Be Excellent To Each Other

But the BBFC doesn't cut films. The production company does. So any criticism of choosing to cut rather than taking a higher certificate, or of the clumsiness of the cuts, should go to them, not the BBFC. They could release John Wick 2 without edits as an 18, they chose not to.

Also, the US has its own ratings board with its own requirements. Why is the US version "unfucked with"?

Yes I'm fully aware of all of that, sorry if that wasn't clear from my post and/or previous posts on the subject.

It is indeed rare for the BBFC to outright cut a film at 18 these days, and most cuts are 'to a certificate' with the production company having taken advice from the BBFC as to what they need to do to get a 12 or a 15 or whatever. (I still find this irritating although it isn't the BBFC's fault per se.)

However, historically speaking (and notoriously in the Ferman era), the BBFC did routinely cut films even at 18, refuse to classify them outright, or do an absolute hatchet job on them for lower certificates. (Their butchering of the Arnie film 'True Lies' for home formats was so extreme that James Cameron had a disclaimer put on the back of the box that read 'This film has been edited for censorship purposes.')

Hence my comment that the situation in the UK is 'massively better' than it used to be.

And yes the US system and the MPAA aren't some kind of panacea, especially since studios will do almost anything to avoid the dreaded NC-17 rating, so we can end up with situations where films are edited for an R in the States, but released uncut in other territories. (Although there is always the option of going with 'NR' in the States.)

As such I seek out my films on a case-by-case basis, and source the uncut version wherever possible.

The original was a 15 and was still awesome so it's a non-issue. Had the original been an 18 and they aimed for a lower classification to broaden appeal I might have been concerned. Mind you, had they aimed for a higher classification because they'd uped the violence I'd have been wetting my pants.

You are allowed to release a film unrated.

Last night's film was 'DOG EAT DOG' starring Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe, directed by Paul Schrader who is the guy what wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, amongst many other things.

Let me state clearly that this is not a fantastically good film, it's also grimy, nasty, morally questionable, arguably misanthropic, violent and sometimes quite distasteful - nonetheless it is never boring and has many redeeming features, and I'd still recommend it as worth a watch. It tries lots of different things and not all of them work, but when it hits the mark it's very effective.

The plot is simple, Cage and Dafoe (and another chap called Christopher Matthew Cook who has been in a handful of things, including The Walking Dead) play three lifetime in-and-out cons who are all finally on the outside at the same time, tired of doing small jobs for a few thousand dollars at a time, they decide to take on one big job that'll pay enough to get them out of a life of crime once and for all. Things do not go according to plan.

637/1000 - Dafoe masturbation-tastic.

Watch Man Bites Dog instead.

I have watched (or re watched) a few films recently:

Man of Steel - While it isn't a great film and the end felt a bit rushed, I did enjoy it overall, and some parts were nicely done, like the animated history of Krypton. Something I can happily watch when it comes around on telly even if I've seen it before. Somewhat relatedly, I watched Batman Vs Superman and I didn't think it was deserving of quite so much hate - sure it was a bit messy, but I found it reasonably entertaining. Maybe going in with low expectations helped...

Ghostbusters (the new one) - It was funny, the SFX were perfectly adequate, the wacky character was perhaps a bit too wacky and oddball for my tastes. Both Lady T and I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure what all the fuss was really about, it was a decent film. Hemsworth was really good in it, a fun performance.

American Sniper - It was OK. I didn't know the story at all, as pretty much everything about this film had passed me by (I assumed it was about the sniper-murderer from the early 2000s that was shooting people from the boot of his car or whatever in some american city, ooops). Made me a bit sad. Did quite a good job with contrasting the war scenes with the difficulty adjusting to returning to civilian life.

Moana - took the kids for their first cinema visit (they were very well behaved, the film kept them engrossed whichi si pretty good for a 2 and a 4 year old). I do enjoy a bit of polynesian culture, and The Rock absolutely nailed the voice acting (it was so good, it took me a while to twig it was actually him). It was quite simplistic and trotted out a lot of seen-before tropes but overall, very good family fun. The design/animation of the major baddie was excellent. The whole cinema enjoyed hearing our 2 year old's little high pitched voice calling out 'that's a big TV'.

