[What Was The Last Movie You Watched?]

7 - Nimona

Watched this based solely on MSU's recommendation above as I hadn't heard the title before - though when I started watching the story sounded a little familiar so I must've heard it reviewed on Kermode and Mayo and forgot about it. Like MSU, I thought this was great. I would actually disagree slightly about the predictability part. Yes, there were bits that I expected to happen, but it didn't follow the typical structure you find in this kind of story and that kept me on my toes throughout the runtime. So I thought that was actually a strength of the film. Although, I would have preferred if the very final scene would either have not been there or left a little more ambiguous, which would've made for a better ending IMO. That and it not being quite as consistently funny for my tastes as I would've liked stopped this from being a 10/10 for me, but I still very much enjoyed watching it and would recommend it to anyone seeking this type of family-friendly-but-adults-should-enjoy-too film.

[What Was The Last Movie You Watched?]

5 - Poor Things

After about 15 minutes I thought to myself "mmmmm, really not sure about this" but by the time they got to Lisbon and the screen started exploding with colour at regular intervals I had very much done a 180. I'm pleased I watched it on the big screen because many of the shots leave you gaping at the screen in wonder. This is an absolute feast for the eyes - and not least because a fully nude Emma Stone goes for it in just about any sexual position you could imagine!

But while I say that in jest, the sex is a strength of the film and is played as much for comedy, arguably more so, than to titillate the audience. It's a movie about someone learning how the world works, piece by piece, so sex is obviously a huge part of that. It's about questioning social norms, structures and hypocrisies. So it's very fitting the film takes such a broad and liberal view of the human race's oldest pastime. It's seen it described as a sex-comedy. I don't disagree with that, but the comedic aspects of those moments play on our in-built discomfort with what has traditionally been a taboo subject outside of closed doors.

Emma Stone, after she gets out of her tantrum-throwing toddler stage of the performance, is incredibly charming as she always is. William Defoe plays his part to a tee. But, and kinda similar to Barbie in this regard, it's a supporting male costar in a production which revolves around a female lead who (almost) steals the show. Without wishing to give away too much, Mark Ruffalo runs the gambit from pompous to pathetic and is going for it 100 per cent every time he's on screen. He's just brilliant.

It is over two hours long and shouldn't necessarily be. It does drag in the middle with the chapter aboard the boat, which isn't entirely necessary in itself and certainly goes on for too long, but the shots at sea were those which I marvelled at the most, so I can forgive the movie for taking its time here.

I don't tend to rewatch many movies these days, but when I do I end up sticking them on 5, 6, 7, 8 times in the span of a few months. I can see Poor Things being one of those when it comes to streaming.

 

6 - One Life

I knew I would like this film when, in the very early stages, the younger Nicky Winton makes a series of phone calls. It's cuts to two or three times where he's trying to get his point across but the unseen character on the other end hangs up - and it wasn't followed by a dial tone! There are so many Hollywood and TV directors who should take note of that and dispense with one of the oddest cliches there is on screen.

While I'm kidding (to an extent, it does irrationally annoy me), I think that attention to small detail is what helps make the movie as good as it is. It packs so much story into its tighter-than-tight one hour and 40 minutes, but at no point do you feel lost or not fully given the information to grasp the severity of the situation or the motivations/emotions of the leading characters. It could so easily have slipped into melodrama but, much like its main character, it remained restrained and didn't unnecessarily draw attention to itself. And speaking of which, props to Johnny Flynn for quickly allowing me to fully believe that he and Anthony Hopkins were playing the same man.

I was also really impressed with the structure of the film, which very much helped its pacing. It follows two timelines but didn't go with the common usage of doing five minutes here and then five minutes there and then back again. It cut it into chunks of varying sizes which made perfect sense for the story to flow seamlessly until you get to the emotional wave of an ending. (Needless to say, tears poured out of me in the cinema.)

It's an incredible real-life story and congratulations to James Hawes and the rest of the filmmakers for doing it justice.

 

Not even into February yet and I've got two films that I'll be hugely surprised if they aren't in my top 10 at the end of the year. Adding to that, I saw Godzilla Minus One as the last film at the cinema before Poor Things, so it's a helluva run I'm on right now.

[What Was The Last Movie You Watched?]

4 - Godzilla Minus One

How to Have Sex was my favourite movie released in 2023, but this might eclipse it. I'm a sucker for blockbuster movies done well and this fits that to a tee. Not only does it nail the action set-pieces, with every scene featuring Godzilla being just brilliant, including one right off the bat, but it also gets the emotional element just right. It's as much a war film as it is a disaster movie, with themes of PTSD, nationalism and family dynamics woven into the fabric of the story. The side characters were distinct and added their own charm. I was never bored when the giant dinosaur-like creature wasn't destroying cities or smashing through boats and I really cared about the fate of the protagonists as the movie reached its climax. If I see a more entertaining film in 2024 I'll be surprised.

[What Was The Last Movie You Watched?]

Had no idea this thread existed until now, but having looked back over the last couple of pages at the lengthy, knowledgeable and excellent reviews, I'm going to dive right in.

