• Location: England
  • Joined: August 20, 2011

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Frequency (2000)
I really like this film. It's not particularly groundbreaking, the soundtrack isn't especially memorable, nor is it cinematographically special. Sure, it's nonsense scientifically, bringing up a whole host of paradoxical problems, but then so does every other film that plays with timestreams. And the ending is very happy, perhaps too happy for some. But it has a really warm, well-devised plot at the centre that is deserving of such an ending. And sometimes that's all a film needs.
9/10

The Hobbit: Battle of a few armies (spoilers below)
I'm glad to have finally seen this. The Lord of the Rings franchise- once a soaring eagle of cinema, now more of a lumbering mountain troll- is over. Please let it end here, because this was a fairly adequate final chapter. It's hard to judge this film, because somehow the five other films before it add some intrinsic value to it- "this doesn't seem too great, but that must be because the others were so excellent. This one is still a good film." crept into my mind while watching it, however right or wrong that is.
I can't say much more about the CGI than has been said before- it's technically mindblowing, but still no replacement for the real thing, as done in the LotR films, and it never will be. After a while you get sick of the same old CGI mountains and burnt orange skies in the background, and the legion upon legion of army marching across plains.
Considering how long the film was, it still felt like things were missing- how exactly the titular battle ended. Did a dozen dwarves really sway the tide of the battle, considering they were still so massively outnumbered? Where did all those dead Orcs go? What happened to the people of the Laketown? Did the Iron Hill dwarves just go home? One of the greatest skills in filmmaking is knowing what to show the audience and what to leave them to figure out, and I don't think this was achieved. I expected a little more closure after 7 hours. More than just the eagles!
Having said all that, it's still a fun, entertaining film, doing just enough to not be a disappointment. The deaths at the end took me a little by surprise, as it's been a while since I read the book. And the battle- as long and repetitive as it felt- was done pretty well. I suppose my overall view of the Hobbit trilogy is summed up by the final frame- J.R.R. Tolkein's iconic, hand drawn map of Bilbo's journey, with "directed by Peter Jackson" plastered over the top. I've seen quite enough of his Middle Earth now, I think.
7/10

  • Location: City Z
  • Joined: December 17, 2010

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Boxtrolls (2014)

I love the gross and gritty world that these filmmakers have created. I love the characters and the message that they've put in there. As an autistic teen, I've always felt a little different. I've always behaved and acted differently than everyone else, and everybody has always looked at me differently than everyone else. And even though I didn't have autism as severe as the other autistic children that I knew, I still knew I had autism, even if I still pretended to be normal. Just like Eggs, the main character in the film. He's grown up nearly his entire life as a Boxtroll, and he pretends to be like a normal human being. I can relate to Eggs in an extremely special way.

The Boxtrolls are not accepted in society, and are treated very harshly, almost as if they are monstrous, flesh-eating creatures. If you look deep into autism's history, you'll find some similarities. And the Boxtrolls are a heartwarming species, often hilarious too.

The storyline might seem familiar, but the world built around it is not. It's not too far from Laika's usual fare. Go see it, and stay for the credits for a really funny reference to another species you might know...

9.5/10

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Mickey's Website

  • Location: Middle Zealand
  • Joined: July 6, 2011

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Mickey wrote:

Go see it, and stay for the credits for a really funny reference to another species you might know...

I laughed at that part harder than I've laughed in a while, it's brilliant. Also I think the people in the theater thought there was something wrong with me, they clearly didn't see the humor in the same way that I did. mini/tongue

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

backyardlegos wrote:
Mickey wrote:

Go see it, and stay for the credits for a really funny reference to another species you might know...

I laughed at that part harder than I've laughed in a while, it's brilliant. Also I think the people in the theater thought there was something wrong with me, they clearly didn't see the humor in the same way that I did. mini/tongue

I actually had to explain the joke to my family. It took them a while to get it.

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Mickey's Website

  • Location: London
  • Joined: October 28, 2009

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Drive
Got it for Christmas and watched it the same day. Great atmosphere with slow but satisfying pacing that does a great job of drawing you into a relaxed mood before things really go balls up and the film slaps tension on in truckloads.
All complimented greatly by a moody soundtrack and scenes permeated with outstanding camera work and lighting, which to me was the highlight.
If you're not into very slow movies or don't like the sight of blood at all then don't give it a watch, but I found it highly rewarding.

