Whatcha Been Watching?

[General Aquila]

Started watching a show that appeared on my Netflix called Person of Interest. Funnily that Jonathon Nolan (brother of Christopher Nolan) wrote the show plus bares an uncanny resemblance to the possible plot of Watch Dogs. A huge surveillance machine but with more of a bent on stopping crimes and espionage (since the protagonist is former Special Force/CIA) So far, so interesting.

[Combine Hunter]

I treated myself to Frozen after work today. Mainly because the cinema near the place I labour is actually reasonably priced compared to most other movie theatres in London, but also because I've been increasingly curious about this movie due to the amount of critics showering it with praise. Some going so far as to say it's "the best Disney movie since Beauty and the Beast". Now that statement will carry a different weight for different people, but as Beauty and the Beast is my favourite Disney film, it carries A LOT of weight. See Movie Bob's review below to see what I'm talking about:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... 507-Frozen

So, yeah, I watched it and I pretty much agree with the popular consensus. It is fantastic. Without going into detail, It's kind of an exercise in dangling well trodden Disney tropes in front of the audience's face, and then subverting them in some really unexpected ways. There are quite a few moments where I thought the movie was about to do something really dumb, but did something really clever instead. It's smartly written, and it's self aware in a way that doesn't feel smug or cynical. Tangled really nailed characters and dialogue (this is the same creative team who made that movie by the way), but its one weakness was the music. Not that it was bad by any means, just that apart from two songs, it wasn't very memorable. Not the case here in Frozen, almost every song is golden, and I think this is where the Beauty and the Beast comparisons are coming from. The music is back to the standard it was at in those early 90's movies (and Princess and the Frog). So yeah, go watch it, and don't let the marketing fool you into thinking it's crap.

[Todinho]

Saw the second Hobbit movie,I liked it overall but it's much weaker than the first thanks to Peter Jackson adding a bunch of stuff that had no bussiness being there like that Evangeline Lilly character that adds nothing to the movie!It's still good dont get me wrong but compared to the first one where by the end I still wanted more, in this one by the end I just wanted the movie to be over.I honestly have no idea how the last movie will play out now but im afraid of what else they are going to put in there to fill time but I guess I'll find out in a year or so.

[AndyKurosaki]

Think I'll wait for the DVD of that, I enjoyed The Hobbit part one in the cinema, but I really can't be arsed with sitting through another long Jackson film at the cinema. Least then I can watch in installments.

On the last series of Fringe, it's been a bloody excellent series, be sad to finish it. Beats the piss out of boring Homeland, that's for sure.

[Todinho]

Fringe gets better then? I stopped watching it at season 3 because the plot wasnt going anywhere but I really liked season one,how many are in total anyway?

[AndyKurosaki]

There's 5 in total. Series 4 things picked up considerably, and series 5 is pretty much insane. There's the odd slow episode here and there, but I'd certainly reccomend getting through Series 3, the end of which is worth it.

[BasementShaxx]

Blackfish got added to the US Netflix catalogue last month so I gave that a watch last night and it's one of the most upsetting documentaries I've seen in a long time. Haunting view of what life in a concrete fish bowl does to Orcas and the repercussions on their trainers.



To try and cheer up I made it a double bill and watched Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and pissed myself with laughter from start to finish. Wasn't sure the Partridge character could sustain a full 90-minute film but I thoroughly enjoyed it, great to see the return of some of the old characters too like Lynn and Michael.

[Todinho]

I've been on a anime kick lately So I ended up watching a lot of stuff:

Perfect Blue-This was one of the few Satoshi Kon movies I hadnt watched until now and I was putting it off because I'd heard that Black Swan was a rip-off of this and I really like Black Swan,watching it though Black Swan it's not as much of a rip-off as I expected it still is but not so much,I ended up finding this much better than Black Swan in the end though if that movie has anything over this one is Natalie Portman's performance,compared to other of Kon's work this feels like a preparation for what would come later in Paprika and Paranoia Agent(Aka best anime series ever made) so it ranks bellow them and on par with tokyo godfathers,both are still great but just not as good as his two other works,such a shame that he had to die while crap like Michael Bay is allowed to keep getting made.

Also finnished watching the Monogatari series second season that's actually the the third season of Bakemonogatari and Nisemonogatari(yeah it's confusing),the series(which is based on a series of books I think) always managed to be really good despite it's weird moments but this season started off just boring and I actually stopped wachting at some point but man did it pick up by the halfway mark in a way I didnt expect at all,they managed to turn a boring and forgotten side-character into a really interesting one and they brought back my favorite character in the show(and now probably one of my favorites in anything ever)back into the storyline as a main character...and that ending was just perfect.

