[Hutnicks]

 

 
Seven Psychopaths - 6/10
 
Ensemble piece that shoots for early Tarantino territory and falls some way short. It's hard to say too much about it without giving away the plot for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I'll just say it felt less like a coherent film and more like someone working through writer's block - which is the point of course, but something like Deconstructing Harry does it better. Walken is on fine form as ever but there's just something too knowing, too on the nose about most of the performances and the direction here. As with more recent Tarantino films, you feel like you're watching it with the spirit of the director sitting beside you, digging you in the ribs saying "see what I did there?" at every twist. That said, the film has a fine sense of the absurd and is kind of enjoyable if you can ignore its painfully post-modern hipness and just go along for the ride.

Substitute Kubrik for Tarantino in that review and you have my exact opinion of High Rise

 

[WraithApe]

 
Substitute Kubrik for Tarantino in that review and you have my exact opinion of High Rise

 
That would imply you didn't think much of Eyes Wide Shut, in which case I'd be in agreement. On reflection I think I overrated High-Rise slightly, on account of it being Ben Wheatley's best effort to date IMO (some might say that was Sightseers or Kill List). It doesn't really capture the essence of Ballard's novel though, going for black comedy rather than sharp satire. Not sure why, but I rated it more as a Wheatley film, having seen most of his previous work, than as an adaptation of what remains my favourite book by Ballard.

 

[Hutnicks]

   
That would imply you didn't think much of Eyes Wide Shut, in which case I'd be in agreement. On reflection I think I overrated High-Rise slightly, on account of it being Ben Wheatley's best effort to date IMO (some might say that was Sightseers or Kill List). It doesn't really capture the essence of Ballard's novel though, going for black comedy rather than sharp satire. Not sure why, but I rated it more as a Wheatley film, having seen most of his previous work, than as an adaptation of what remains my favourite book by Ballard.

Well EWS was not really Kubriks final vision so I take it for what it wound up being.  I think Kill List was a better Wheatley film than High Rise. High Rise just always came so close to hitting the mark and shied away from it as you say by going for the black comedy angle. The Thatcher clip at the very end seemed like a tacked on bit in order to satisfy the readers of the book. More of an "Yes I did read the book and I got it" from Wheatley than exposition for the filmgoer.  I really wanted to like it but just felt let down when all was said and done.

 

[LeThao]

I watched The Curious case of Benjamin Button yesterday. That is a great movie. Benjamin is man who was born with the apperance and physical maladies of an elderly man.
 
Brad Pitt was cast as Benjamin Button. The actors are really good at acting and the sences is really romantic as well.
 
After watching that movie i realized that happiness is getting old with the person you love not keeping the youth by yourself.

 

[Hutnicks]

The Night Manager (2016) Miniseries  5/10     
 
 
 I am going to review this here after waffling about on whether or not a miniseries is appropriate.  I really wanted to like this one as the book was a very good effort on LeCarre's part to move out of the Cold War genre and into the new age. The film does not really do it justice. Hugh Laurie does a fair job but I felt that Tom Hiddleston is just being the same old guy. Don't know where the hype for him is coming from these days but he seems to be bent on surviving a career based on the use of the impish grin and not a whole lot of range outside of that. My issue here stems from his portrayal in the lead. No where near the person the book would have you think the man was, it leaves so much on the table that it actually dilutes the performances of others in what could have been a very hard core effort. A multi dimensional character played by a monodimensional actor is not what this film needed. The addition of romantic interests could have been left out and we would have had a decent film almost cut down to the theatrical release time. Instead it sprawls and loses its timing in several spots and tries to make up for it with a haphazzard effects laden semi climax. The pacing dilutes that as well and what we are left with is by no means "The Best LeCarre adaptation ever". More a knock off of Tailor of Panama stretched out to almost painful levels.
 
 Watch Spy Who Came in From the Cold instead. Still, arguably the best adaptation. If bent on TV,  watch a season of Spooks, it was far better directed and acted overall.

 

[HAWKEYE7]

Captain America - Civil War, 9/10
I've been an avid comic book collector since 1968, yes, I'm one of those insufferable comic book snobs who complains when comics take wildly divergent paths from the recorded cannon for the characters. In this case, without giving any spoilers away, there was some divergence from the comic book story but it was done so well that I have no real complaints. This movie would have gotten a 10/10 from me but it had a little, and it is only just a very tiny bit, too much in it. They did an amazing job of touching on so many future story threads and filling in on threads that had been lingering, waiting to be tied up from past movies. I only wish there might have been maybe one less new thread and just a little bit more time spent on a couple of the older threads to really flesh them out a little more fully. Visually it is brighter then Captain America Winter Soldier, but not quite as bright as The Avengers first movie. The story could have been even grimmer then Winter Soldier but it was not. This was right where I think it should be. Captain America is a comic and a character that does deal with the darkest, grimmest and most difficult aspects of the human condition but ALWAYS does so with an unbreakable belief in the innate goodness and strength of humanity. This movie walked to the edge but did not step over the line into the dark.
I watched it with my wife, who never even saw a comic book before I married her and patiently tolerates my obsession.
She loved it.
Nuff Said.

 

[LouisLoh]

Captain America Civil War - 8/10
 
Thank god they didn't turn this into Avengers 2.5. They almost did, but ultimately, the film stayed closer to the Captain America franchise than the Avengers one. The choreography was on point, but what I loved most about this film was the plot. Specifically, the writing around Zemo's plan was superb. Hands down the best villain in the MCU by far.
 