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BRAWL 2013 ENTRY Quack In Time
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  • Joined: February 7, 2011

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

It's a real shame how this trilogy turned out. The book has a lot of potential, and if there were only two films that were much more faithful to the book with the story, the characters, and the mood, Peter Jackson would be an absolute legend.
This one just got kinda ridiculous. There were several scenes that were plain hilarious and laughable, although meant to be serious, and that felt like they were there because why not. Even my favourite scene from the book

Spoiler (click to read)

Bilbo calling "The eagles are coming! The eagles are coming!"

was ruined, and I just felt totally robbed of the original story's charm. I also thought that, considering the ending of The Desolation of Smaug, it was a shame to

Spoiler (click to read)

dispose of Smaug so quick, right in the beginning.

It completely broke the tension established in The Desolation of Smaug.
This whole thing was a mess. I didn't really feel any emotional connection to the characters, and the return to the Shire and the whole ending felt rushed. If the films just stuck to the book and really worked with the material and the characters that Tolkien originally wrote, this would be fantastic. If it weren't for Martin Freeman, there would basically be no reason for me to even see this. The two first films were actually fairly entertaining and did, at least, have something going, but this was just stupid.

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Tobias's Website

  • Location: New Jersey
  • Joined: March 22, 2012

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

White Christmas

Until we saw

Guardians of the Galaxy

Not on the "Empire Strikes Back" level my brother hyped it to be, but still very cool and worth rewatching!

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"None practice tolerance less frequently than those who most loudly preach it."

HoldingOurOwn's Website

  • Location: Hurtling Through Space
  • Joined: October 21, 2014

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Big Hero 6
Christmas Family movie. Decent story but basic villain.  4/5

I'm....................................... A brickfilming noob.
  • Location: City Z
  • Joined: December 17, 2010

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

Still hilarious, almost as good as the first one.

9.2/10

Arthur Christmas (2011)

I never got the chance to see this one in cinemas, when it first came out. But, I'm glad I finally got to check this one out. It's an interesting and funny animated film about how the youngest son of Santa Claus goes out of his way to deliver a forgotten gift to a forgotten girl, before sunrise, on Christmas Day.

The funny thing about Arthur Christmas is that the movie is so British, but, at the same time, isn't. I had always thought  that Santa was known, in the UK, as Father Christmas, which may make a little bit more sense of the title. But, no. It's just Santa Claus.

There are billions of fascinating and hilarious little touches that made this movie for me. The cast is good, and all their characters have interesting personalities. The animation is nice, but it's saddening to see a formerly stopmotion-centered studio now working with CGI. Maybe their upcoming Shaun the Sheep movie--which is due for 2015--will change that.

8.7/10

Have you seen a big-chinned boy?

Mickey's Website

  • Location: New Jersey
  • Joined: March 22, 2012

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Wow, mickey!  You must have seen 1,000,000 movies!

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"None practice tolerance less frequently than those who most loudly preach it."

HoldingOurOwn's Website

  • Location: My happy place
  • Joined: December 25, 2012

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

OK, here is my review. Beware, I never read the books, I just watch the movies lol. This may contain spoilers below.

The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies

Well, the film's interesting, that's for sure. I want to start off by saying there was no real suspense like the second, but the CGI was impressive. The color was incredible, with lots of depth in it. Not sure if this is true, but some of the shots convinced me that they shot a good portion of it in HDR. SMAUG DIED WAYYY TOO QUICK- I don't care if you got make the movie longer Peter, don't do that to me again. I liked it how Thorin and his two brothers (correct me if I wrong) died, instead of the typical "all good guys never die" thing. Some of the emotions after Thorin's death changed a little too quick to a less sad feel, but I've kinda felt that pattern throughout all of the hobbits. All in all, no film's perfect, but I did enjoy the series. It's sad to see it go. Thank you Peter Jackson for all you've done for the hobbit, LOTR series(s).

8.9/10

Last edited by Gentry Studios (December 28, 2014 (02:25pm))

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"For I am NOT ashamed of the Gospel of Christ" - Romans 1:16
  • Location: England (sorry)
  • Joined: January 1, 2009

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Lego Movie

OK, so I finally got to see this as part of my continuing attempt to follow bandwagons that have travelled around the world once already and have returned briefly before jetting off into outer-space. I know, I'm a brickfilmer, I've been brickfilming for well over seven years, and I haven't seen the movie I've been waiting for since I was four. It's OK, I've already taken a wooden mallet to my crotch as self-punishment.

