The Recommended Movies Thread

[blue05]

need some likes here cause sandman67 is a top contibutor

[sandman67]

SKYFALL

When the Bond franchise got a well needed kick up the arse with the shift to Daniel Craig it was like a breath of fresh air. CASINO ROYALE turned the wheel full cycle, and it was back to the raw testosterone days of Connery all over again. Then they changed director for the follow up, went on a kegger the night before casting, and gave the script writing job to some mad science lab full of monkeys and typewriters, and the shabby paper thin spin dry mess that was QUANTUM OF SOLACE looked like it has sent the reboot into a tailspin. So thank god they trashed the crew again, and this time got people in who know what Bond is, and how to put a great Bond film together old stylee.

When a hard drive full of the names and details of MI6 deep operatives is stolen Bond and his novice sidekick are sent to get it back. She messes up, and ends up accidentally shooting James rather than the bad guy. While James plays dead and goes on a bender the crap hits the fan back in London, and MI6 itself is attacked as the names of the agents start hitting the net. M is landed in a world of hurt, the politicians want blood, and so James returns to save the day and hunt down the mastermind behind the plot....who looks to be an ex agent of MI6 from Ms distant past with a reason to want her dead.

Its a great film, and despite being well over 2hrs long rocks along nicely, filling the screen with traditional mad visual sets and ultra kinetic action. There are some lovely contrast shifts between ancient Istanbul to Victorian London then ultra modern manga like Shanghai and Macau, between the man made wasteland of the bad guys island lair to the natural empty barrens of the Highlands of Bond's youth. Even the bad guy is classic Bond - slightly odd, utterly bonkers and with a physical deformity. And in a way this completes the Bond trilogy of backstory, as by the end all the classic Bond touches are in place again, even down to Moneypenny as the secretary he flirts with, and the Goldfinger era Aston DB5 classic car that makes a reappearance. Brilliantly acted by the double act of Dench and Craig it completes the arc well, and sets the series up nicely now for a return to form, a proper return to the suave and deadly Connery days. It cant wipe out the mess that was QUANTUM, but by hell it does a grand job of making you forget it.

Out and about in DVDRIP formats taken from a waterstamped preview disk, the BDRIP is out in three weeks if you want to wait for that. This is very watchable classic Bond for the fans, a wonderful way to have celebrated 50 years of the series, and a solid gold three cheers keeper from start to end.

[sandman67]

WOOP WOOP WOOP

Thats the sound of the Sandman-O-Matic Early Warning System going off again

seems some Journalist has been naughty and lent their preview disk of THE HOBBIT to a pirate, as there are decent watchable DVDSCR copies on the net. They look pretty watchable, the sound is good, and apart from the odd bit of watermark removal blurring and some colour over saturation look OK and the best option till the proper DVDRIP and BDRIP come out at the end of the year. It also looks a bit odd thanks to Jackson for some reason using 48fps rather than the traditional 24fps - critics, me included, think hes made a screw up choosing this new format of film. Still, at least hes not as idiotic as some who are now talking about making films with a frame rate in the 60s+.

Anyway, all over the place, pretty fair copies, so get at it.

Now, for a review of a flick from 2002 that isnt exactly easy to find.

ANAZAPTA

Richard and me are big lovers of a dark ages horror drama flick from 2011 called BLACK DEATH. Well this film looks like its slightly threadbare granny from 2002. As with BLACK DEATH its a British production, so story heavy and with actors you will recognise from Brit TV series.

When King Edward IIIs army returns from France they bring with them prisoners for ransom and horror tales of the plague sweeping across Europe. One of these serves as the counterbalance to a prisoner taken by the French, and so is delivered to the now masterless mansion and village of the unfortunate English lord taken prisoner as a form of guarantee of hostage exchange. There his wife is having trouble keeping the tax collectors and rapacious lustful local Bishop at bay in her hubbys absence. As soon as the prisoner arrives strange deaths, some alarmingly like the dreaded plague, begin to strike at the village. As the concerned and harassed wife investigates, it seems that these are not just random, but some form of ghostly revenge for a horrific incident 10 years before where the lord executed his wife and her lover. In a time of ignorance and superstition talk of witchcraft and deviltry spreads like wildfire, spurred on by the strange words carved into the bodies of the dead.....

Its not a bad watch at all when you consider it was made on a shoestring, and the way the plot develops is very clever, only revealing the full story in the dramatic last act. More like an episode of Cadfael with witchyness than a full on horror flick - sort of Victorian Gothic drama in a Medieval mould, or another version of NAME OF THE ROSE. The plot makes up for the lack of a big budget and really does keep you hooked in till the end.

