[Closed] Recent Viewing Part III

Southall wrote
Temple Grandin

Loved this. Claire Danes exceptional (I know, I know, saying that actors playing people with a mental disability are exceptional is so cliched - but she is). Really moving, inspirational. Martijn would hate it, probably franz_conrad would too. Alex Wurman's score is like Philip Glass filtered through James Horner and I WANT IT! (Not released, sadly.)

Southall wrote
Recount

Fascinating, well-made film about the legal wrangling surrounding the 2000 US Presidential election. Some of the stuff in it is jaw-dropping - though I do accept that a film made by Hollywood types starring Kevin Spacey may not be the most unbiased source of facts. Good score by Dave Grusin - one of only four he's done since the turn of the century.

Timmer wrote
I thought it was excellent Tom.

There are many references that will go wayyyyyyyyy over your head though, simply because of a lot of British TV/cultural stuff.

Timmer wrote
I'm afraid I've never seen George Gently.

As for LIFE ON MARS, I just loved it ( I think Martijn is a fan too )

The follow up series LIFE ON MARS, set in the 80's is very good too and really heats up after a luke-warm start.

FalkirkBairn wrote
Have not watched it yet but just bought Monsters on DVD on the basis of reviews at the time of this sci-fi movie release. Was this a good move?

plindboe wrote
Monsters

The trailer lied. This isn't the ultimate big monster, horror movie. I loved the premise, and the first part of the movie was very promising. But the two main characters, which are likable enough to begin with, though not great actors, just talk and talk and talk, until you just want them to shut up. The monsters are ok, but nothing special. They were essentially big walking octopi, which wasn't very imaginative, and the CGI looked like the movie was 15 years old. There was almost no monster action, and the end was a huge letdown. I wish someone would redo this movie, because the basic idea of it was great.

My rating: 3 out of 10

plindboe wrote


Me too. I love big monsters! Some people seem to like this movie though; reading about it on the imdb boards. I think it depends on your expectations. If you expect monster mayhem, this will be the biggest letdown ever, simple because all the mayhem seem to occur off-screen. Nothing much happens the entire movie and you expect at least the last ten minutes of the movie to end with a bang, and then [spoiler]the monsters make freaking love!, while the female lead watches them with tears in her eyes, and we, the audience, is supposed to think these creatures are oh so beautiful and misunderstood I guess, in a sense, it did end with a bang, but not the kind of bang I had hoped for.[/spoiler]. Only action you see is a monster picking up a truck. The characters always discover a bunch of dead people afterwards, but we never see any carnage ourselves.

It was not a total waste though. I thought the premise, where the US and mexican governments had sealed off a huge area and were fighting a losing battle to contain the infection was very interesting, and it seemed very real somehow (à la District 9). You could constantly hear fighter jets and helicopters near the infection area, and sometimes hear explosions in the distance, and I thought that gave a great atmosphere.

Still, nothing happened, except for a cheesy love story and an even cheesier moral lesson/political commentary.