of my current favorites.

Children of Men is classy too, got 3 films from good mexican directors around the same time (Pans Labyrinth being the other one). 

Note for Brits; Simon Pegg's newest will make you weep tears of blood (I'm fairly sure it's bad if you not from the UK too, just it's not quite as painful a sell out...) 

Oh yeah, I get a huge Half-Life 2 vibe from Children of Men. Very cool movie.

Totally, I guess I really am tired :P 

I found the last two below par. But I don't even remember what How to Lose Friends & Alienate People was about (not even after looking at imdb, I don't remember any scene from it) so that makes it even worse that the fat boy movie.

I watched Black Books ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0262150/ ) recently. Pretty nice series with "acting" actors instead of "cinema realism". Ups and downs, but I liked it. And every encounter with those other people like Pegg or Jessica Hynes was great fun. 

Black Books is classic, if somewhat variable (as you say). The episode with Bailey as a cop is actual genius.

If you like that tho I'd suggest checking out Dylan Moran - Monster for some of his stand up (I'm unsure if he's released any other stand up, I've seen him on stuff doing routines but not another complete set)

And HLF&AP's plot was mainly a dodgy romcom. That and a metatextual plot line about Pegg's character selling out...

Oh, also, Big Train. Sketch show featuring a lot of the better British comedians of that generation... 

featuring the sketch where I actually thought I might die of laughter...

I refer ofc to the scene where the dads son learning to ride his 1st bike bursts into flames for absolutely no reason, complete and utter hilarity! 

here's comments on some of those :

Quantum of Solace (2008) - the latest Bourned film is pretty much one big chase film edited into oblivion. It zips along at breakneck pace but with such clumsily edited action scenes that you would be hard pressed to know what's going on a lot of the time. The opening car chase is a pretty good example, you see explosions, you hear metal scraping, but all you remember is one big motion blur. And apart from all the average handled action, there's not a whole lot going on. Daniel Craig is wasted as is pretty much the rest of the cast.

5.5/10


Vicki Cristina Barcelona (2008) - this is supposed to be a return to form for Woody Allen but I personally found it to be a far cry from his great 70's/80's films. There's a couple of decent scenes between Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz but overall this is very averagely written and has that same annoying and noticeable trait that was evident in Cassandra's Dream with the actors performing as if they were in a stage rehearsal. The unnecessary voiceover is also a distraction, especially when it is spelling the obvious in a monotonous voice.

5.5/10


Pushing Daisies Season 1 - The production design in this series is pretty impressive and creative (think Tim Burton in Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory mode) but I didn't like the actual show all that much. Most of that has to do with the irritatingly glib and 'hip' dialogue that all the characters use which I found quite forced and distracting. The premise itself, a piemaker who assists a private detective in solving murders by using his gift to bring the dead back to life, is interesting but is never explored with much depth. Instead the show seems to be content with just defining every character with distinct quirks as a way of characterisation.

6/10


Ali : Fear Eats the Soul (1974) - Fassbinder's loose adaptation of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows in a modern day german setting (well 70's germany anyway) details the vicious response from family and community to the marriage of a lonely, upper class white widow to a much younger black Moroccan immigrant worker. The themes from the american original are expanded to include racism and class differences and Fassbinder directs with a less melodramatic and more intense approach than Sirk. The result is a stunning film which has a brooding, angry atmosphere and very strong performances which leave quite a mark. The title comes from a quote from the main character, where he tries to explain himself in broken german.

On a side note, Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven was a mix of this and All that Heaven Allows.

8/10


Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) - solid if predictable 30's gangster film by Michael Curtiz with James Cagney once again supreme and running away with the honors. He gets some memorable scenes and lines and makes the most of them.

7/10


Away from Her (2006) - Interesting if flawed piece of work from actor turned director Sarah Polley. The movie revolves around an elderly couple's relationship when the wife starts developing and suffering from alzheimer's disease. The scripting is not always right in tone but, when it works, there are some devastating scenes which are aided in their power by some remarkable acting from Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Fascinating if you are at all interested in the concept of memory (which I am).

7/10


The Awful Truth (1937) - fairly average screwball comedy that's not quite zany or funny enough. Cary Grant and Irene Dunne make a good pairing but don't really have the best material to work with. The supporting characters are also uninteresting.