So, I finally got to see it and....it's OK. It's alright. It's solid. It's competent

It's average. It's the sort of

I'm just kidding ITS INCREDIBLE! THE PART WHEN EVERYTHING IS BORING AND A MARXIST CRITIQUE ON MODERN CULTURE AND THEN THERE'S THE GOODCOP/BADCOP WHO'S HILARIOUS AND THEN HE GETS RESCUED AND THEIR IN THE WILD WEST AND ITS JUST LIKE 'AMERICA: OUTLAWED' ONLY EVEN MORE AWESOME AND THEN HE BUILDS STUFF AND THEN THEY MEET BATMAN WHO'S THE GREATEST INCARNATION OF BATMAN SINCE ADAM WEST AND THEN THEY GO TO THE MIDDLE AGES AND THEN THEY GO TO THE RAINBOW LAND AND THEN THERE'S ALL THESE CAMEOS AND OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD

Phew. Sorry about that.

I always hate it when people accuse me of being too critical of Hollywood blockbusters, that it's not intended to be art, and that I should turn my brain off and enjoy it. I always tell these people to sod off - usually after ramming a Hello Kitty umbrella down their throat - since if I turn off my brain then I become the mindless sheep this movie parodies so well. The closest that I come to switching my brain off is when I'm experiencing absolute pleasure.

What I'm trying to say is that whilst watching this, all that was going through my head was: "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD" Ocassionaly I would find something that I could criticise, but then the film would turn around and make my criticism null and void not because this is a blockbuster but because it made everything relevant in the long-run and everything was justified. Every questionable decision in the plot turned out to all be part of a bigger system...just like a perfect LEGO-structure made out of rainbows and coated in the juice of my favourite vegetable.

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Max Butcher's Website

  • Joined: April 6, 2011

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

@Mickey & @Gentrystudios, I saw The Hobbit The Battle of the Five Armies, it felt very rushed and because of characters like Legolas, and such being added they had so much ground to cover so they jumped back and forth from characters wayyy to much.
At the start of the desolation of smaug I was quickly turned off just by the opening scene, but as the movie carried on I was actually quite happy with the speed things moved at, The first one felt a bit slow but held its own, and this final film just felt like I was watching someone press the skip button every 10 minutes because it felt like chunks of the movie just got removed for no reason.

Overall I'd rate this one 7/10 because I am a massive lord of the rings and hobbit fan, realistically as a film maker its more worth a 5/10 because of how hollywood polished it felt compared to the lord of the rings which was a massive let down.

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Re: What was the last movie you watched?

I give the Battle of 5 armies a 2.5 as a Tolkien movie. 7 as an unrelated action film. WAY too much artistic license.

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  • Location: The land of Tea and wiff-waff
  • Joined: March 31, 2012

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Been sick lately, and with my left arm rendered useless for animation for another 3 weeks, so I decided to watch some films!
Noah
I had pretty low expectations for this, if I'm honest. I find films based on the bible to be really poor, with the exception of The Greatest Story Ever Told (an amazing film might I add)
But this Noah film takes the biscuit, a very bad, bad biscuit.
I thought, well knew this film was going to be below average, with all the talk my friends at work had when it came out, and when I saw it last night, I realised I could have spent my two hours much more wisely.
First of all, the acting isn't good, at all. Russell Crowe's acting was at his lowest here. I just felt he couldn't portray the character at all. His acting was stiff, fell flat at what could've been good peak points in the story.
I also felt that the film was more focused on effects than acting and executing the story, very sad that is.
The only good thing about this film was seeing Sir Anthony Hopkins in it, but sadly it wasn't enough to turn the coin of this film.
2/10
Other than Sir Anthony's acting, there is nothing at all good about this. May I say, you are better watching Michael Bay's Transformers instead!

