Warm Bodies

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Kelly, Paul, Matt

Write Up.

Watched a digital projection this time. But you can still tell they shot it on film.

Oblivion

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Michael

Write Up.

As expected, very pretty in IMAX. The title card had the biggest bassy rumble but the droids still sounded awesome, just not as loud as I was expecting. The film still had the problem of just not being that engaging. I guess even less so once you know all the twists and turns.

Kon-Tiki

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I've now seen 4 of the 5 foreign film oscar nominees. And my first official Norwegian blockbuster. It's a grand ol' adventure film and a story I was previously completely unaware of. It's a pity Life of Pi stole much of the visual thunder from this film but it still had some moments up its sleeve that left me in awe.

A very entertaining film, and if topless blondes are your thing, you'll get 5 of them for the majority of the running time. What's not to enjoy?

The Company You Keep

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Robert Redford is still alive and making films. I like the idea behind this one, and damn if he didn't get a hell of an ensemble cast together, but the end product, though competently made, was not exactly thrilling. The twists are telegraphed well in advance so the audience has to spend the last half waiting for the film to catch up. 

Also, pet peeve, if you're gonna have that many close ups, make sure the actors eyes are in focus, not the back of their neck.

Eh, it was ok. 

Oblivion

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

Joseph Kosinski's sophomore effort feels like throwback to 70's sci-fi thrillers with a modern sheen. It's also the latest to utilise Iceland's amazing natural landscapes to suggest an otherworldly local. Between this, Game of Thrones and Prometheus and starting to get a real desire to travel there and check it out myself. Nice to see Nikolaj Coster-Waldau north of The Wall.

Kosinski's original story has an intriguing, if familiar, premise. The twists and turns the characters and plot takes after that are nothing particularly new and the relatively slow pace leave this one feeling flat for much of the running time. It's also a much smaller scale film than I was expecting. Despite being set against these massive landscapes it feels more like a play for the majority of the running time.

But one can't deny the beautiful visual design. Kosinski obviously has a knack for great world design and the uniformed look of the technology combined with the natural location shooting and looks great. Those droids are given some great and very ominous sound design.

I saw the widescreen version but I'll be checking it out again in a few days to see the full frame version at IMAX and look forward to hearing those droids on their system and those few extra pixels of imagery.

If you're into those old school sci-fi thrillers you'll recognise all the beats here. It's worth a look for the visuals but don't expect an action blockbuster or you'll be bored out of your mind.

Jack the Giant Slayer

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Michael

Write Up.

Again, kinda less impressive than at IMAX. That shot of the horses riding across the field and the giant army bursting out of the treeline behind still sends shivers down the spine though. Quite fun.

Jurassic Park

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Michael

Write Up.

3D Write Up.

Checked it out in a cinema where the sound wasn't as impressive and the screen was much smaller. But the audience had a lot of younger kids in it and the reactions were great. Laughs at funny bits I never really noticed and still some yelps of surprise. IMAX was definitely the way to go though.

Stolen

IMDB

First time viewed: Yes

Current Release: Yes

Nicolas Cage is gonna save his kidnapped daughter! Liam Neeson did it better.

Fire with Fire

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

This revenge film barley held my interest. I certainly looks like a movie. It's acts like a movie. It's just not as interesting as one. What the hell was Vincent D'Onofrio doing in this? was he even speaking english?

Ghostbusters

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No


Couldn't pass up the opportunity to see this one at the cinema. I never really got into this one as a kid and it's been such a long time since I last saw it. I thought I could barley remember it actually but it all came flooding back pretty quick.

Man, they just zoom through the origin story. I always forget that that's in there, it just feels like everybody already knows who the ghostbusters are.

Much fun to be had here.

Identity Thief

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes

I went into this one expecting the worst but it wasn't actually that bad. There's a few laughs to be had.

Boy A

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Amberly

A wonderful drama. Andrew Garfield's breakout role and he's just heartbreaking. Really love this one. It's pretty hard to track down but well worth the effort for such a beautiful film.

Jurassic Park

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Tyler, Kate, Ant, Cicely, Kelly, Clint, Brad, Grady, Xoe, Jaemie, Matt

Write Up.

Finally I have seen Jurassic Park in a cinema. In IMAX 3d no less. And it was everything I hoped it would be. Still works amazingly well. An added bonus was sitting next to someone who had never seen it before and experiencing their reactions to watching it for the first time. So great.

The sound is amazing, I picked up 2 or 3 lines I'd never even heard before, and I was sure I know the film off by heart. For the most part the 3d conversion looks pretty good. There are a few moments where you can see elements have been replaced or are oddly skewed but they did a good job with some of the trickier shots with window reflections and and rain drops and stuff like that. I noticed they painted out the scratches in the glass on the final shot, I wonder if there was anything else they touched up.

Some of the shots looked sharpened a little, I don't know if there was a DNR filter done on it or if that's just a result of the usual IMAX rescaling. Interesting to see that they used the full height of the digital IMAX frame. I don't know if that means they cropped off the edges or opened up the original frame. Anyway I plan on seeing it again somewhere else to have another look.

So great!

Sightseers

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler, Amberly

A fun little black comedy with interesting central characters. The concept gets played out after a while  and the end felt a little lacklustre but there's plenty of good moments throughout that keep it enjoyable.

Warm Bodies

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler

A very sweet romantic comedy. The cutest little zombie movie I've ever seen. They play up a bit of a Romeo and Juliet set up but the ends are remarkably different. Also a bit of a novelty to see it at a cinema that still projects 35mm. Something cool about watching zombies shamble about with that old school film grain.

This film plays loose with some traditional zombie rules but the world they create is consistent and the changes needed for the kind of story they are telling. There are one or two effective scary bits and some genuine heart. It's also rather funny. That all adds up to a real winner in my book.