movies

[Smerphy]

Been watching a load of movies with female leads recently.

Ghost World 8/10
Young Adult 8.5/10
Secretary 7/10

Anyone got any recommendations for other movies where the lead is a Woman?

[AnnihiSlateR]

Been watching a load of movies with female leads recently.

Ghost World 8/10
Young Adult 8.5/10
Secretary 7/10

Anyone got any recommendations for other movies where the lead is a Woman?

Spring Breakers
Short Term 12
Now is Good
The Spectacular Now.
Fast Girls
Chalet Girl
Made in Dagenham
Easy A
Juno
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles

[Darkweasel]

Fifty Shades of Grey

A couple of years ago, two mercifully short paragraphs were all I needed to tell me that the hype surrounding Fifty Shades was nothing to do with the writing. After ploughing on heroically for two whole pages, I finally decided enough was enough and did what probably every male left in close proximity to the book has done at one time or another - skipped to the naughty bits.
Now, while some of it was definitely quite saucy, most of the time the action seemed to centre around lip-biting and an "inner goddess". Suffice to say the novelty wore off very quickly, the book went straight back onto the wife's bedside cabinet, and I prayed that after the hype had died down, that would be the end of it.
It was about a week later when the announcement came that it was being adapted for cinema release.

So, here we are two years later and the film is finally out. And the most shocking part of the whole thing? It's not as bad as I'd imagined. Yes, it's bad, but it's bad on a level where you can play along with it and have some fun. For example, the scene at the beginning where Anastasia interviews Christian Grey is so much funnier if you replace Jamie Dornan with the Anthony Hopkins version of Hannibal Lecter. There's also a brilliant moment when Anastasia finds Christian playing a classical piece of music at the piano. "What's it called?", she asks, and all I could see at that moment was Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap looking up at her and saying, "Lick My Love Pump".

There's little to no story, no drama as such, and the performances are only as good as the script allows (Dakota Johnson doesn't help matters by spending the first part of the film pausing and stammering like an American version of Hugh Grant), but it only becomes boring for a few minutes at a time, and you can always distract yourself by counting the amount of times lips are bitten and pencils are rubbed erotically against lips. You can also spend the dull moments counting how many times Ana and Christian call each other by their christian names (anyone familiar with the Jack and Rose Titanic game will enjoy this), and wondering exactly what line of business Christian Grey is actually in. Something to do with food, possibly? Whatever it is, it's certainly something which requires generic threats like, "well, tell them they don't have 24 hours!"

There's quite a bit of nudity involved, but the sex scenes don't really feature anything too racy. In fact, Grey only uses rope, restraints, a riding crop, his hand and a blindfold, making it every bit as vanilla as I'd imagined it would be. There's certainly nothing in it to warrant the recent outpouring of hatred on social media. No, this is a typically safe Hollywood film, always very aware that it should always show the female in control even though she's meant to be submissive.
I must say the lack of any type of ending irritated me, meaning that the whole film acts as nothing but a trailer to the next one. That wouldn't be so bad, but much like the latest entry in the Hunger Games series, there's so little substance in this one that it makes you wonder if another film is even worth bothering with.

6.5/10

[Smerphy]

Been watching a load of movies with female leads recently.

Ghost World 8/10
Young Adult 8.5/10
Secretary 7/10

Anyone got any recommendations for other movies where the lead is a Woman?

Spring Breakers
Short Term 12
Now is Good
The Spectacular Now.
Fast Girls
Chalet Girl
Made in Dagenham
Easy A
Juno
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles

I forgot to mention that I watched Short Term 12 as well, that was 9/10.

Already seen most of these unforunately, ended up watching Frances Ha 7/10. It was good, and charming enough for lazy day viewing, but not really something memorable, and maybe a bit too artsy for it's own good.

Gonna watch Fish Tank now.

[Matty_the_Emo_Slayer]

add Heathers to the list

[Smerphy]

I had a look at that one, I'll give it a watch if I fancy it.

[AnnihiSlateR]

Been watching a load of movies with female leads recently.

Ghost World 8/10
Young Adult 8.5/10
Secretary 7/10

Anyone got any recommendations for other movies where the lead is a Woman?

Spring Breakers
Short Term 12
Now is Good
The Spectacular Now.
Fast Girls
Chalet Girl
Made in Dagenham
Easy A
Juno
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles

I forgot to mention that I watched Short Term 12 as well, that was 9/10.

Already seen most of these unforunately, ended up watching Frances Ha 7/10. It was good, and charming enough for lazy day viewing, but not really something memorable, and maybe a bit too artsy for it's own good.

Gonna watch Fish Tank now.

Let me know how Fish Tank is, I've had it downloaded a while now but not seen it.

I do have more suggestions for stuff alive downloaded but I've not seen them so can't vouch for quality. Stuff like My Summer Of Love, Palo Alto, Casual Sex, Foxfire, About Cherry, Foxes, The Arbor, the Legend of Billie Jean, and probably a good few more when I check my spreadsheet when I get home.

I've just realised I forgot Nymphomaniac, Stoker, and Never Let Me Go from the original list too.

Hopefully something for you to try in there. Glad you rate short term 12 so highly though. Is Spring Breakers one of the ones you have seen? If so what do you think of it?

Also get Letterboxd and get rating/logging/reviewing stuff and share your profile on here.

[Smerphy]

http://letterboxd.com/Smerphy/

Fish Tank was decent, far better in the first half. Doesn't have a particularly satisfying ending, but definitely worth a watch. 7/10

Probably gonna watch Hard Candy now.

[Jobdone]

Raid 2: Raid Harder.

Like The Raid, but even fucking better somehow.

9/10.

[Darkweasel]

Been watching a load of movies with female leads recently

Anyone got any recommendations for other movies where the lead is a Woman?

Spring Breakers
Short Term 12
Now is Good
The Spectacular Now.
Fast Girls
Chalet Girl
Made in Dagenham
Easy A
Juno
Pretty in Pink
Sixteen Candles

Kill Bill Vol 1
Kill Bill Vol 2
The Silence of the Lambs
Fargo
Misery
Jackie Brown
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Thelma and Louise
GI Jane
V For Vendetta
Underworld 1-4
Million Dollar Baby
Black Swan
Dolores Claiborne
Monster
Hard Candy
Maleficent
Rosemary's Baby
Carrie

[Gandalf the Red]

Halloween.
Barbarella.
Amelie.

[Haldamir319]

Blue is the Warmest Colour

[someone else]

Erin Brockovich
The Changeling
The Others
Gravity
Zero Dark Thirty
To Die For
Winter's Bone
La Femme Nikita
Last Seduction
Heathers
Bound
The Descent
Haywire

[keera_envenomed]

The Three Colours Trilogy
I'm a Cyborg
Lady Vengeance
Whale Rider
Rust and Bone

[bloodfiend]

Razorblade Smile