Watched the second installment yesterday. Very good.

Not easy films to watch as he raises subjects that most filmmakers would consider taboo. I had to spend some time contemplating what I'd seen when it ended. Now waiting for some friends to watch them so I can talk about it. Truly mesmerising & brilliant and I highly recommend them.

The scene stealer from the first one was Uma Thurman. She was so good I didn't recognise her at first.

Jamie Bell's performance was captivating and disturbing in the second one.

Out of the 2 films I enjoyed the second one more I think. Watch them with an open mind. He pushes bondaries and makes you think about subjects you probably have firm views on and gives you a different perspective.

Make sure you listen to the song over the closing credits of the second film as it was performed by lead actress Charlotte Gainsbourg and she has a lovely voice just like her mother.

They also used a lot of CGI to mix porn stars performances with the 'normal' cast.
I'm intrigued from a motion tracking/compositing point of view as much as anything else!
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-nymphomaniac-producer-sex-scenes-525666

Yep I heard that. Yes you see sex and genitals but we all have them. It is a story about a nymphomaniac... just saying

Well yeah, the clue is in the title really.


But probably just one kind or the other...

Some unfortunate people have both. And worms do.

I'm pretty sure a worm wouldn't be watching that (or any other) film.

Mark

Just watched it. The acting is phenomenal. It also has some of the funniest dark humour I've seen in ages... but my Coke the middle dragged on. I actually would have preferred it if it had just been a straight character study comedy, because I felt the whole Birdman bit wasn't really one thing or the other until scenes close to the end.

It has got me wondering how the Oscars are really decided; by the acting or the overall production? Though I imagine this film would stand strong in both for many people, I'd have much preferred more Ed Norton for instance than psychosis and special effects.

Ex Machina - It's the sort of film that if anyone tells you much about it they'll ruin it. It's very self contained and asks questions about the world and how we live without being overt OR obtuse. Fantastic use of tension - I don't even want to explain that sentence much lol. Well worth a watch.

Seriously? Because from what I've gathered about the film so far, it's just full of the usual cliches that you might find in cheap knock-off sci-fi films late at night on some obscure TV channel that only broadcasts on every other evening and keeps moving channel number.

Mark

No no no. It's a bit of a character study that nips along.

Kingsman - Very much 'disengage brain'. Not bad, it definitely has some fantastic moments, but it always feels like a collection of scenes rather than a film as such.

Just saw it - didn't know anything about it beside this post.
Really enjoyed it, those of you who hate the new Bond reboots will probably be glad that a film has come along to move back into the cold carpet slippers and smoking jacket vacated by Roger Moore, only far ruder and with a lot more violence.
Worth a watch.

Just been to see 'The Theory of Everything'.

Overall, quite impressed. It's quite a slight film, a rather romanticised version of events I suspect, but it barrels along quite nicely. The two central performances (Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife Jane) are very strong indeed, but in entirely different ways. Redmayne's physical performance is stunning, probably the most tiring piece of acting I'd seen in years. Imagine having to spend hours with your body and features contorted in the way Hawking's condition has contorted his body, having to portray the strain and effort as Hawking fights his deteriorating function. Yes, he's not running a marathon but he's effectively in a stress position. For nearly the whole film. Despite all that he manages to portray Hawking's impishness and humour. Jones meanwhile plays almost the exact opposite - Jane comes across as almost repressed but at the same time capable of great humanity and warmth. Both parts are well played at entire different ends of the acting spectrum.

It's unfortunate that some of the minor players are rather undercooked - Maxine Peake's part in particular seems almost a cipher - and that the plot in places verges on soapy melodrama. One particular moment towards the end missed the beat entirely and feels quite.. odd.

The film itself is good to very good. Redmayne and Jones's work is great verging on excellent.

It's also quite an uplifting in the most part and never depressing, which is a great feat for a film about a brilliant man gradually locked into a body capable of virtually no normal function. I came away thinking it would actually make a really good date movie. Unfortunately I was watching it with a group of friends .

Shogun Assassin (1980)

I'd forgotten just how much fun this film is until it was on Film 4 last week...and in widescreen too.

7.5 out of 10

Here's a taster of the excellent and distinctive - and very 80's - soundtrack.

Big Hero 6

Thoroughly enjoyable in a kids film kind of way. You can tell who the villain is in about 5 minutes but it doesn't detract from a fun film.
Plus one of the charcters 'suits give him things that look suspiciously like Protos Psi blades so what's not to like

7/10

Also, trailer for a new Pixar film which looks very good indeed (and isn't a sequel to any of their previous ones).