1 - Priscilla

As outlined in my above post, there was a lot to like about this film. It drew you in very quickly and kept hold of your attention for 2/3rds of the running time. But I felt the pacing was a bit off. The last act, in particular, felt very rushed and it's rare that I complain a movie should be 10-15 minutes longer, but I felt it needed a bit of time to let us care a bit more about the conclusion. I also don't know if it felt a little out of time with the reality and the message competing against each other. Through a 2024 lens, it's easy to see the patters of emotional abuse, the alienation, the fact that it just isn't worth it to be married to the most famous man in the world if he's going to treat you that way. But the film did a great job of pulling you into the time it was set, with perhaps the exception of exactly why Priscilla felt the way she did other than the initial infatuation. I also felt it just didn't quite fully work as a piece of drama, as it was light on the drama.

2 - The Squid and the Whale

Eventually got around to watching this after it felt like it was on my Netflix list forever. Again, similar to Priscilla, it was a film I looked at and appreciated for what it was but didn't feel the emotional connection that I wanted to from this type of story, and as a child of divorce I was surprised at how disconnected I was from it all. I guess, at the end of the day, I just didn't enjoy spending time with the characters, which I know is part of the point. They're all so completely wrapped up in their own shit after the break down of the marriage, which is exactly what happens in the midst of a traumatic life event like this, but they were all so awful to each other in their own way, with little redeeming qualities otherwise, that again I just didn't really care about any character arc. What I did appreciate, however, was how every line out of Jeff Daniels' mouth reminded me of Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums. Though it did just make me wish I was watching that movie instead, at times.

3 - Book of Love

Catch this on Sky Movies as I was flicking through. Truth be told, I only ended up watching it as my partner said "this is shite!" about five minutes in and I kept it on out of stubbornness as I felt it was too early to judge. (Funnily enough, despite saying she was heading for a shower five minutes later, she stayed and watched the rest of the film with me.) This is, almost objectively, a rubbish movie. If I see something so predictable the rest of this year I'll be surprised. I was even able to predict, beat by beat, exactly how it would end before we'd even reached halfway. But having said all that, I appreciated for what it was. It was a romcom that was purely about comfort. A decent amount of laughs, nothing in the way of distressing drama and characters who, although admittedly one-dimensional, didn't make me want to climb through the screen and punch them. The definition of a hangover movie for me.

I've got a review for Godzilla Minus One coming, but it's too good to type away about at 2.30am while I'm half-pished, so I'll leave that till next time. (Spoiler: I think it's f****ng brilliant)

[What Was The Last Movie You Watched?]

On 12/01/2024 at 10:29, accies1874 said:

3. Priscilla - Cinema

Not sure if this counts as a 2024 release here. A few places have it as being released in the UK on January 1st, but I'm pretty certain there were screenings before New Year. I'll go with Google though and put it as 2024. 

I really liked this. The plot kicks off immediately with Priscilla sitting in a diner before some guy asks her if she wants to go to a party at Elvis' gaff. I can sometimes find this a bit off-putting when they don't give you some necessary time getting to know the main character's normal life before it gets turned upside down, however it worked really well for me here as the first chunk of the film feels like a dream - a kind of fictionalised whirlwind romance between a star and a normie. It's clear that Priscilla thinks that being attached to Elvis gives her life value and she becomes lost when that's taken away from her, kind of like a drug. 

When she moves to Graceland with Elvis longer term, it becomes obvious that that whirlwind romance was just that. Life is suddenly much more boring (Coppola's speciality) and there are a bunch of visual things to indicate that she doesn't belong there. Firstly, she looks absolutely tiny compared to Elvis and his posse, who are perfectly empty characters, something that is drawn attention to when the maid comes into the room and is the only one in that scene to meet her at the same eye level. It also uses colour nicely to make Priscilla pop or blend into a frame, giving off the impression that she doesn't really belong there. There's one scene where Elvis destroys an old house in Graceland because it's bringing down the vibe, and Priscilla is, from what I remember, the only one wearing a white and black outfit which is the same colour scheme as the house's exterior, drawing a connection between her and this other thing that Elvis carelessly destroys once he's bored of it. I could be wrong about that but it sticks out in my mind. Finally, the cinematography gives a haziness to a lot of the interior scenes and strong backlighting through the windows, and Graceland itself is a gated place closed off to the world. These things made me think that Priscilla is both letting a world full of life pass her by to live this one with Elvis, and also that she's getting to experience a world that so many dream to experience - and it's really dull. I know those are kind of conflicting ideas, but they're the crux of Priscilla's development as she learns to forge her own path. I watched May December the night before I saw this and that's actually an interesting counterpoint depicting what could've happened to Priscilla if she stayed with Elvis. They're two really different films with completely different qualities, but they also link up well in terms of subject matter. 

