Due to housemate having some days off and some random shifts in general we’ve been watching a lot of films in the past week; more than I normally watch in months! We’ve watched:
Iron Man: I tried to watch this a while back and ended up turning it off after about ten minutes. Sadly, it doesn’t improve. I’ve never particularly liked Robert Downey Junior, though his acting was infectious in Sherlock Holmes. Iron Man seems to center far too much on action and shiny CGI graphics and not enough on the actual characters and a decent story.
Ronin: This film had always been one I wanted to watch, yet I wasn’t actually able to follow the story properly. Characters were introduced and removed all over the place and I ended up losing interest halfway through the film. I was told that the film is along the lines of ‘The Sixth Sense’ and improves on subsequent viewings, but seeing I didn’t pay attention to the latter half I don’t think I want to watch it again.
Galaxy Quest: This is one of my all time favourite films, though I seem to regularly forget the film exists! It’s highly quotable and has a brilliant story with references to Star Trek and other Sci-Fi shows. Not to mention the excellent acting from Enrico Colantoni, Alan Rickman and Tim Allen!
The Banger Sisters: My housemate’s choice and far too superficial for me. Not to mention predictable.
The Pelican Brief: John Grisham used to be one of my favourite authors and I remember reading The Pelican Brief multiple times. I like the film for its consistency with the book though it does make it a bit too long. Julia Roberts portrays Darby Shaw well and she was always what I imagined the character to be like even before I knew she played her. Denzel Washington’s character, however, isn’t anything I imagined and it takes away a lot of enjoyment. That’s the curse of books made into films though..
Die Hard 2: This is still my favourite Die Hard film and one of my favourite action films altogether. I’ve recently realised why I don’t like most action films of the last decade and Die Hard is a perfect example. Yes, it’s an action film and the action is a big part of it, but the scenes aren’t perfect and overdone with CGI. There’s more than just a smidgen of blood, the clothes look like they’ve been through hell and Bruce Willis’ acting is up to scratch, unlike say the annoying guy from Transformers. Most of all though, the dialogue is witty.
The Sweetest Thing: *sigh* Another suggestion from my housemate. I found this extremely unwatchable and irritable.
Die Hard: With A Vengeance: Not quite as good as the second one, but Samuel L. Jackson is brilliant in it. He is a great actor and it shows. The overall story is far too contrived though, not to mention certain catchphrases becoming almost painful to watch.
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that only leaves me wondering what your choice of films would be.
Earlier this week I had a perfect evening of film watching (except when the babies I was sitting decided to aggravate) Cabaret followed by The Lives of Others…
Well, I do like Die Hard, Stephen Seagal films, McQueen films, James Bond [before Daniel Craig], Star Wars, Lord of the Rings or lately ‘Men who stare at Goats’..
Though overall I prefer TV shows for the character progression. Lately Medium, Mad Men, In PLain Sight.
Housemate and me have a completely opposite taste though, we tend to take about ten minutes agreeing on something!
Cabaret is on my list of films to watch, would you recommend it?
Don’t get me wrong, I love a good action film – with the emphasis on the good!
Ronin was awful, almost completely unwatchable – the only people who’ve ever told me they liked it were probably off their heads when they saw it.
I have to say I think a lot of it comes down to how the sequences connect and that depends on the actors – the Die Hards have the redeeming feature of Bruce Willis (his permanent smirk is always good value) and recently I thought the Bourne films were good and Jason Statham has become quite watchable too.
Talking of actors I’m a big fan of Patricia Arquette (Lost Highway is pure genius), but nobody I know has seen Medium, ah well, their loss – I don’t actually watch much TV, but that’s always on when I get in a bit later.
Cabaret is highly recommended – it’s a musical, but don’t let that put you off: the songs are actually great. It’s a powerful, heart-wrenching film which has the ability to melt hardened cynics like me even after repeated viewings.
You should probably guess I have a soft spot for Berlin – today’s cabarets are still fun if you want to go, but they no longer have the same sense of edginess which made them so compulsive way back when.
I’ve watched Medium! Quite recently I watched the whole series due to having a lot of time on my hands being ill. Great show!
Jason Statham is an actor I can’t stand. I don’t know what it is about him, but I’ve never enjoyed a film with him.
The Bourne trilogy isn’t among my favourites, but there are some things I like about it, for example that it’s set in Europe or that it reminds me of a game I loved.
I was very surprised my housemate liked Ronin actually, as he tends to prefer things along the lines of Transformers and I thought Ronin was a completely different direction. He did tell me later that he loves the film because of a car chase though which I missed as I was making a cup of tea!
You have to watch Iron Man only if for some part of the song Iron Man by Black fuckin’ Sabbath! :P
How are you?
[BS takes precedence over everything! :P]
Meh!
I’m good, how are you?
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