3 days to kill - I like Kevin Costner, but this tripe is really beneath him and his attempt at a tired agent returning for one last job just came across as frankly disinterested . Directed, badly, by *sigh* McG. Jarring transitions, awkward changes in pace (murder-death-kill-torture rampage, pause to chat about how hard it is to raise a teenager, resume torture-kill-frenzy) and a rubbish, terribly out of place female super spy & high ranking agent that seems to only exists to awkwardly crash into scenes to yell 'look my sex tits bum fanny in this PVC outfit' - OK the actress was attractive but sooo badly acted and characterised. Don't go out of your way to watch this. Also had an annoying tendency to focus on the pushbike Costner bought in an attempt to gain favour with the cliched teenager character - with a 'ring ring' bell sound effect even if no one was riding, touching, looking at or talking about said bike, which annoyed me far more than it really ought to.

I'm really annoyed about that stupid fucking bell on that stupid fucking bike

Agree with all of this. Loved it a lot.

Emma Stone.

Oh, that reminds me, we also watched Fracture - Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins are very good in it, Gosling is a cocky ambitious law-talkin' guy. It was a good film, not exactly cerebral but still seemed quite smart and clever (whether accurate or not, i couldn't really say). I enjoyed it, although I don't think it's a film I'd be bothered to watch again.

Yeah, the basic plot on this was as old as time, but I think the film was pretty awesome. The Rock's song was also excellent!

Watched Split last night, featuring James McAvoy.

A fantastic film IMO, and a bit of a return to form for M. Night Shyamalan.

Not really a spoiler, but the movie is about a man who has disassociative personality disorder and has 23 distinct personalities.

I was gripped right from the opening scenes, and although it gets a little odd towards the end it was compelling throughout. McAvoy is superb in every one of his roles.

The only "bad" thing about the film is that it hit a little close to home for me in some ways (for reasons that I won't go into) and left me feeling rather weirded out and strange afterwards, and I still feel a little odd now. On the plus side, I can't remember the last time a film affected me so deeply, so I guess I still have some emotions somewhere

Just been to see The LEGO Batman Movie.

Awesome, as the last LEGO movie was. Possibly the best Batman film ever made, packed full of references to the other Batman films (some subtle, others not so subtle) but without being "too much."

My only complaint with it is the completely unnecessary (IMO) iPhone product placement - Apple must have paid a shit ton for that.

Aye. When your five year old son turns round mid film and says "Daddy, that's siri" you know it's a little overdone.

How much does your five year old use your fucking phone, dude

I've just had a good old cry at lovely jap anime "Your Name."

Good gracious that was lovely. Someone hold me, please.

He doesn't touch my fucking phone. He can use his own fucking iPad.

Best film I saw last year and destined to be a true classic.

Been meaning to see it, but not got round to it.

If it ever swings round an arts cinema near you, don't hesitate. It's jaw droppingly beautiful.

It has a shockingly awful limited run in UK cinemas. Dave is probably all right in that London but the nearest to me was Birmingham (as far as I could see & the only showing in the sodding Midlands). Modern cinemas are rubbish.

Apart from the cozy seats.

IT's on at the place we went for ghost in the shell. Easy enough to get to.

Won't the dub be terrible though?

Ghost in the shell was undubbed, I'd guess this is too.

Edit:I'd be correct, too.

There's a limited release again in five (count 'em!) cinemas this Tuesday for Your Name, Japanese language. I might try to catch the 7:00 showing at Swansea.

Plymouth, Portsmouth, Exeter, Birmingham, Swansea.

List and times here: http://subtitled.yournamethemovie.co.uk ... 54&zoom=15

I think, mainly, I need to ask Cras to come. He loves anime.

I was round at my mates, watched loads of films.

The Magnificent Seven: Better than I thought it'd be. Highlight is Ethan Hawke's PTSD ridden ex Confederate sharpshooter. And Vincent D'Onofrio, who is always excellent. The big battle scene at the end is also pretty damn good.

The Nice Guys: funny as hell. Felt like Fat Russell Crowe's part was written for John Goodman though. Keith David! The Seventies. Loved it.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: the gimmick was reasonably fun, but they kept up the Pride and Prejudice bits for far too long. I get it's supposed to be a juxtaposition... But...

Hardcore Henry: way better than I thought it was going to be, way better than it had any right to be. Perfect 'turn brain off, switch on, enjoy' movie. Props to Sharlto Copley who pretty much has to carry the film on his own, and does it by consuming a large part of the set. ( though the actors playing Henry are really surprisingly good at conveying emotion through what amounts to hand gestures)

Watched this last night. We both really enjoyed it. Although the best copy I could find was a cam with some weird thing going on with the sound so that nothing came out of the front speakers so it was all coming from behind our heads. But yeah, McAvoy was brilliant.

