What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[supermik]

We were Soldiers. 8/10. On UK Turks on the Kodi.

From back in the day when Mel Gibson could hardly put a foot wrong. Saw it years ago on VHS when it first arrived in the local video shop. Good to watch it again as I had forgotten a great deal of it. Plenty of blood and guts. The battle scenes easily rival the start of Saving Private Ryan for me.

[Co.Down Hibee]

Central Intelligence (SKY)

The Rock and Kevin Hart in fine form here,one of those films that you can feel how much they are enjoying making it. A big dumb Saturday night movie .8/10

 

 

[Christophe]

(93)

Without Warning 7/10

Three asteroids hit Earth - one in the US, one in France and one in China.  Coincidences and a serious of odd events means this could be more than it seems...Done in the style of a rolling newscast, this is a TV movie that isn't considered to be great. But I saw it in the mid-90s and it's stayed with me and I watched it again this week. Some of the news anchors are real and a lot of the main cast are reasonably well known (the mum from Malcolm ITM, Phillip Baker Hall!, John De Lancie aka Q from Star Trek).

Scientists argue that these asteroids were guided by an intelligent force. Whether they were or not plays out well with the continual criss-crossing of narrative between sites, newsrooms, NASA and the studio and while it's not plausible as stuff, the narrative is really well handled IMO. Business picks up as more asteroids are heading, which the US decides to obliterate with nuclear warheads.

An old-fashioned morality play in many respects and there are nods to Shakespeare in the story of humanity doomed by its own folly and ego. Relevant now to a certain extent! Not for everyone but I think the style works great and the lead (who is a non-actor) is very strong as the paternal but neutral journalist

On YT in full 

[Christophe]

(94-97)

I Am Not Your Negro 7.5/10

Basically an essay turned into a doco, very good, could NOT be more still highly relevant about what a total bunch of c***s white america is of course. (cinema)

Raw 7.5/10

" When shown on Gothenburg Film Festival, several attendants in the audience fainted and vomited. Over 30 people left the cinema prematurely and they had to take a break in the middle of the movie due to all the turmoil."

Pwopa nutty this, not sure about literally fainting but some bits were pretttty grim. Definitely makes you think twice about becoming a vegetarian. (Torrent)

Let Us Prey 9.5/10

Scottish horror. Shit title, awesome horror. Definitely recommended. (Netflix)

The Shallows 3.4/10

Really crap film with Blake Lively fighting a shark for 90mins, co-star  is a seagull. The only reason I stuck with it is because I found I'm really into the ripped-to-shreds wetsuit look on shapely womens. (Sky)

[Ira Gaines]

The Shallows got a load of good reviews. Bored the shit out of me.

Good shout on Prey.

[Co.Down Hibee]

Nightcrawler (iPlayer)

Really good stuff from Jake Gyllnehall as the ultra creepy cameraman, brilliant performance,from him. 8/10 

[Christophe]

(98-100)

Lion 7/10

Amazing performance from the little kid, how do they get little kids to act, must be just telling him exactly what to do and what their face should should look like which is what I always imagined the directors job is. When the film ended I made sure my kid knew the name of the town she lived and her mum's name (torrent)

Fast and Furious 8 4/10

The single most ridiculous thing I've ever sat through. The good ridiculous could have had it at 10/10 but the bad ridiculous could have been zero! (cinema)

Graduation 8/10

This was well good this, Romanian film about people doing shit and then getting into trouble and that (cinema)

[Tommy Nooka]

I went on a bit of movie binge yesterday as I was off work with a bad back and wanted to move as little as possible -

Hell Or High Water (Amazon Prime) - This was a very good modern western with great performances from Chris Pine, Jeff Bridges and Ben Foster. The plot is really quite simple, a couple of brothers rob banks in west Texas to stop the banks from reclaiming their family land and a pair of old Texas Rangers are on their trail.
It's straightforward but very watchable mainly due to some brilliant cinematography and the terrific cast, Pines best performance imo. 8/10.

The Young Offenders (Netflix) - Really enjoyed this one in spite of its low brow humour and plot. A couple of Irish juvenile delinquents come up with a plan to acquire millions of euros worth of cocaine from the coast where drug smugglers have ditched a massive haul. The humour isn't particularly deep and there really isn't much of a plot other than a 'road trip' but the 2 young lads are just incredibly likable and there are some very funny set pieces. It's also short so doesn't outstay it's welcome. 7.5/10

I Don't Feel at Home In This World Anymore (Netflix) - A quirky Netflix indie movie with Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood. A woman has her house burgled and frustrated by the lack of action by the police takes it upon herself to find the culprits. A darkly comic film with some severe tonal shifts at times and great performances from the leads, particularly Woods oddball martial arts loving rocker. Well worth watching if you fancy something a little bit different. 7.5/10

 

[Ira Gaines]

Watched Pontypool again. Fucking great movie. The weird final act takes away from it but it's an easy 8/10

[BFTD]

Alien: Covenant - was OK for a film that's, what, eight instalments in at this point? Lots of nods to the first two films, both thematic and more obvious repetition of dialogue, which is something that's started to annoy me a little in recent years. Some decent scenes involving the aliens, most of which have sadly been spoiled by the advertising, as usual. I couldn't decide whether or not the new proto-Aliens looked good or not, but there's certainly some dodgy CGI on the go - considering I'd read that the aliens were being done with practical effects, it would appear that there was a 'The Thing' style layering of CG over the top, and it's a bit distracting as it doesn't look 'real'.