^ bet she didn't mind the eye candy

 

[HAWKEYE7]

 
Captain America Civil War - 8/10
 
Thank god they didn't turn this into Avengers 2.5. They almost did, but ultimately, the film stayed closer to the Captain America franchise than the Avengers one. The choreography was on point, but what I loved most about this film was the plot. Specifically, the writing around Zemo's plan was superb. Hands down the best villain in the MCU by far.
 
^ bet she didn't mind the eye candy

How did you know her pet name for me?!?!?

A little Chris Evans for her and a little Scarlett Johansson for me, it's all good. 
 
I agree about Zemo. Great writing with that character. His plan was amazing. You are also right about it staying a Captain America movie. There is almost a James Bond or Jason Borne feel to Cap movies compared to the Avengers. More focus, character development and intrigue.

 

[HaNs SuPeR]

The Night Manager (TV Series, like a long movie in 6 parts)
7/10  
Overall it was enjoyable. However, it seemed too much an in your face Hollywood style show vs a more refined, less in your face style. It is not as over the top and silly as a James Bond movie. Maybe somewhere in between 007 movies and the real dry George Smiley movies with Alec Guinness, but more towards the 007 movie than the real dry ones. 
Too predictable in way too many places. You absolutely know what it going to happen much of the time. The looks the characters have on their faces and such make some plot points Too obvious. 
Great actors for sure.  Elizabeth Debicki is beautiful. 
 

 

 

[mutabor]

Captain America: Civil War - 7.2/10
 
Hollywood rules the masses around the globe by technological advancements. Complex and very expensive visual effects can only be made in America. Advanced technology is a thing in itself. It doesn't matter that expensive Hollywood movies are formulaic and generic. What matters is virtual reality technological advancements and industrial vibe. Technology is God and people pray to this God. 
 
Though I find comic movies entertaining in general I don't really enjoy them. I don't relate to the characters and I don't buy into pathos of these movies.

 

[Hutnicks]

The Dawns Here are Quiet (2015) Russian      7/10
 
 
                                                                      Remake mania is in full swing now in Russia and this rehash of a very well thought of 70's film gets the treatment. Pity the Russians are reading from Hollywoods playbook and feel the need to introduce sap into what was a gritty war film. If you have not seen the original this one will probably do it for you. If you have it will fall very short as it spends way too much time backfilling un necessary details which simply serve to stall the plot.

 

[mutabor]

  The Dawns Here are Quiet (2015) Russian      7/10

 
Last year there was anniversary - 70 years since victory over Germany. Three Russian war movies in 2015 were with females as main protagonists. I think they wanted to create a strong image of Russian women which is different than western modern feminist image. One of the main qualities of Russian women as Kremlin political technologists want to display is self-sacrifice to something bigger - to motherland and to a family which opposes Western image of egocentric feminist woman.
 
The Dawns Here Are Quiet
Battle of Sevastopol ( Ukraine and Russia co-production)
Battalion ( about the World War 1 and women's battalion of death)
 
There was also Road to Berlin ( 2015) - a remake of Soviet war film which main theme was relationship between a Kazakh patrol soldier ( from Kazakhstan) and a Russian soldier. The goal of this movie was to recreate so called 'friendship of peoples' which was a slogan in the USSR era. 
 

Sergei Popov’s The Road to Berlin is a small, quiet picture that longs to return to the authentic humanism of the Thaw-era war films. Unfortunately, it succeeds only in being sentimental, contrived, and banal.The Road to Berlin is a “comrades” film that resorts to the hoary trope of mismatched buddies on a trek. The protagonists are a study in contrasts that are grounded in unfortunate ethnic and class stereotypes. The son of an engineer and a Komsomol member, Ogarkov is a tall, handsome, blonde, and articulate Russian, while his opposite Dzhurubaev is a short, swarthy, taciturn, and illiterate (even dim-witted) Kazakh. The premise is simple.
 
The Road to Berlin also received the financial support not only of the Ministry of Culture but also the Russian Military-Historical Society, which was resurrected in 2012 on Putin’s explicit orders, to help revive patriotism. In any event,The Road to Berlin did not resonate any better with Russian movie-goers than it did with me. The film earned only 12.8 per cent of its $3.8 million budget and was seen by merely 132,400 viewers. It is doubtful that anyone’s patriotism was restored.

 

[Hutnicks]

   
Last year there was anniversary - 70 years since victory over Germany. Three Russian war movies in 2015 were with females as main protagonists. I think they wanted to create a strong image of Russian women which is different than western modern feminist image. One of the main qualities of Russian women as Kremlin political technologists want to display is self-sacrifice to something bigger - to motherland and to a family which opposes Western image of egocentric feminist woman.
 

 
The problem arises when you can clearly see the influence of western film making rearing it's ugly head. It dilutes the overall effect to a point that even the dialogue save it from. The performances become more caricature than portrayal

 

[mutabor]

   
The problem arises when you can clearly see the influence of western film making rearing it's ugly head. It dilutes the overall effect to a point that even the dialogue save it from. The performances become more caricature than portrayal

 
Russian government took the direction of Hollywood film-making financing blockbuster types of movies and at the same time they ignore art-house and independent cinema because of its tendency to portray Russia in unpleasant light ( which is reality). Russian government wants to create analogy to Hollywood's concept of Factory of Dreams but with different ideology.
 

 

[jdhore]

Captain America: Civil War - 8.5/10:
 
I really liked this film, it just felt a bit too much like fan service with almost all the Avengers (apart from Hulk and Thor) involved.
 
Zemo was a good villain with an interesting twist (no spoilers). All in all, it was perhaps my favourite Captain America film, but that's not saying much...