Lastly I watched all episodes released of Kill la Kill so far,it's a really silly and really fun show im actually surprised Im enjoying it since I didnt like Gurren Laggan all that much that was made by the same people,also really cool to see a female protagonist in this kind of action show it's not really something you'd expect.

Also Space Dandy is beginning the new original series from Watanabi so I guess I'll try to watch that.

On a non-anime note I rewatched the first Rambo movie yesterday and while I think the other films of the series are garbage I'll still defend this movie as being great too bad they didnt keep the original ending thou.

[DomsBeard]

Watched Pacific Rim over Christmas which was brilliant, disappointed I didn't see it in 3d.

Finished season 1 of Arrow which is probably my favourite show of 2013. It started off slow but the second half of the season builds up to a very very good end.

[Todinho]

Trust me you didnt miss anything if anything the 3D makes it harder for you focus on what's going on.

[AndyKurosaki]

Have to say I found Alan Partridge Alpha Papa massively disapointing. On TV he's barely put a foot wrong. But while the film is amusing in places, it's not that funny. I recently got Sarah into Alan, she loved his TV stuff. But 40 minutes into the film on Xmas Day, she utterly lost interest.

Picked up Pacific Rim today, missed it at the cinema, so hopefully I'll enjoy it.

[Feirsteax]

I do prefer the TV Alan partridge stuff but I don't think the movie was a complete disaster. Had some funny moments to be sure
Watched first ep of Vic and bob's house of fools because everyone was raving about it on twitter. It was completely insane and great fun. Its on iPlayer. Though the character with the nervous twitch and the rapey woman were slightly uncomfortable to watch. Don't like that

[dezm0nd]

Oh man, I loved Alpha Papa. Tears of laughter throughout for me

[Electric Crocosaurus]

I really enjoyed Alpha Papa, partly because I have so much affection for those characters from their TV days that they can make me laugh just by looking at them.

I've seen a couple of stunning films in the past week, though for different reasons. Before Midnight is a near-perfect follow-on from Sunrise and Sunset, just really funny, and warm, and painfully honest in places. There's a scene where the main characters sit around having lunch / dinner that ranks among the finest film moments of 2013 for me.

The Act of Killing is an absolutely stunning documentary focusing on former (and some not so former) death squad members in Indonesia. I had no real knowledge of Indonesia's history or current political climate, so to see 'gangsters' (who are held up as rock stars by politicians and national TV media) talking so openly about the people they've killed, and showing varying levels of regret for it, is astonishing.

[mikeleddy83]

The Wolf of Wall Street - pretty much the reason I watch movies!

American Hustle - a bit of a mess, I'm not sure if it was me that was getting confused or the movie itself.

Also had a dabble in 4OD and came across a world of shit/intriguing stuff to keep up to date with the heavily neglected past time of tee-vee'ing so I've clocked up time with some shite about Kavos partaying, female masking, benefits street (really controversial this one right?!?... probably for being just less than shit enough to watch the whole thing) and dogging tales which has put me off being an "exciting person" for an eternity, most of them seemed like emotionless dullards which is surprising for the extremely common confidence quotes throughout the program. Think I'll stick to the movies again from now on and test the water in a years time.

[BasementShaxx]

The Wolf Of Wall Street was great, especially enjoyed Jonah Hill. I don't think I've ever seen a Scorsese film that disappointed me to be honest, he's got to be the most consistently good directors of his generation. On the Red Letter Media review they talked a lot about how the other directors that also came up in the 70's like De Palma and Coppola make terrible movies these days, even Spielberg turns out some stinkers, but Scorsese keeps making good films.

I agree about American Hustle too, I'm amazed it's got 10 Oscar nominations. The Science Oven stuff did make me chuckle though.

[RoboticMonk3y]

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kungfury/kung-fury
YES!!!

[Flabyo]

Go and see the Lego Movie.

It's a stunning piece of work, a genuine movie with heart and a message and not the shameless cash grab it could so easily have been.

Also, Alison Brie is basically playing Annie from Community in the form of a small pink unicorn/cat.

[Alex79]

Anyone watched Black Sails yet? New US drama set in yaaaar-there-be-pirates time. I downloaded the first episode which has been getting good reviews but not got round to watching it yet.

[DomsBeard]

Watched Elysium last night. Not a bad film but not as good as District 9. I felt it needed to move up a gear towards the end and it never did. Worth a watch though