Its not easy to find, and all the copies about seem to be big buggering files, but its well worth a watch if you like this sort of dark ages whodunnits stuff.

Two cheers - would have got an easy three but the lack of a big budget does on occasion show.

[sandman67]

THE HOBBIT Pt1

Ok, Ive been kicking Peter Jackson for making Prof T's shortest book into a 3 film 9hr epic the same length as the whole LOTR trilogy but now I get it - I can now see what he has done. With this version of the tale he has made The Hobbit into a film within a film. The Hobbit narrative has been supplemented with all the material from the marginalia, indexes and supplemental material from the LOTR and Silmarillion so the three will act like the prequel epic to LOTR and explain how the events of that trilogy came about. Very clever. Instead of a simple throw rug Pete has woven a full ballroom sized Persian Carpet full of patterns and weaves. He has also been extra nice and not repeated the two prequel threads of the two excellent fan made films, (which I read he loves and was extremely impressed with) THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM and BORN OF HOPE (both of which you can easily find on YouTube).

And NO it ISNT too sodding long. That is where the critics are definitely out of order. You can't paint a masterpiece using a whiteboard and a marker pen. People have obviously just got used to the Hollydud habit of making films for goldfish attention span jocks on a kegger - the films that are just longer than your average TV series pilot episode - rather than what Pete has done which is go back to the old days of Spartacus, Lawrence of Arabia, The Ten Commandments, Cecil B DeMille and his casts of thousands. He should have done what they did though and put an orchestral scored "Intermission" section in the middle. So this is where having it on DVD is good, as you can have a cuppa break in the middle.

Its even more of a visual treat than the LOTR, with a more fairy tale look to the sets and scenery although the stuttery panning that has been associated with this stupid 48fps format seems to have transferred a bit to the DVDSCR. So much for catering to the 3D fad heads...and yes there are a couple of "oh not another 3d" segments in there too. The ensemble cast is excellent and its a special treat, given the crappy way he was cut from LOTR2, to see the wonderful sepulchral voiced Christopher Lee get to play Saruman to the full.

For all the whines it is still epic film making at its best, and when the DVD does come out I will be buying one. Another modern classic and triumph for Peter Jackson. The tw*ts who have criticized it for being too long for cinema audiences to enjoy, and too many story lines to keep track of, should feck off and stick to watching Norbit and My Little Pony films.

Out and about in very watchable DVDSCR formats. Not a permanent keeper in this version as there are still watermark blurs on this copy, but thank Christ for the bent journo who lent this to his pirate mates.



and as a treat

- Born of Hope
- The Hunt For Gollum

cut the two fan films a stack of slack....consider that the Hunt For Gollum total budget was 3000 UK pounds.... thats about 10 seconds of Peters budget.

[richard]

[quote="

Richard and me are big lovers of a dark ages horror drama flick from 2011 called BLACK DEATH. Well this film looks like its slightly threadbare granny from 2002. As with BLACK DEATH its a British production, so story heavy and with actors you will recognise from Brit TV series.


[/quote]

Can only get it in Spanish

HELP

[sandman67]

Ask and thou shalt receive

1) go to http://www.1channel.ch/watch-2735615-Anazapta
2) select the Filenuke listing option
3) On the FileNuke page select FREE
4) At the bottom of the page under the player screen there is a button marked DOWNLOAD
5) Hit that and save the file.

Thats the one I used.

[Homer]

Hemingway & Gelhorn

Not recommended except as a reasonably accurate period piece and the incorporation of film shot during the Spanish Civil War. Nice combination of direction and techinical wizardry made it easy to transition from the old and new footage. Nominated for 18 Emmys.

Had some hopes for this one because of it's pedigree. Philip Kaufman directed some of my favorite movies, HBO films tend not to be crap and Nicole Kidman has aged nicely. But the two lead characters' larger than life personalities and high drama relationship dominate the film. That would be OK except they're repellent people, ones at a party you'd either walk away from or enjoy how clueless they were about themselves.

The plot. Does it matter? Headstrong alcoholic writer who takes every opportunity to prove how big his pair of stores are meets female correspondent who is doing the same. No one watching this will be surprised about how that plays out. That's ironic, because the two characters seem to have been.

After watching I googled the title with the phrase "smoking porn". There is a small deviant slice of male society that was quite pleased a major motion picture prominently and repeatedly featured their favorite fetish. The Kidman character smoked more in this film than the entire cast of Mad Men did during it's first season.

