watched Blue Valentine tonight (Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams)..

urgh... like Revolutionary Road, depressing "insight" into a poor marriage.. could do with those 2 hours back

I thought Blue Valentine was a great bit of realist cinema.

i thought it was mundane and the characters (especially Williams) were annoying and unsympathetic, much like I felt when i watched Rev. Road

i guess watching "realistic" movies about loveless and failing relationships just arent my thing.. i dont find them enjoyable or even interesting

Just seen that film about the bloke who cuts his own arm off.

Painful.

USArsenal wrote:

i thought it was mundane and the characters (especially Williams) were annoying and unsympathetic, much like I felt when i watched Rev. Road

i guess watching "realistic" movies about loveless and failing relationships just arent my thing.. i dont find them enjoyable or even interesting

Each to their own I guess.

I haven't seen Revolutionary Road, but I've done the failing relationship thing, and Blue Valentine looked a bit like it. Also thought it was good to see a film about characters who were actually from the working class - I'm a bit over UMC navel-gazing. The performances from Gosling and Williams were superb.

7 days later

Watched the Fighter last night. Pretty good, can see it picking up a gong or two at the Oscars.

I don't think any one film's going to clean up this year - Inception and the Kings Speech probably my two favorites from the nominations this year, but looking forward to True Grit as well.

Funny. I saw The Fighter over the weekend - thought it was absolute shit. I kept waiting for something, anything unpredictable to happen. I thought Micky would actually lose his title fight etc. etc. No dice. It was uninteresting and unconvincing, and yes Christian Bale lost weight again, but what the fuck for?

Winter's Bone I also saw - and it was an excellent film. It's about ten times as good as The Fighter (only opinion of course). Unusual film.

Saw the King's Speech on Saturday and thought it was excellent.

Burnwinter wrote:

Funny. I saw The Fighter over the weekend - thought it was absolute shit. I kept waiting for something, anything unpredictable to happen. I thought Micky would actually lose his title fight etc. etc. No dice. It was uninteresting and unconvincing, and yes Christian Bale lost weight again, but what the fuck for?

Winter's Bone I also saw - and it was an excellent film. It's about ten times as good as The Fighter (only opinion of course). Unusual film.

Yeah, the formula was pretty generic really, none of it felt all that new. Felt very similar to 127 hours, in that sense, certainly nothing happened in either film that I wasn't expecting, apart from Amy Adams in see-through underwear. That's worth an Oscar, for sure.

Felt the characters were stronger in the Fighter though - good candidates for best supporting actor / actress, which I think is a far stronger category than the Leading Role category this year.

Yeah, it was real workaday Oscar fodder. But it felt like it, from Bale's emaciated frame (uglification equals nomination) to Marky Mark's role which was practically identical to his part in Invincible, right down to the ploddingly rehearsed regional US accent.

The acting wasn't bad I just couldn't see the point. And just to show you how cranky I am, I'm going to claim Amy Adams is nothing special.

Burnwinter wrote:

And just to show you how cranky I am, I'm going to claim Amy Adams is nothing special.


Too far, Burns. Too far.

invisibleman18 wrote:

Saw the King's Speech on Saturday and thought it was excellent.

Me too.

Also looking forward to True Grit, Asa.

Ricky1985 wrote:
Burnwinter wrote:

And just to show you how cranky I am, I'm going to claim Amy Adams is nothing special.


Too far, Burns. Too far.

All I can say is, I prefer Veronicas to Gidgets.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Saw 127 Hours, absolutely loved it. The scene everyone is waiting for is every bit as stomach turning as you'd think. James Franco is very, very good. Just a very good film.

Just saw it myself and I concur. It's a classy film. The various vision / flashback / whatever sequences are quite good as well as the brilliant main thread.

There is something quintessentially Danny Boyle about the film as well. I lack the vocabulary or the brain to describe it though, but it's identifiably by the same director as Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire etc. etc. Might be the way Franco is photographed.

of all the nominated films, I would put them in the following order (my preference only)

-The King's Speech
-The Social Network (very close second, i would not be upset if this won)
-127 Hours (close third)
-The Fighter (distant fourth)
-Inception (distant fifth)
-Black Swan (distant sixth)
-Winter's Bone (very distant seventh)

Havent seen the following yet (but will watch everything except Toy Story before the Oscars)
-The Kids Are All Right
-Toy Story 3
-True Grit

Yet to see The King's Speech. Out of the rest of the nominees this would be my ordering:

Winter's Bone
Black Swan
127 Hours
Inception
The Social Network
The Fighter

😃

I reckon The Kids Are All Right is a very decent family comedy, True Grit is excellent.

