Woody Allen with cliche after cliche. Awful story and a complete lack of reality, ideas and laughs.
Just a fun musical (and I don't like musicals!) and of course, Zac Efron is yummy.
It was meant to be a modern classic. I thought the script and acting were dire. One of those films where you shout at the TV because of the stupid plot turns.
A really funny French film with some classic moments. Will watch again.
The classic 1951 film. Great effects for the time.
Much much funnier than I thought it was going to be. If you want a laugh - go for this.
Lymelife 7
A strange arty film with some funny moments.
The Infidel (2010) 5
I was disappointed with this. It resorted to swearing and obvious storylines to get a laugh - well not from me.
Funny gay film - well worth watching.
I know, I should have seen this one before and I am sure that I was meant to love it - but it somehow left me a bit cold. I had wanted to give it 11 out of 10.
Yet another vampire film, but quite good. An obvious ending meant to lead to a sequel.
Disturbing, but thoroughly gripping. I wonder what the English version will be like? I suspect it will be toned down from this Swedish original.
A really mad film which throws visuals and script at you for two hours. Good fun though.
Of the ones I've seen - all, as uaual on the 'big screen':-
ReplyDeleteWhatever Works - certainly well below par for a director who, at his best, is for me unparalleled. I'd be slightly more generous than you, giving it 3.5, only for those very occasional but far-too-few flashes of brilliance in the script, but yes, as a whole a major disappointment. Btw; What do I know? I liked both 'Match Point' and 'Cassandra's Dream' (with Ewan McGregor & Colin Farrell), two of his fairly recent London films both of which were panned by the critics!
Hairspray - yes a 7 would be fair. (What, you DON'T LIKE musicals? All that flamboyance and fantasy? Well it's true that there have been more than a few duds but the medium is so capable of helping one temporarily escape from the real world, something at least some of us feel grateful for, otherwise we'd just go mad!)
The Changeling - not quite the bummer you thought, but hardly one deserving a second viewing. A modest 4!
Iron Man 2 - yes, 5 sounds about right.
Glorious 39 - gave me a pleasant surprise - 7.5
Lymelife - another worthwhile watch and another 7.5
............contd
Carrying on from above.....
ReplyDeleteThis is Spinal Tap - when I first saw this on its original release in the mid-80s I was one of those dumbos who though it was about a bona fide rock group. Then when I saw it again having heard of the joke, I still didn't really find it all that funny, possibly 'cos I was ashamed at myself for having fallen for it first time round. Maybe for different reasons than you I'd also have then given it a 6 at the most. I've seen it at least a further 3 times since and it gets better on each viewing. I'd now award it 7.5.
I've seen all the Star Trek films at the cinema but, never having been a fan of any of the TV series, I find the films just as forgettable. Unexceptional.
The Last Station - yes, but maybe 7.5.
Was this 'California Suite' the 1978 Neil Simon film of multiple stories, including one with Michael Caine as the (unconvincingly) bisexual husband of Maggie Smith? As a whole, reasonable enough. Yes a 6 would be fair.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Having now seen the trilogy I thought this first one was the best though the others are certainly not bad and well worth seeing. Agreed, 8.
The Ghost. I thought this was Polanski's best effort in decades. Nothing less than 8.5 will do!
Burn After Reading. 7.5. For me the Coens haven't yet quite recaptured their 'golden period' beginning with 'Blood Simple' and 'Raising Arizona' but coming to a halt after their best of all, in my books, viz 'Fargo'. (And let's not forget the criminally under-rated and hilarious 'Hudsucker Proxy'!) But 'Burn After Reading', like 'No Country for Old Men', is well worth giving up an evening for.
And finally my own favourites of the last 6 months:-
Inception (natch!)
Partir
London River (shatteringly moving)
Buried (eek!)
Another Year
Monsters (the last film I saw - AND made on a shoestring. Just goes to show!)
Cheers, Stephen.
Now Raybeard, you one word responses have to stop! I cant put half points on IMDB, but some would have received that extra 0.5 I am sure. As for Woody... I think I have had enough of being disappointed. I thought Matchpoint was pretty awful personally and switched off before the end!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your views. I have plenty of films on the list to watch.
p.s.
ReplyDeleteI think the last Woody Allen film that was worth watching was Small Time Crooks. very funny.
Stephen, the scores I give you are those that I started putting in my own film 'register' which I started doing about 10 years ago, though I began listing all films seen (in cinemas only) in 1964. Like you I'm also on IMDB (under another name) but there I tend to mark up my scores because although I am, on the whole, quite severe with my own register scores, I find that on that site other reviewers are much more generous than I would ever be. For instance there are always those who give some films the max of 10 points whereas I feel there is not a single one out of the 4,000+ films I've seen so far which deserves that perfect score. In fact, there'd only be a handful which would get a '9'! (Don't ask - yet!) Similarly I'd be hard pushed to give any film a '1' (or even '0'!) though there I feel there really have been more than a few which deserved it. But in future, to keep you content, I'll try to drop the half-points, though it would be easier for me to then score out of 20. I find a scale of 10 often too blunt to allow for 'subtleties'.
ReplyDeleteRe Woody: Yes, when he's bad he can be REALLY bad, but when he's good, which, unfortunately, is much rarer since about 2000, he can't be touched. Th thing with 'Small Time Crooks' was that I just couldn't believe Allen as playing a character supposed to be stupid when we all know how highly intelligent he really is. Yes, I know it's only a film, and a comedy at that, but it was a hurdle too far for me. Having said that, I'd have to say that it was, in fact, one of his better films of the last 20 years, which just about sums it up. But I do realise that for a lot of people Woody, even at his best, has never ever been their mug of char.
I LOVED Scott Pilgrim!!!
ReplyDeleteAnd you are right, Date Night didnt look good on paper, but was very funny