Torrent available here: http://torrentz.eu/ba0c80794cd6ec6b4277 ... 9eb5f23eb2

[richard]

Ask and thou shalt receive

1) go to http://www.1channel.ch/watch-2735615-Anazapta
2) select the Filenuke listing option
3) On the FileNuke page select FREE
4) At the bottom of the page under the player screen there is a button marked DOWNLOAD
5) Hit that and save the file.

Thats the one I used.

Where is Filenuke listing option?

[dtaai-maai]

There are 4 options listed. No. 4 is Filenuke.

[migrant]

[quote="

Richard and me are big lovers of a dark ages horror drama flick from 2011 called BLACK DEATH. Well this film looks like its slightly threadbare granny from 2002. As with BLACK DEATH its a British production, so story heavy and with actors you will recognise from Brit TV series.

Can only get it in Spanish

HELP[/quote]

Learning Spanish may be easier

[richard]

There are 4 options listed. No. 4 is Filenuke.

Got it

[richard]

SM posted

ANAZAPTA

Richard and me are big lovers of a dark ages horror drama flick from 2011 called BLACK DEATH. Well this film looks like its slightly threadbare granny from 2002. As with BLACK DEATH its a British production, so story heavy and with actors you will recognise from Brit TV series.

Thanks to SM and DM I downloaded

Just watched and a classic IMO

SM, A beer or three in the next week or so with our usual chinwag? Off to Nam on the 12th so any night. Bell/SMS me mate

[richard]

Django unchained


A must watch. I will leave the maestro (SM) to review and critique as I'm no good as a film critic

[sandman67]

Richard

glad you liked it mate. Will do on the beer - maybe about the 10th

anyways, back to business

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

This is a little modern crime neo-noirish tale of a mobland that like the larger US economy at the end of the Bush era has hit the skids good and proper. There are no GoodFellas here having a swinging swish time, this is bargain basement lot sale time, pennies are pinched, and everyone is working for bargain basement prices in cheap nylon shirts and cars that have odd coloured replacement wings and doors.

A low level mob man hires two local neer do wells to pull off the big no no of rip offs - turning over a mob run poker game. It goes well, but the fallout is the mob calls in outside contractors in the shape of a black clad Brad Pitt and a whisky and pussy crazed Jame Gandolfini to clip the greedy shmos responsible. The penny pinching mob, now run by committee and boardroom via cut rate middle men contacts want everything done cheap and constantly quibble about the methods,much to Brad's consternation. And against the bigger economic collapse there are direct parallels between the country and its seedy underbelly, both of which are fast going to the dogs.

Its a tidy little tale of sleaze and rip offs, twopenny villains and washed up mob men, but sometimes the counterplay between the political commentary and whats going on with the main story gets a bot overplayed. That said there is a stunning end speech by Brad in the last few minutes that delivers the real brass knuckle punchline from hell. There are also some wonderfully shot whack scenes that really do push the medium, crossing over almost into the hyper real game like world of The Matrix slo mo bullet cam shots.

Its gritty, grimy and coming apart at the seams....smells of cheap aftershave and stale fag smoke...could have been penned by James Ellroy....and thats why I liked it. Well worth a drop and watch IMHO

Out and about in crispy clean DVDRIPs at all the usual suspects

Three cheers all round



Also on Sandman TV this afternoon and later it is Neo-Noir Night, and I will be swimming in a sea of crime....

THE BLACK DAHLIA - like LA CONFIDENTIAL a pretty good stab at getting the complexity of a James Ellroy noir classic novel onto the screen. Maybe I will watch both back to back

ROPE and REAR WINDOW - two of Hitchcock's greatest noir flicks and solid gold on my hard drive. Both broke the boundaries of both storytelling and the film making art, from ROPE's groundbreaking constantly changing cyclorama city scene backdrop through the window, to REAR WINDOW's massive set and groundbreaking sound score. A great way to spend a lazy afternoon

CHINATOWN - Polanski does neo-noir with Jack Nicholson playing his finest character, the sleazy and immoral PI Jack JJ Gittes in this twisted tale of money and murder laced with incest and insanity. Total classic.

Catch ya later alligators

[migrant]

THE BLACK DAHLIA - like LA CONFIDENTIAL a pretty good stab at getting the complexity of a James Ellroy noir classic novel onto the screen. Maybe I will watch both back to back

Actually watching now on tv
LA Confidential was on yesterday, both great flix