I'm not 100% on the legitimacy of the site, so post this with apologetic caveat ever-mindful of forum rule and etiquette, but seek out animegaki...

Watched Under The Skin last night. Forget the ScarJo hype/hate; it is simply one of the most, enthralling, seductive, disturbing, consuming, provocative, captivating pieces of (recently made) cinema I've seen in a long while. Proper film making, and well up on par with the classics, not limited even to sci-fi genre. I second the imdb reviewer who drew comparison with Kubrick and LVT, truly, its a glorious piece. By no means a film for everyone though, but that's often the case for truly superb art.

Not seen the film yet. Did you read the book? It was brilliant. Looking forward to seeing the film now too

After Earth

Meh. Will Smith as a bad dad and good soldier learning to be a good dad by being unable to protect his son as he has to become a good soldier to save them...

The computer interface looks cool, the rest of the film is missable.

Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine first look review – Apple founder's sour side

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/ma ... -sour-side

Sounds a lot more interesting than that bloody book I slogged through...

IMO, there is no truly interesting book/film to be made about Steve Jobs. He ran a very successful company and was a very charismatic man but what his actual day to day job was was quite dull and his personal life wasn't that interesting either. He didn't climb mountains or tame lions or explore interesting places. He just sat in an office and told people to do stuff. Quite often very impolitely, if the rumours are true.

You can't make that stuff interesting, because it just isn't. Some of the products of that work have been interesting, or at least have had interesting effects on society, but that all those things happened after the products were made and Steve Jobs had if anything a peripheral part in them having the effect they did.

The only people who should be interested in a Steve Jobs film are people who are genuinely interested in how managing the process of creating a thing like an iPod is done. Because that's what he did so that's what the film will be about. And, frankly, that film is never going to trouble Frozen at the top of the all time takings chart.

Raid 2 - More of the same but with a slightly wider plot. Some of it's amazing, some of it drags. There's absolutely no need for a five minute fight in this day and age, for instance. Best watched while pissed, though don't get me wrong, it gets the blood pumping!

Big Hero 6 - Thought this was great at the start (everything about Baymax is comic), but then nearly all comedy is dropped in favour of a revenge story that the majority of the 'cast' even disagrees with. The film didnt recover from this aspect IMO. I suspect this is from it's source comic, and other aspects feel off-kilter too, like they didn't know what to adapt or just leave out. Beyond the leads there's little characterisation; the rest of the team are just there so the two primaries aren't solely slugging it out with the bad guy. I've just watched it and I can barely remember their names they have so little meaningful interaction with each other beforehand.

The animation is spectacular, but so many sequences are purely about 3D spectacle over pacing and story. It just feels like they're killing time in a short film.... And so many Disney films have been handled much better than this one - that was the real problem for me

Frozen

As (officially) the last parents in the world to get this DVD for their daughter (nearly 4) we finally succumbed and I thought I'd post a short review to mark the occasion. The story itself is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen and tells the story of two princesses one of whom has magical icy powers. After she accidentally brings eternal winter to her kingdom, the magical princess runs away and her sister goes looking for her. It's a typical Disney story dressed up with Pixar-style animation and it looks great. The story is at times a little less involving than it could be and some of the dialogue is too American in execution but overall it's a very enjoyable film. Not as good as Tangled, but good nonetheless. It's the most financially successful animated film ever taking over $1 billion worldwide, which is pretty good for a movie mainly aimed at an audience of young girls.

7.5 out of 10

Oh, and I've found I cannot get that song out of my head!



"Let it go, let it gooooooo!"

My oldest wasn't bothered about Frozen when it came out. I bought both that and Tangled for Xmas (which she'd seen previously and really liked) and she's since warmed to it. I think she still prefers Tangled. And Wall-E. And Ratatouille. And....

Anyway. I think it's not too bad. Olaf's song always gives me a chuckle.

I nearly said "I'm just going to come out and say it" but there will be no coming out in this post, so I'm going to say it... I LIKED FROZEN!

There, I've said it.

It was, in my opinion at least, nothing but a harmless film and yes, it may have been aimed at young girls, but I took my youngest daughter to see it at the cinema, and since buying it we have seen it 3 or 4 times.

OK, it may be not a lot more than a one and a half hour long promo video for "that" song, but so what... it wasn't a bad story, and it did have some genuinely funny moments...

My rating: 8 out of 10

The Imitation Game 9/10

Benedict Cumberbatch was excellent at portraying the socially awkward genius, in fact, the majority of the acting was absolutely first rate. The Enigma side of the story is somewhat secondary, and something I feared going in. My fears were groundless - it was excellent.

Frozen is okay, not a patch on big hero 6 though.

I find the annoying sing that sticks in your head is first time in forever, not let it go

Loved the first half of BH6, thought nearly all the humour was taken out of the second.

This is England, brilliant little film, some lovely moments, some great acting. This one had passed me by; one day they will make a good English film that isn't set in the eighties, deal with Thatcher, or have Hugh Grant in it. but until then, we can enjoy gems like this.