That list looks good, Burnsy. Especially the first two choices. I'd have True Grit third. I'd put The Social Network ahead of Inception too. Haven't seen The Fighter yet though.

127 Hours is a firm last in my list, of those I've seen.

I'd probably have it in this order:

Inception
The Kings Speech
Toy Story 3
The Social Network
The Fighter
127 Hours

None of them are bad films, mind.

I'm a massive Coen Brothers / Jeff Bridges fan, so I can see True Grit jumping to the top of that list, if it meets expectation. The Johnny Cash trailer alone is almost Oscar-worthy.

Does anyone remember a film from either the early nineties or late eighties called "Arena"? And if you do, do you have any idea of where I could get hold of it (download or retail is fine)?

For some reason I absolutely love that bit in the trailer where Jeff Brides is standing over the bad guy and responds to the scream of "help me!" with "I can do nothing for you son".

I'm now off to see The Fighter.

Really pissed off I missed the Social Network.

Should win the soundtrack award, hands down.

Captain wrote:

Does anyone remember a film from either the early nineties or late eighties called "Arena"? And if you do, do you have any idea of where I could get hold of it (download or retail is fine)?

Haha, I think I know which one you're talking about. It's this one, right:

The entire film is on youtube apparently. There's a copy on Pirate Bay too. Only a couple of seeders but still downloads at decent speed. I'm grabbing it myself right now. I remember watching it as a kid but I haven't seen it in ages.

Klaus, you're a legend. Cheers.

Burnwinter wrote:

Yet to see The King's Speech. Out of the rest of the nominees this would be my ordering:

Winter's Bone
Black Swan
127 Hours
Inception
The Social Network
The Fighter

😃

I reckon The Kids Are All Right is a very decent family comedy, True Grit is excellent.

its amazing how opposite we think on movies.. 😆

The Fighter was a good film.

Liked most of the main characters. Bale took it away though.

SPOILER ALERT!!

When you saw the real Dicky Eklund at the end Bale's style looked a lot like the real Dicky's. You felt that Dicky was the lead actor in the movie at times.

Ricky1985 wrote:

For some reason I absolutely love that bit in the trailer where Jeff Brides is standing over the bad guy and responds to the scream of "help me!" with "I can do nothing for you son".

Hahaha! That good old Western accent. That line's been in my head since you mentioned it on here.

Just entering an NZ competition with some film trivia questions. Stuck on the last one:

The Final Scene: A British Army officer, being driven in a staff car, stares out at a passing motor cycle dispatch rider -- Fade Out. Name the movie

Anyone got any idea?

Lawrence of arabia perhaps.

Went and saw The Fighter earlier. Enjoyed it, little bit predictable, but Christian Bale makes the movie. He's brilliant!

Yup that's true.

I can see him getting an oscar, particularly as you see the real Dicky Eklund at the end and he got the style really well imo.

I've heard quite a few saying that, Ton, but is imitating someone accurately really that important? Or is it more important to bring the character to life in the best way possible? I can't decide. Maybe in a true story like this imitating the guy you're playing is the best way to do that? But what if playing the character a slightly (or hugely) different way makes the story/character more believable/interesting? If it had turned out that Dicky Eklund was a boring, run-of-the-mill crack addict, would Bale playing the guy as he did be more or less worthy of praise?

What I'm saying is I don't think it was Bale accurately portraying the guy that made his performance great, it was that he pulled you into his world, where he teetered on the edge of destruction through drugs, bitterness and regret. Right from the first scene he grabs you.

Glad to hear True Grit's good, Dules.

When it comes to the oscars, they love a good biopic and especially an accurate portrayal of a lead character.

watching true grit right now.. so far, pretty good.. the girl is quite good thus far (about 45 mins in).. Bridges is a bit hard to understand sometimes.. sounds like Slingblade

edit.. saw it all the way through.. was better than i had expected, as im not much for "westerns", but thought it was pretty good overall.. especially Bridges' constant making fun of Matt Damon