The Avengers
It took me two years to see this film, two years. I regret not seeing this back when it came out with my friends, but, don't we all have regrets?
At first, I was quite skeptical; I'm a DC fanboy, not a Marvel fanboy (although I'm a fan of the Hulk however)
But after seeing Guardians I really felt like I needed to watch this.
As soon as the first few minutes played, I was glued. Everything about it was just, wonderful! The visuals, the acting, the story, heck, even the humor (although Guardians was funnier)
This film, was excellent. I personally though Robert Downey Jr's portrayal of Iron Man was better than the Iron Man films, which is an excellent step up!
Although I never seen the Captain America film, I felt I didn't need an introduction to him at all! I think he may have just tied with Hulk as one of my favourite heroes!
10/10
Now, wheres that sequel Ultron at?

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Slurping Animations's Website

  • Location: New Jersey
  • Joined: March 22, 2012

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Slurping Animations wrote:

Noah

Other than Sir Anthony's acting, there is nothing at all good about this. May I say, you are better watching Michael Bay's Transformers instead!

Everyone knows what I think about Michael Bay and his desecration of Transformers, and if you don't, here's a video with my thoughts.

But Even I would recommend watching Michael Bay's Transformers before Noah.  But you have earned my respect for getting all the way through it, something I couldn't manage to do.

Max, good to see you finally had the opportunity to see TLM.

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"None practice tolerance less frequently than those who most loudly preach it."

HoldingOurOwn's Website

  • Location: Cary, NC
  • Joined: September 14, 2009

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

I watched Noah several months ago and I thought is was a pretty good movie. The film score was fantastic, Clint Mansell and Kronos Quartet were a wonderful combination. The cinematography and feel of the film were wonderful and balanced CGI with practical effects. The entire front section of the ark was made to the scale of the Bible. My only real complaint with the film was a pacing problem in the third act. I'm a bit biased though because this movie is made by my favorite director and I will admit this movie is my least favorite film he has made. I think the movie is worth watching just for the creation scene which combines creationism, Darwinian evolution and original sin into one scene.

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AquaMorph's Website

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Flabbit: The Battle of the Five Sequels

It had less cringe-inducingly bad moments than Desolation of Smaug but I still felt a sense of relief when it was over, knowing I wouldn't find myself going to anymore Hobbit movies in future years. It's been a disappointing trilogy, the closest thing a genius director with a lot of enthusiasm for the subject matter can get to making a bad movie. There's so much brilliance spread throughout these three films but it is mired in many wrong steps creatively. For instance, Martin Freeman is perfect as Bilbo, a much more engaging presence as a protagonist than Frodo ever was, and yet he plays third fiddle to the far less compelling Thorin and Bard in the second and third films. I can forgive the unfortunate cinematography style, but the films are bloated with a mix of good and bad additions, and the length and quantity of violent action scenes becomes tiring instead of exciting.


Batman (1989)

I have seen Batman Returns several times and always liked it a lot, but had never had a chance to see the first Burton Batman film. I love the style and aesthetic of both of these films, but Batman is not nearly as satisfying to me on a story level. I also felt that Jack Nicholson and co. missed an opportunity to make a character genuinely frightening like some of his other characters, but maybe that's because of the unavoidable but unfairly tough comparison to the Joker from The Dark Knight.

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Sméagol's Website

  • Location: New Jersey
  • Joined: March 22, 2012

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

Oh, I was so sleepy last night I forgot to post the link to the video about Michael Bay in my last post.  Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoPvKHCA-Z0

WARNING: EXTREMELY SARCASTIC & POLITICALLY INCORRECT

Last edited by HoldingOurOwn (December 29, 2014 (10:11am))

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"None practice tolerance less frequently than those who most loudly preach it."

HoldingOurOwn's Website

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: What was the last movie you watched?

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

The movie was okay, but I think it would have been much better if they'd kept it to two films. Martin Freeman was one of the only redeeming parts of the movie, as Smeagol has already said quite well. I'm writing this review for the HFR 3D.

The HFR honestly didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. Yes, it looks like a soap opera or video game cutscene at times, but it gives the 3D a greater sense of depth and clarity, which I found myself loving in a very few, select instances, such as the long shots of the Laketown survivors on the shore. It was too much for close-ups, or slow and deliberate moments.

For me, whether HFR improves a film or not, it is to me a result of Hollywood focusing more on the WOW factor of films, rather than serious storytelling. I can't see serious filmmakers adopting HFR anytime soon, just as they seem to continue shunning 3D.

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