Mr Turner

[prettyxcool]

Went to Curzon Chelsea to see this and Q&A with the director. It was a massive screening room, it felt on par with the old Empire Screen 1, although the screen is much smaller. We were told during the intro that the cinema was five minutes from where Mr Turner lived and died.

A very detailed account of Mr Turner's last quarter of his life. And what a performance by Timothy Spall. He truly lived and breathed him, what a role. We learnt during the Q&A that he actually studied for 2 years before the actual filming, to learn how to paint. He definitely held a pallete and brush properly, and we saw that he actually painted. The women in his life were equally good, especially his housekeeper. Although slow and long at two and half hours, the cinematography was amazing and each snippet of scenes of Turner's life had you captivated. 8/10.

[yogi]

Saw this today using a Sweet Sunday voucher and found it thoroughly engrossing.

It looks fantastic, deliberately evoking painting compositions, funny and Timothy Spall is excellent helping create an impression of Turner the man, his work and his relationships 8/10

[RAZORBACK]

I actually thought this was quite dull which consequently made the two & a half hours running time a bit of a challenge.

Performances across the board were good but also quite strange as a lot of the time they were done in the style of a stage production as if the cast were trying to ensure their voices were (unnecessarily) being carried to the very back of a theatre.

The central character wasn't particularly likeable or interesting so ultimately this was at best an average biographical drama that barely did enough to get a 6/10 from me...

[newdot]

Dull & long.

Grunting does not equate to good acting in my book.

Some beautiful looking scenes, but not enough to save this.

On the plus side, I thought the music score was great, very johnny greenwood-esque.

6/10

[stuartboy]

This should have been called Mr Turnip! If I had known it was nearly 3 hours long I wouldn't have wasted my evening. It was like watching paint (on a canvas) dry! This was nearly as dreary as some of his paintings. Apart from ageing, and ultimately dying, there was very little story - just a series of quite beautiful scenes of him researching and sketching for his paintings. The cinematography certainly evoked the lighting and feel of his paintings.
I have to admit that from half way onwards I was willing him to finally croak. It certainly seemed that from the amount of grunting and wheezing his demise seemed inevitable yet he hung on for several more decades. Yawn.

5/10

[trickydicky123]

This should have been called Mr Turnip! If I had known it was nearly 3 hours long I wouldn't have wasted my evening. It was like watching paint (on a canvas) dry! This was nearly as dreary as some of his paintings. Apart from ageing, and ultimately dying, there was very little story - just a series of quite beautiful scenes of him researching and sketching for his paintings. The cinematography certainly evoked the lighting and feel of his paintings.
I have to admit that from half way onwards I was willing him to finally croak. It certainly seemed that from the amount of grunting and wheezing his demise seemed inevitable yet he hung on for several more decades. Yawn.

5/10

He dies in the end?! Well thanks for ruining that one stuartboy!!

[Diamond1]

A truly glorious performance by Timothy Spall - loved it. Mr Turner was a pretty awful character but an artist beyond comparison. Loved the film, loved the performances and not just by T. Spall, all the acting is great. So worth seeing!

[cheekyweelassie]

I had looked forward to this for some time, but hadn't got round to catching it until yesterday when I used one of my Groupon codes before it disappeared from the cinemas.
I have to say I was really disappointed. I thought the film was far too long, and Turner was quite objectionable, grotesque and irritating. If someone only spoke to me in grunts and groans, I would give them a slap! And I was quite disturbed by the housekeeper who seemed to be falling apart in front of my eyes.
I thought the visuals of the film were very nice and picturesque (appropriately), and I appreciated the obvious skill that Turner (and in turn, Spall) demonstrated with the painting. But that wasn't enough for me. The language was a bit distracting at times, and I sometimes had trouble working out where we were supposed to be. I was sad to find this terribly dull, and actually quite annoying.
I felt strangely distant from all of the characters, and was actually quite relieved when he finally croaked.

5/10