5.5/10 

I think you hit the nail on the head with Pushing Daisies. I loved the first episode or two, but beyond that, the quirkiness is just too much. It all gets a little forced, and there isn't much depth. Shame really, because as you say the production design is fantastic, and there's a lot to like. 

it was almost as if they came up with idea, thought it was cool, but never quite knew how to make a full season of tv out of it. So it was like watching episode 1 over and over again with different production design. 

is great, thanks a lot for the recommendation. I also grabbed a Dylan Morgan DVD and remembered I wanted to get the Asylum rips. Upcoming British humour overkill.

That sketch about wanking in the office I saw somewhen before, haha. And that boy was hilarious indeed, Bal. :D 

Heroes Season 2 - hmm, I'd heard the biggest problem with this season was a sense of incompleteness due to the writer's strike. That was not my main concern, I think it wrapped up reasonably okay despite definitely feeling a bit rushed. The main problem for me was the alarming number of logic gaps that kept popping up and getting bigger as the season progressed. There's definitely some good points and the show isnt afraid to take a few risks by trying out some interesting ideas, but for every good idea, there's either an appalling plot hole or a conveniently contrived solution. As for all the new characters, it did feel like an unnecessarily desperate attempt to freshen up the show even though some of them were interesting.

6/10


The Big Clock (1948) - one of the best of all film noirs which combines great suspense with humour. Ray Milland and Charles Laughton star as employee and employer at a crime magazine with Milland ending up in charge of an investigation on himself for a murder he did not commit. John Farrow has the blessing of a cracker of a script which is meticulous in its detailing and characterisation. Elsa Lanchester has a hilarious supporting role as a prominent painter, providing most of the film's best lines.

8-8.5/10


Boomerang (1947) - early Elia Kazan film noir which is fairly straightforward and simplistic but ends up being above average thanks to Kazan's direction.

6.5/10


Born to Kill (1947) - none of the characters in Robert Wise's completely amoral film noir are likeable, and this hurts the film overall, but almost all are interesting due to their jovial corruptibility. And the character of murdered party girl Laury Palmer was surely an inspiration for Twin Peaks' Laura Palmer, sharing more than just a similarity in name. Well made overall, and with some choice dialogue, but you can only like a movie so much where all the characters are unlikeable.

6.5/10


Casque D'or (1952) - Jacques Becker's belle epoque period romance is definitely a very elegant film, full of charisma and memorable scenes even if the plotting and characterisations are fairly predictable. Becker's graceful treatment of the material makes it a joy to watch though, even if you know exactly how it's all going to turn out.

7.5/10


Closely Watched Trains (1966) - Jiri Menzel's coming of age story about a boy working at a train station in german occupied czechoslovakia during WWII is a strange deadpan comedy that never quite manages the frequent shifts in tone from comedy to drama. Most of the humour is observational and ironic with the boy oblivious to the war and the resistance that surrounds him and instead more interested in having as much sex as possible. Certain scenes work brilliantly individually but as a whole I found it to be a bit of a narrative mess, especially the abrupt and left field ending.

6/10


The Color of Money (1986) - Martin Scorsese's sequel to the great Paul Newman film, The Hustler, is not in the same league as the characters and their relationships are nowhere near as interesting, but it's still an enjoyable and entertaining film. Newman is fantastic again in his reprisal of the role of Fast Eddie Felson, who is now retired and considered to be past his prime. He contrasts well with Tom Cruise's cocky, talented and young character whom he attempts to take under his wing. Scorsese directs in a restrained fashion except when he wants you to get caught up in the giddiness of the action, at which point his swirling camera works beautifully to capture the excitement his characters are feeling.

7/10 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0484888

Despite the positive imdb comments: pass. at all cost ;) 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405094/

Absolutely stunning. Brilliant story, wonderfully acting, heart warmingly passionate against the stark depiction of 1980s East Germany. Highly recommend watching. 

agree, and it makes good viewing with the more recent The Counterfeiters. 

Haven't seen that one. Just IMDB'd it and looks good. One for movie night next week I think, will let you know what I think (not that I only watch movies once a week, it's just I watch bleak social commentary once a week with set friends ;) 

some of my friends found Lives of Others on another level, I found both to be pretty damn impressive.