Films

[When Jokers Attack]

Inside Llewyn Davis is available from the usual sources

Loved it

[Spindles]

Dallas Buyers Club is a great film, really top notch performances all round, imo. Well worthy of the plaudits it is receiving.

[The Nal]

Dallas Buyers Club is a great film, really top notch performances all round, imo. Well worthy of the plaudits it is receiving.

Agreed. Just finished watching it. Really good.

[jump]

I saw The Fall over the weekend, great film. It reminds me of a modern Princess Bride.

[When Jokers Attack]

I saw The Fall over the weekend, great film. It reminds me of a modern Princess Bride.

That film has incredible visuals. Not seen it in years

[Jackmypie]

The Life of Pi - 7/10

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

With all the hype about Inside Llewyn, I'm looking for Coen brothers back catalogue recommendations?

Also, really liking Scorsese currently. I've been through Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Departed and Mean Streets. Any must sees or just trundle through them?

[DomDom1984]

True Grit is a real class act from The Coens, and No Country for Old Men. They rarely misfire though.

Scorsese. Hmm. For a pure oddball, go for After Hours. A comedy about a guy who has a weird night after work.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Appreciate that, cheers.

[When Jokers Attack]

With all the hype about Inside Llewyn, I'm looking for Coen brothers back catalogue recommendations?

Also, really liking Scorsese currently. I've been through Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Departed and Mean Streets. Any must sees or just trundle through them?

Coen Bros: No Country For Old Men, Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink, Raising Arizona. All completely different films.

Scoresese: Goodfellas, Casino, The King Of Comedy.

[kaosmark2]

Raising Arizona

Fuck that shit. Possibly the worst film I've ever seen. Utterly terrible, completely unfunny "comedy", dreadful wooden acting from Cage, everything about that film is dire.

[DomDom1984]

Nah. I second the love for Raising Arizona.

[Spindles]

..and I second the hatred

+1 for after hours, although I know it wouldn't be to everyone's taste.

[t8yman]

No-one mentioned blood simple? deffo worth a watch. Fargo is my fave, followed by "Oh brother, where art thou", which is a fucking brilliant movie, with an outstanding soundtrack.

i saw raising arizona years and years ago, didnt love it, didnt hate it, although it is widely critically acclaimed iirc?

Edited January 23, 2014 by t8yman

[kaosmark2]

Fargo's my fave. Everything about that film is utterly brilliant. Agree Oh brother, where art thou is amazing as well, although I'd probably say I prefer Miller's Crossing to it.

[jump]

I'm gonna say Hudsucker Proxy even if it is Coen's "worst" film. I also rate Fargo, True Grit, Big Lebowski and O Brother Where Art Thou and No Country For Old Men.

For Scorsese it's tied between After Hours and Goodfellas. I also loved Hugo, Casino and Raging Bull but I had trouble with The Departed as I saw Internal Affairs too may times.

[DomDom1984]

Fargo is sensational. How on earth did it slip my mind? Especially the casting for it, which to be fair, is always something the Coens have done well. They might have guys they like using a lot, but there's a reason for that.

Raising Arizona is fairly loved critically aye. It's a bit mental for a Coens movie really.

Oh, and back to After Hours, the ending for it is probably one of the best endings to a movie ever. Glorious. I was in tears of laughter.

[dentalplan]

No Country for Old Men would probably be my favourite Coen bros film just ahead of Fargo. Didn't like O Brother Where Art Thou? at all though.

While we're on the Coens, did anyone else feel underwhelmed by Inside Llewyn Davis?

Edited January 23, 2014 by dentalplan

[The Nal]

Oh Brother and Lebowski are my two favourites. Two of my favourite films ever actually.

I liked Intolerable Cruelty too. Wasn't mad on Burn After Reading or a A Serious Man.

True Grit was just ok.

[When Jokers Attack]

I don't like Big Lebowski but have heard every viewing its gets better and better. Most Coen Brothers films see to.

I still need to see Burn After Reading, Intolerable Cruelty and The Hudsucker Proxy

[bunique]

I enjoyed Burn After Reading, even though it's not their best.

[DomDom1984]

Burn After Reading is dumb fun, and the performances are top notch. Brad Pitt is absolutely hilarious. Nearly matched by Mental Malkovich though.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Appreciated everyone, i'll work my way through.

[viberunner]

The Cohens peaked with Fargo and Big Lebowski. Scorsese peaked with Goodfellas and Casino.

[DomDom1984]

I think Scorsese may have peaked with his new movie, but I'll give it time before deciding on that. Casino is his peak for me until I make that decision. As for movies I've seen recently, I gave second views to a few movies.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Funnily enough this was one of them. It's certainly the best movie of the Oscar season and might turn out to be one of my favourite movies of all time. It's just a total thrill to watch from start to finish. There's some scenes which get so many different reactions. Watching through your fingers at Donnie being a complete walloper ( glorious stuff from Jonah Hill, making the minimum SAG wage ), worrying about where it's all going and, the best bits, the pure hilarity at some scenes. One drug taking scene in particular provides a special moment. DiCaprio gets the plaudits here and rightly so, but the supporting cast are all on fine form. 10/10

12 Years a Slave

Doesn't go well with repeat viewings. When it loses the power of the big scenes, you realise Steve McQueen tries too hard far too many times to drive points home, to the point of tedium. Which is probably why Steve McQueen won't be anywhere near the Best Director prize. Makes me wonder why it's such a big favourite for Best Picture as well actually. The only reason I can think of is the whole "better make it look like we accept our past" thing, which seems to be making an impact. It's powerful for sure, and a story well told, but nowhere near as good as some may think. 7/10

American Hustle

Just as good as the first time. It's such a fun movie at times, but it's not nicey nicey stuff, and the thing with this is I don't get the comedy thing. Much more of a drama with the odd comic moment here and there. Jennifer Lawrence is gonna wind up being this decade's Meryl Streep, nominated and winning things all over the map. Such a wonderful actress and her turn here is majestic. Jeremy Renner's role is ridiculously underrated. His goody two shoes mayor could have turned into parody, but Renner turns him into one of the most sympathetic characters you could ask for and this is what makes some of the scenes close to heartbreaking as you know what he's getting into. All of the big twists are brilliantly done and many are completely unpredictable, which is nice. Cracking stuff. 9/10