baboon2004

Darned cockwombles.
Watched trainspotting 2, despite seeming dated by using the same tricks as the original (and Ally Mcbeal) did, and having a terrible soundtrack, Igloo apart, I liked it. As an affectionate indictment of a generation and as a moving reflection on ageing and time as a one way street, it works.
I was won over by the scene in the Protestant club. It was such good fun I dropped my defences after that.

Impossible, if you watched the first one when it was released, not to reflect on 20 wasted years, on an individual, a political, a cultural and a societal level. Hard not to feel sad about our pointless wastrel generation sloping towards middle age and death. Twenty years of non-achievement, wasted lives, wasted opportunities, wretched world that only gets worse, studded with small tragedies, acts of negligence, sins of omission, an averting of the eyes, an inability to act, comfort blanket of addiction pulled over the eyes.

An impotent generation suddenly crow footed, lined, creased, potbellied, halfway to death, dreams deferred indefinitely, mired in cynicism, hobbled by romanticism, dancing alone to a record you liked 20 years ago, parents dead perhaps, or unforgiven, the relationship stunted, stuck in amber, shot through with adolescent rage. Unable to go back, unable to go on, with neither the beauty and vigour of youth nor the attainments of age, seeing death in the dark corners, sick with guilt, haunted by the ghosts of our former selves.

And what memories would you hold onto? A few good nights on the lash with the boys? Nights when the drugs really worked and you got a glimpse of something better, but every time you open your eyes you’re right back where you started, just a little older and a little sadder.

As I turn 40 this week, I may not go to see this, just in case I accidentally brutally bludgeon myself to death afterwards with a hammer forged from my own resentment and broken dreams.

On the upside, Toni Erdmann is pretty good and it's out now.
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
I like dumb people films, so don't get your hopes up, but the Invitation was good.

I also like dumb films!

Last week I watched Jurassic Park, a.k.a. 'StillAwesomeAsFark'.

And recently I watched 'Captain America: Civil War' two nights running, cos I love it so fucking much.

Oh, and I saw 'Goodfellas' at the BFI on my birthday and had a helluva time.
 

droid

Well-known member
Has anyone watched the Devil's recently? it was about 100 times as batshit insane as I remember.

 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I enjoyed T2 as they're calling it - up to a point at least. Funnily enough, the bit in the proddy club is where it got too silly for me and marked the start of the second half of the film which wasn't as good as the first. If you've read the book it was quite interesting to see which bits they kept and which they ditched and which they left in but changed. It did have a certain melancholy to it as many have noted and I think that was the right way to play it... although it felt like more of an outright comedy than the first one.
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
i liked t2 but was distracted by ewan mcgregor who seemed a bit smug. the sadness felt right, but the girl was obv ridiculously attractive but pointless, and there was something unsatisfactory and a bit flimsy about the whole thing. irvine welsh obv stopped trying a while back. if they did a proper version of the porno book it would have been better. did have a few good scenes though. id watch a film just about begbie and spud. they should do that. a trainspotting universe type thing.
 
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They let themselves down by not having Dale Winton in it this time round.

Also, as the years go by Ewan Bremner looks more & more like Spud. Spud also looks more like Spud.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I just read Glue, I don't think Welsh has stopped trying, and a Trainspotting universe is exactly what he's got going. That said, I'm glad they didn't just make Porno cos I thought it was a bit stupid.
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
I just read Glue, I don't think Welsh has stopped trying, and a Trainspotting universe is exactly what he's got going. That said, I'm glad they didn't just make Porno cos I thought it was a bit stupid.

glue isnt exactly recent though is it?
actually for some reason i thought irvine welsh wrote the script for t2, but it was john hodge.

im trying to do a best danny boyle films list. i would prob go with trainspotting, shallow grave, 28 days later, 28 weeks later, steve jobs.

127 hours was pretty dire. i suppose i like slumdog but have various issues with it. i want to see millions.
 
Porno would never have worked as a film, it would have needed to be a tv series to get the whole story in. That being said, a show about making a skin flick couldn't be aired. They did the right thing with T2, it's a completely different story and even Welsh doesn't mind them not being authentic to the books.

