For pretty much the same reasons as killes, the only part I felt was lacking was the final encounter with the main antagonist. Felt like a pretty dull way to finish.

The setting is spot on, very cyberpunk'ish and I like how they don't shy away from how fucked up society is in this film. You almost start disliking Dredd because he's such a cold hearted bastard for the entire film and really doesn't give a shit about anything except upholding the law. I really appreciated that.

While I'm posting, can you guys recommend any more Cyberpunk films that I should watch, I think I've got all the big ones checked, Blade Runner, Matrix etc. I'm looking for some more obscure titles perhaps, don't really care what genre they are in! 

Dark City is said to be good. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118929/ seems 

 

one of my favourite films; just really creative and dark scifi. but yeah it's more like "metaphysical noir" or something, it has its own genre. 

was under the effect of my very own slo-mo at the time though so no review is forthcoming 

not sure why I never saw this before... great ensemble cast... wow Russell Crowe is actually good in something, Guy Pearce and Kim Basinger were also good... really interesting script with lots of twists and turns including when a big surprise when a particular character gets shot. Ending was a bit conventional, but whatever. 

Russell Crowe is good in many things :)

And yeah that is one of the best films of all time IMHO. 

saw it last night in standard 2D, wasn't overly impressed. Really like the opening prologue and Gollum's scenes, did not like the rest much.

Every battle was made to be too epic so that there was no real sense of danger, not to mention that it now makes some of the stuff in LoTR less threatening scale wise, giving English voices to the monsters just Lucasised it, too many glaring inconsistencies as to the extent of people's abilities, particularly Gandalf, and just too many groan worthy moments generally.

5.5/10 

-prologue and gollum scene were the best

-the trolls were retarded/ridiculous/childish (Lucasised is the perfect word! though some of the LOTR orcs went in that direction too, also bad)

-goblin scenes were all ridiculous (the king with the jowls was retarded/childish, and there's no way they would be able to survive that situation / do the stuff they did)

-orcs/wargs scene at the end also ridiculous: they should be dead so many times, from that scene definitely, and from the stone giants scene! (that said the stone giants scene was cool).

-the non-prologue opening/"cute" dwarf moments went on way too long

-all of that said, I actually did think the Radagast the brown character, was awesome - clearly meant to be a crazy stoner/recluse who's taken a few too many magic mushrooms.

oh, and right, Russell Crowe was definitely good in The Insider. Lots of his roles are just macho roles though - maybe it's the same in LA Confidential but there's definitely some acting involved in his role there. 

too many glaring inconsistencies as to the extent of people's abilities, particularly Gandalf

-goblin scenes were all ridiculous (the king with the jowls was retarded/childish, and there's no way they would be able to survive that situation / do the stuff they did)


nitin, Tronyn - It's simple, I think maybe your missing the point a little here:- It's all about Gandalf. He's the one controlling everything. You're always left guessing with these things as to how much control Gandalf really has in any given situation, but he always intervines either directly or indirectly, allowing things to go as far as he's prepared to do so before stepping in.

<shudder></shudder>

IDK, I would say The Hobbit is probably at least an 8 or 9/10, just for production value really, and subversiveness. I actually much preferred it to the first LOTR films, it was MUCH less nauseating. That and the fact that Elija Wood and the other horrific fat dude who played his mate just irritated the hell out of me thoughout the trilogy.

I found the role of Bilbo Baggins was performed very well. The dude had a decent air of charisma and secrecy around him. 

what??

I think FOTR is also one the great films of all time (in either cut) so cant agree with the nauseating comment there.

I guess my main gripe with The Hobbit was that it tried to converge what is essentially a light kids book tone with the darker LOTR tone and for me it just didnt gel.

Bilbo, well if you have ever seen Martin Freeman in anything, especially in the excellent Sherlock or even all the way back to The Office, he is just dong his usual thing. Not that its bad, but I was always aware I was watching Martin Freeman not Bilbo.

ps Tronyn, apart from The Insider and LAC, he is also very good in Cinderella Man, 3:10 to Yuma, Proof, two of which are at least not what you might call macho roles. 

3:10 to Yuma is one of my favorite films and one of the very few (two, actually) decent modern westerns. 

I can think of a few:

True Grit
Open Range
Unforgiven
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
No Country for Old Men (I guess strictly not a western)


Have been meaning to get around to Blackthorn too. 

I watched the Hobbit over Christmas in 3D and thought it was good fun but it seriously could have been trimmed down, lots of scenes were too long and boring.

I know what nitin means about Bilbo, I have seen the actor in BBC Sherlock (totally amazing, best Sherlock series ever) and he played very much like Watson. I liked the intro to the film, the dwarf city and dragon setup was very cool. Not sure I would recommend the film to anyone, especially after seeing LoTR so many times.

Also got the Harry Potter DVD box set for Christmas and watched all the films over the space of a week. Again I did not like how they split the last book into two films. Both films felt stretched and had lots of dull boring moments that could have easily been cut. 

Haven't seen True Grit yet, but have heard good things. I have never considered watching Open Range because of Kevin Costner, but if you recommend it it will go on my list.

Three Burials is awesome, but not strictly a western IMO. Same for No Country. 

I always remembered the original True Grit with John Wayne as a classic western. I recently saw the new version of True Grit and initially I thought, another pointless remake. I was pleasantly surprised how cool it was, I was expecting the worst and found it good with acting, dialogue and environmental sets.

I also went back and watched the original 'True Grit' and it was so bad I can't understand why I liked it in the first place. True Grit the remake is actually better than the original and that is how it should be, otherwise what is the point of a remake!

My all time favourite westerns are, High Plains Drifter, Once a Time in the West and Fistful of dollars. I spent a lot of my youth watching westerns and it was always the thing to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon. 

I would add Django Unchained and There Will Be Blood to that list. 

(of good modern westerns) 

Does Tremors count?? ;)

Also

I think FOTR is also one the great films of all time (in either cut) so cant agree with the nauseating comment there.

I agree. And the whole Mines Of Moria section was one of the great film moments of all time.

Not that interested in the Hobbit so far. 

Fucking awesome movie!

Haven't seen Django Unchained, but seeing as it's by Tarantino, I have very low expectations. In my book, he is the most overrated director ever. All facade and no content.

There Will Be Blood, on the other hand, was also great. 

yes I guess thats as much a western as No Country and Three Burials.

Sleepy, definitely check Open Range out, Robert Duvall is awesome in it too.

Sock, High Plains Drifter is so underrated IMHo, one of Clint's best.

I think if I had to pick favorite westerns it would probably be Wild Bunch, McCabe and Mrs Miller and Good, Bad and Ugly. 

The Proposition is also another good modern western. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQuGpW0NuW8

Sci-fi CGI short movie solo project. 

Reminds me of Matrix and BSG a lot, though. 

New movie from the guys who made Primer, trailer looks promising...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U9KmAlrEXU