The film's not a patch on the first two, obviously, and I found it less interesting than Prometheus (for all its flaws) for the spoilerific reasons outlined below.

Spoiler

Prometheus was all about the search for the Engineers and the origins of humanity. That plot thread seems to have received the blame for Prometheus' poor reception, as it's been dropped entirely for this film. Though it's unclear exactly whose decision it was, the ship we see leaving at Prometheus' conclusion simply drops massive amounts of the biological weapon onto the Engineers' homeworld, killing all animal life. Case closed.

David, the Fassbender android, is much less interesting in this one, having switched from dabbling in amorality to having a full-blown genocidal grudge against humanity. The switcheroo between himself and the Walter android is also one of the most obvious plot twists I can remember seeing, using the old 'cut-away-before-the-end-of-the-fight' tactic that's been used hundreds of times in the past. I'd have been happy enough with the ending if they'd found a less transparent and lazy way of doing it.

Overall, it seems like the explanation for the Alien species is going to be that mankind unintentionally created them itself, through the search for the Engineers and poor husbandry of artificial intelligence. It's pretty standard flagellation of the human race that we've seen many times elsewhere; it would have been nice to see a more inventive idea.

...so my obligatory Alien chart now reads:

1. Alien
2. Aliens
3. Prometheus
4. Alien 3
5. Alien: Covenant
6. Aliens vs Predator
7. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem
8. Alien: Resurrection

[Shandon Par]

Mystic River

This had passed me by as the title made me think it was going to be some weepy romance. Turns out it was a Clint Eastwood directed adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel. I've been reading them all recently so the film caught my interest.

Eastwood's style is very straightforward. There's not really any music, just lots of strong acting, deep characters, solid plot. . just well crafted. Some crazy Boston accents and Sean Penn being a Sean Penn.

8/10

[Christophe]

(101-102)

David and Goliath 3/10

On Netflix, not sure if it's been released previously or a straight-to-Netflix, hadn't heard of it before.  Biblical epic. Rubbish. At the beginning the slaughtered lamb looks worse than the sheep in Rambo III - Fist of Furious Vengeance. It's a bit homo-erotic too and not in a good way. Not a spoiler as everyone knows what happens to Goliath but literally the closing shot is the stone hitting him on the forehead and him falling to the ground. That's it! Dreadful but has muscled men in skirts running around so 3 points for that

The Happiest Day In The Life of Olli Makki 7.5/10

B&W Finnish film shot in (I think) 16mm to recreate the era it was set (1962) about a real life Finnish boxer who took on the Featherweight champion of the world (Davey Moore). Really good. (Curzon Home Cinema)

 

Edited May 18, 2017 by Christophe

[Hedgecutter]

Back from the cinema after watching Mindhorn.

Classic British-type comedy in a similar way to Hot Fuzz. Nothing particularly complicated, just a couple of hours of rather good comedy. 7/10

[babu]

 

 

Chico Xavier

     A biopic of the famous (in Brazil) medium.      on DVD  /subtitles

Very uplifting, well made , great acting & a few twists.

Chico Xavier  was voted as 'person of the Century', in the state of Minas Gerais. Ahead of popular ex president Kubitschek -  who founded Brasilia & world famous footballer Pele !

They even honored him with a commemorative stamp:

 

He was famous for psychography , what we call automatic writing. Published 400 books & gave all the money to charity.

I've read a handful of those books  that have so far been translated. They are superior works,  from a person who had no education to speak of.

 

Edited May 19, 2017 by babu

[killiepiemuncher]

 
 
Chico Xavier
     A biopic of the famous (in Brazil) medium.      on DVD  /subtitles
Very uplifting, well made , great acting & a few twists.
Chico Xavier  was voted as 'person of the Century', in the state of Minas Gerais. Ahead of popular ex president Kubitschek -  who founded Brasilia & world famous footballer Pele !
They even honored him with a commemorative stamp:

 
He was famous for psychography , what we call automatic writing. Published 400 books & gave all the money to charity.
I've read a handful of those books  that have so far been translated. They are superior works,  from a person who had no education to speak of.
 

Lardeedarr look at you, all art housie.

[Christophe]

(103)

Beauty and the Beast 7/10

Bill Condon (Twilight, Dream Girls, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh) live-action take on Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont book. A film very much defined by its extensive use of CGI. Available in 2D and 3D, it's currently the 11th highest grossing film of all time

(cinema)

 

Edited May 19, 2017 by Christophe

[Christophe]

(104)

Clash 7/10

Set during the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood protests in 2013 all the action takes place in one prisoner van. The occasional stylistic inconsistency aside it was impressive stuff, well worth catching (torrent)

[Brummie Clyde]

Watching 'The Void'. 

It feels very much like an 80s horror; elements of The Thing, Event Horizon and maybe The Keep.

Good so far anyway.

[Scary Bear]

Trainspotting 2

I'm not sure what mark to give this. Might have to watch it a couple more times.

I liked the way the backdrops showed the changes that have happened in the last 20 years, such as wind turbines. I liked the scenes shot about Edinburgh and especially up Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Craggs.

In general it was a good watch but there wasn't much of a spark. I can empathise with that. The characters were supposed to be young and nuts in Trainspotting and now they are old and jaded by life.

I think I liked it, but it'll need another couple of viewings to decide.

[tongue_tied_danny]

Mindhorn

Utterly silly but pretty entertaining.

7/10