Saw Split last night. Hard to watch for personal reasons but glad I went. Wasn't particularly sold on the acting of one of the three kidnapped girls (Haley Lu Richardson). Everything else was good though - gripping, pace was great, James McAvoy was fantastic (and hot, oh yes). Well worth watching.

Thoroughly enjoyed John Wick 2, but the ending was bullshit.

Fizzle out?

The final third is full of stuff setting up the next one, and it loses a lot of momentum.

But yeah, really fun up until then.

World-building maybe not quite so tight as the first game, but it's perhaps a little funnier.

Film Review!

The Funhouse Massacre

It's not fun. It is a massacre. The tits were OK. The whole Slutty Trash Panda Harlequin thing is a major, major, thing for me. I feel I can talk about it now. Christ, that's a load from my (chest -Ed). It's like the goth girl/swamp trash thing, like Neve Campbell in Wild Things, helena BC in Fight Club

4/5

Just watched Project Almanac which was recently added to Netflix. Not a bad time travel film, with elements of Time Lapse, Groundhog Day and Butterfly Effect. Drags a bit in places, but worth a watch.

Was easier to believe that they built a time machine than they all actually used windows phones.

We ignored the opinions of the people at Rotten Tomatoes and watch Bad Santa 2 last night.

We were a bit sick of TV shows and liked the first one

For the first 30 minutes there are some funny bits although some might find these crude.

Then the funny stuff gets a bit too crude and stops being as funny, the plot then moves to try and get a happy ending and some redemption for characters and there are very few attempts at any more funny stuff from maybe 50% through.

All in all average, think its better than the 23% RT gave it but not much more than 40%

It did make us laugh in places and after having a 3 year old run us ragged all day we needed some laughs.

No Coen Brothers probably didn't help.

Over the weekend I watched :

Lego Batman : Awesome. The best Batman film ever.

John Wick (the original one): Really good, I'd avoided this for some reason. Made the best use of Keanu's limited acting range.

Moana: Excellent family film. The Rock was very good indeed.

Minions: Just never got round to this. Funny, as to be expected.

Lego Batman is indeed awesome.

This.

I laughed so much.

Watched a couple of recent Netflix additions

The Fear of 13. Very good documentary about a bloke who was convicted of murder and spent 23 years on death row. The man himself is a very good storyteller.

Criminal. Face/Off style silly plot, but set in London, with some comically bad dialogue to boot.



Still fairly watchable though.

You really don't want a kerfuffle though

I watched that too. He was a good story teller and perhaps that was part of why I just didn't believe half of what he was saying.

2 films over the weekend.

1. Girl on the Train. I just finished the book, so was eager to see how a stream-of-consciousness, diary style book would translate to the screen. Turns out, the answer is narration. Lots of narration. I was actually quite impressed by how they managed to carry the story over with overlapping timelines and the like. Emily Blunt was superb as the lead, but I didn't like the casting on the male leads. Not very convincing. Also, the girl playing Megan looked so much like Jennifer Lawrence on muscle relaxants, I was frequently distracted. Overall, 728 bananas out of 1000.

2. Eddie the Eagle. I put this on late(ish) last night as my first choice was nearly 3 hours long I need my beauty sleep. Pretty enjoyable film. Quite small in scale though. Small cast, not much conflict. Not a lot of peril. Of course, it being based on a true story kinda ruins any dramatic tension. I did enjoy the performances though, especially Keith Allen as the badly conflicted, by always loving Dad. Taron Egerton seem to be destined to be the next Tom Hanks with his wonderfully wistful and witless portrayal of Edwards and HUGE JACKEDMAN did some good work in the John Candy In Cool Runnings role. Speaking of which, I loved the little throwaway reference to the Jamaican bobsled team. Calgary '88 truly was a magical time. Overall, a very enjoyable 699 bananas out of 1000.

I watched Dredd last night. I haven't seen it in ages but remember it being quite decent. But fuck me I can't remember it being quite so deliciously violent. Loved it. Again.

Especially when psychic gal submachine guns some poor saps face at close range during her escape I actually said "sheeeeeet" out loud to no one at all. That's the mark of some good violence.

It's a great film - I think I've watched it 4 or 5 times now. It really needs a sequel.

Not sure if serious, but then you are Mr Chris, so https://moviepilot.com/p/dredd-2-sequel ... ow/4205564

A TV series would be awesome

Nope: http://2000adonline.com/post/1393

Why wouldn't I have been serious? There hasn't been a sequel and it doesn't currently sound like there will be one.