I hadn't seen Jacob Elordi in anything until Saltburn, but I like the confident creepiness he has in both that and Priscilla. Again linking to May December, he gives off a slightly similar vibe to Charles Melton's character in that film; both of their lives have been greatly affected by their environments and that has bred these men who have the veneer of cocksureness but have a real immaturity bubbling underneath. Cailee Spaeny is, as far as I remember, in every single scene of the film, which is no mean feat given that she needs to both hold her own while blending into the superstardom of Elvis Presley. Both performances really worked for me, even if Elordi's accent reminded me a lot of Nic Cage in Raising Arizona. 

 

This is an excellent review and gave me a better appreciation of the film than I initially got out of it.

To be fair, I did respect it as a work of art and was impressed by how it was put together and the leading performances. But for me it was one of those films that you sit and quietly respect rather than be entertained by.

Sophia Coppola did a terrific job in bringing the story to the screen in the most true-to-life way possible and still making it entertaining enough across 110 minutes, but purely as a means of entertainment I was a little underwhelmed. But I concede that's down to my own preference when it comes to movies.

[Returning players - better or worse?]

14 hours ago, Tony Wonder said:

Up until the injury against Celtic Berra was miles better than his first spell IMO. And then unfortunately he was never the same after.

Berra was a genuine Scottish football POTY contender in the 2017-18 season. I'm convinced if the team weren't utter pants and limped to a sixth-place finish he would've got a nomination at the very least. For context, we finished 24 points behind an Aberdeen side that was maybe the best non-Old Firm side of the past decade but conceded only two more goals (37-39).

'If a comet was headed for earth, Christophe Berra would head it away' etc etc.

A real shame what became of him after the injury in that Celtic game. Even though it wasn't an ACL or Achilles, it clearly finished him as a player at the top-flight level, and I've barely seen an injury transform a player negatively so much this century.

As for the theme of this thread in general, Skacel was the first name which came to my head. A hero in his first spell, a proper club legend in his second. As someone already mentioned, that St Mirren game will forever stay with me. 1-0 down, reduced to ten men, win 5-2 because he scored a hat-trick FROM OUTSIDE THE BOX! Mental.

[Elgin City 23-24]

Hey everyone, hope you're all well. I'm looking for an Elgin City fan to come on a Patreon podcast to talk about their season so far. I wondered if anyone in here would be happy to stick their hand up or recommend someone for it?

(And before anyone says the ECFC Podcast, that account has us blocked on Twitter so doubt they'd be up for it  . No idea why. Each to their own, I guess.)

[A View From The Terrace.]

Hey everyone,

As you’ll know, I don’t post on here very often, but I’ve had a few drinks tonight while the wife snores loudly beside me on the couch so I thought, ‘what the hell?’.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who watches the show and especially those who recommend it to others and continue to champion it. I really don’t say this lightly but I thought tonight was one of the best shows we’ve done, which is why I broke my usual rule of not reading comments/forums (I truly believe in the old advice of ‘you should treat praise and criticism just the same’) to come on here and have a quick read.

And that’s it really. Without guys/girls like you the podcast wouldn’t exist and neither would the TV show, so I just wanted to express my gratitude for that.

Take care everyone.

Fowler x

[A View From The Terrace.]

Thanks to those that replied to my post.

While we’ve not intentionally taken our focus away from the main podcast, I’ll admit that sometimes we’re throwing ideas together at the last minute because we’re a bit busy. I’ve taken steps to make it easier for everyone on the pod to come up with a clear plan every episode. Hopefully this helps.

As for the different voices on the pod, I’m afraid this can’t really be helped. I’m a firm believer than three is better than two, but we’re not always able to get six across the two podcasts from our team of 13 (as incredible as that sounds) so outside help (Stevie, Jo) is required from time to time.

Glad to read someone say Monday’s was back to form and hopefully we’ll keep up that level.

Thanks again,

Craig F

[A View From The Terrace.]

10 hours ago, arab_joe said:

Living abroad, I haven't been able to keep up with the TV show. 

However, as a few others have mentioned, sadly the quality of the podcast is definitely falling... I really enjoyed it last season but some of the most recent installments have been pretty dull; and the few comments about the Simon Ferry podcast and about him being "washed up" just made me cringe.

Saw this post when I made my own.

For any listeners reading this, if you believe the standard of the pod is falling, can you give me some reasons why? And anything you'd like to see introduced?

Obviously we're a bit more stretched these days but I'd hate to think we're taking our eyes off the thing that got us to where we are.

Cheers

Craig F

[A View From The Terrace.]

Hi everyone,

Just a quick thank you for those who watch the show and listen to the podcast, and to ask you guys to vote in our Most Memorable Scotland matches poll? We'll be using this to start a top 50 countdown that will run on the free-to-air podcast all throughout this season and continue into next.

Here's the link - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSegjmrZHmbeVYQyBpuzAfcK2FTvTrm-eJ70-q0NmB-RXOnyZg/viewform?vc=0&c=0&w=1

And, in case anyone was wondering, "memorable" doesn't have to mean a positive result. You can also pick a match outwith your lifetime if you think it deserves to get in the top 50.

Thanks again,

Craig F

[The East Fife Thread]

Terrace Podcast interview with Lee Murray.