I've missed the last three Welsh books but the Trainspotting prequel was great, he definitely is stronger when it comes to these characters and looking back on the 80's. One of his problems is that he's that successful that his editor can't tell him to trim the books down as it's going to make money anyway.
 

craner

Beast of Burden
I love this IMDB review of Transformers: The Movie:

This is the greatest movie in the history of filmmaking. If you check my other reviews, most of them are negative. However I'm not some snotty critic (who would want to be that). It doesn't take a lot for me to be happy with a movie.As long as it is well built, has a structure, and keeps me excited and entertained the whole time. A series of explosions with no storyline can get boring, but when it is built around interesting characters and the ultimate soundtrack, you've got something.

I have heard many negative comments about this ULTIMATE movie. First people say you have to be a long time fan to enjoy it. FOOLISH! Such an ultimate movie can be enjoyed by anyone! Of course us older guys remember the great cartoon, but once some young kids came over for a family gathering and LOVED the movie. They had no idea who Optimus Prime was, but came out of their seats when he launched himself into the sky destroying all who dare to attack his people and stand in his path! They were shocked just as many of us were when Prowl was shot down. Transformers the movie is a movie of the ages. It shouldn't get an Oscar. An Oscar is not worthy to be placed with such greatness. Long before Julia Roberts was famous, and long after she leaves fame, Transformers will have ALWAYS be loved and cherished by it's millions of fans around the world. Can a movie like Erin Brockovich do that? NO.

Another foolish complaint, in my opinion, is the hard rock soundtrack. This is the GREATEST soundtrack of ALL TIME! Every single song on the disc is a masterpiece that brings tears to one's eye due to it's greatness. Outdated? What do you want, the music from the cartoon series? That's even more outdated! What did you want, the New Kids on the Block to sing the songs? They sound more like the "new material" from the kid bands that dominate the airwaves today. To complain about the greatest soundtrack of all time is to look at gold and say it's too shiny. Please think about what you are doing.

This movie is one for the ages. It can be appreciated by everyone, except maybe some snotty newspaper writers. Do you remember watching your parent's old favorite movies and saying "this looks so old"? They would then reply that it's a classic and perhaps name all the awards it has won. Did that increase your enjoyment of the grainy oldness? No. Transformers the movie came out in 1985/1986. Years from now people, especially younger people, won't give a darn about most of those old, out-of-date movies that won awards in 1985/1986. They might as well be Teen Wolf. But they WILL care for Transformers, because it is the ultimate movie. Show a 20 year old guy Transformers and he will cheer. Show a 10 year old kid the movie for the first time and he will cheer. Show an old man the film and he will fall asleep. But that's just because he is tired. He does that with every movie. And Transformers is the ULIMATE movie!
 

entertainment

Well-known member
Curious if anyone has anything to say about it.....
Great movie. It gives constructivist view of the linearity of time and how our epistemology is inescapably controlled by the nature of our language. Interesting stuff. It's got a really exciting plotline, too, and it's definitely a pretty film. I could do without the politically loaded sequences or analogies, though. They kinda interfere with the philosophical aspect to it, which seems to be the core.
 

rubberdingyrapids

Well-known member
I thought this at the time - well, more specifically, "did they have to make the Chinese nuke-happy dickheads?" - but interestingly it's based on a story by a guy who is himself ethnic Chinese.

well, chinese-american.

though as milio yiannopolis should have taught everyone by this point, being part of a particular group does not mean you speak for that minority.

i dont know how faithful the film was to the book...
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I watched Seven Samurai over the weekend (in two installments, as it's so bloody long). Great stuff, absolutely epic and beautifully shot. I don't know whether it's the film's age, its being a product of a culture I'm not too familiar with or both, but I found some of the acting oddly stilted, but not to the extent that it detracted too much from the film as a whole. The fight scenes looked very amateurish compared to a modern production but gave an excellent idea of how frantic and terrifying hand-to-hand combat really is. I can really see why people call Kurosawa's oeuvre the 'Eastern Western' - the influence is obvious right from the start.

I don't quite understand why the bandits insist on attacking the village over and over again when they're being repulsed and having several of their number killed each time - wouldn't it just be easier to go and raid another, less hard, village? Or perhaps, in Japanese society of the time, even the bandits have a code of honour, of a sort, that can't be satisfied until they've achieved what they set out to do.

Also the soundtrack is about 80% yelling, screaming and maniacal laughter.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
well, chinese-american.

though as milio yiannopolis should have taught everyone by this point, being part of a particular group does not mean you speak for that minority.

Lol, meaning that if he were Chinese-Chinese, he would of course have total loyalty to his country's government? (I know you don't mean that exactly, but...)

I think we can give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that criticism of the Chinese Communist Party and the country's military doesn't necessarily make him a self-loathing race-traitor.
 
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