Batman Begins.

I was expecting way too much, but even so it was a justified disappointment. By numbers car chases, fight scenes and romance undertones. The "depth" and darkness I was expecting amounted to implausible childhood 'issues' and a load of pseudo-Eastern philosophy bullshit (note to film makers, dressing something up in an alien culture doesn't make this crap any more believable).

My mate likes this sort of thing, but I have to see something half challenging when I get home. My mind's going to turn to mush on this stuff. Good for what it is, but what it is is bumfluff, whatever anyone tells you.

Did also watch Scum last night (end of term parties everywhere, so didn't get to sleep till 6) which was a bit better I suppose. Not my favourite film, and I can never stop myself laughing when i see 'Mickey Pearce'. Thinking about it, half that cast must have ended up in EastEnders, The Bill etc. without anyone remembering. Always reminds me a bit too much of Porridge as well.

i saw batman begins at my local IMAX tonight, and sort of half-agree with you. sure, it's nothing too deep, but it's got some good cinematography, if that's the word (the first 15 minutes, and some of the city scenery, was pretty damn good when stretched 60 feet wide), and is obviously a million zillion miles better than the last three. for saturday night entertainment, i thought it was pretty good. though no sin city.

Saw the remake of The Manchurian Candidate last night, which was really really odd. Good, but odd. Want to see the original now, i have a feeling its nothing whatsoever like the remake (what with this being set after USA in the Gulf in '91), but still would be good to see. Plus Sinatra can't be bad.

Is it not a bit odd to set the remake in the Gulf but to still call it the Manchurian Candidate?

If I recall rightly (and im not entirely certain that I do... it was quite late and i was quite intoxicated) I think they got around it by the big evil company being something to do with Manchuria, but I will check that out. Nonetheless a cunning ploy to get around it would indeed have been changing the name, but then I dont think it would have been as successful (hmmm... or maybe more... i dont know)

Shallow Grave

best ending I've seen since the Usual Suspects.

kung fu hustle. bizarre and brilliant!

Eternal Sunshine Of the Spotless Mind.

I cried several times. Utterly sublime.

Open Water... was alright, but probably wouldnt want to see it again. Well filmed though... probably one of those films that gets you thinking more about it happening in reality and whether or not its actually true. And has put me off scuba diving for a while... at least in shark infested water without a cage.

God, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on telly t'other day. Miles better than I remember. I'm going to see the Burton/Depp movie on Sunday. I'm so excited about that I'm asking to be disappointed, to be honest.

Saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest for the first time. It's a majestic film, filled to the brim with magnificent performances. Just unsure how it made me feel. Throughout it was a titanic tussle between freedom, expression, life and this most stifling, regimented repression and conformity. When Mack died I felt sure the jackboot had ground everything underfoot, but then the Chief emancipated himself and Mack, supposedly. I'll have to watch it again, but it didn't make me feel too good first time around.

He Loves Me Not with Audrey Tautou was good. No more, no less really. Something to watch.

i watched willy wonka too, and i don't remember wilder having been quite so wilfully odd last time i saw it. ace, ace, ace, and tim burton's the only man up to the remake.

and one flew over the cuckoo's nest is top too, as is audrey tautou. so, i agree with you in full. you ought to watch the episode of spaced where daisy gets a job in a kitchen - OFOTCN pisstake of the bes-*test*-('") quality.

I'm still waiting for someone to confirm or deny you can actually play Marilyn Manson's "Smells Like Children" in tune to it if you time it right (a la Dark Side of the Moon/Wizard of Oz).

The Descent

Although it has some genuinely creepy atmospherics and pure shocks (and was pretty nasty in places), too much of the plot had co-incidental conveniences to move it along, some of the characters were pretty generic (so you could tell which order they'd be offed - sort of like Lost, really...), and the ending seemed a bit undercooked.

But the real worry was why they have ice cubes in the urinals in the Apollo cinema, Regent Street. Any ideas?!?

Garden State. It was OK. I think I'd have to watch it again. The Brave New World reference was appropriate, but I would have liked to have seen it explored further with the whole happy/oppressed vs. miserable/free question which was a bit underdeveloped. The dialogue was very good, I thought it captured very well the intrinsic awkwardness of social interaction, but overall the film smacked a fair bit of immaturity too. Still, a decent evening in, for sure.

mm i saw garden state the other night as well
good film, better soundtrack than overall plot though