What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Mark Connolly]

2 hours ago, BFTD said:

The Shining - Jack Nicholson gets driven mad by his drippy, clingy wife and tries to kill her. Seriously, she's such a PITA that the other guests at their hotel all leave, and she won't even leave the man alone to type a letter. Not sure what happens much other than that as I was drinking heavily, but the ending was a bit of a pisser.

The Sixth Sense

Kid hangs out with his psychiatrist. Never found out what was wrong.

[NotThePars]

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021) dir. uh, Zack Snyder

A deeply stupid monument to the power of posting. People love to defend comic books movies by calling them modern day adaptations of our civilisational myths but Zack Snyder is the only one who takes this belief seriously in his movie making. Combine that with his obvious affection for Ayn Rand and you end up with a deeply stupid if vaguely interesting movie with some well-worn but effective visual imagery that broadly conveys what he's trying to say. It's much better than Whedon's JL and seems to do his schtick better than he does. Agree with some other posters that he maybe has the benefit of hindsight but this movie does much better by Ray Fisher and makes it less apparent that the whole squad is useless without Supes (even if Snyder has problems with the big man and his moral compass that The Boys does with self-awareness.)

There's so many unintentionally hilarious moments in these movies not least of which is Batman swearing. 

7/10

Batman Begins (2005) dir. Chris Nolan

The original gritty 'realistic' action movie (I thought Casino Royale was before this but it wasn't) that attempts to make Batman work for the post 9/11 ultra serious media landscape. It totally succeeded and shaped movies and media for the next decade which is funny because in many ways this movie is maybe even more camp than the Tim Burton movies. Christian Bale's attempts to sound menacing are genuinely hilarious and parodied to death for the next decade and a half but even Cillian Murphy is hamming it up for half the film and is having a fun time. It was quite interesting to watch this after spending a week immersed in the pool of the post-Nolan DC movie sphere and seeing how two different reactionary but revered directors approach the source material as Nolan seems to have a lot of respect for the agreed understanding of Batman whereas Snyder Does Not. 

Another movie that was more funny when it wasn't attempting to be but still a very well-made movie even if Nolan cannae write non-expositional dialogue to save himself. 

6/10

[velo army]

20 hours ago, JustOneCornetto said:

Singin' In The Rain (1952)

I usually avoid musicals at all costs but having seen a few clips of this I thought I would watch it in full. It really is a fun film with so many great dance sequences. Gene Kelly is such an effortless dancer, so energetic and full of enthusiasm in his role, ably backed up by Debbie Reynold and Donald O'Connor.The iconic scene with Kelly dancing in the rain is the standout that's been imitated so many times. Great film.

9/10

I, on the other hand, love musicals and this might be the best one. Gene Kelly really is a captivating performer. The energy and chemistry between the three leads is palpable too and for a film that has so many big dance scenes none of them feel gratuitous or self indulgent. A truly joyful experience.

[JustOneCornetto]

Misery (1990)

Been so long since I last watched this that I'd forgoten a lot of the detail although I always remember the scene with Kathy Bates, a sledgehammer and James Cann's legs as it makes me wince even thinking about it. Easy to see why Bates won her Oscar and the film holds your attention as you wonder if Caan will ever get out alive.That final fight scene as well is pretty brutal and is really well done.

8.5/10

[NotThePars]

The Trial of the Chicago Seven (2020) dir. Aaron Sorkin

So this is really competently directed. Everything moves at that classic Sorkinesque butter-smooth and rapid pace. The dialogue is witty if often recycled, the characters are funny on occasion and have a lot of superficially smart things to say. The tension was ripe in the air and it could've gone either way right up to the credits. But there was something off. Something was wrong. The whole time I was watching I felt something was not quite right.

It turns out Aaron Sorkin is an insufferable liberal smart arse with a deep and desperate need to understand the dirtbag left and be loved by them.

I knew a little bit about the Trial of the Chicago 7 which turns out is more than Sorkin knew when Spielberg first said he should adapt the trial. He fully acknowledges he'd never heard of it, and after watching this, I'm not fully sure he ever did more than a superficial Wiki of the events. This whole movie is an incredibly obvious attempt by Sorkin to reconcile the fact that there's a significant chunk of the Democratic activist base who hate his politics and he wants them to both respect and like them which is why he shoves his hand up the arse of a coterie of famous 60s radicals who from the briefest glance of the transcripts are far smarter, wittier and more politically coherent than he can ever hope to be. 

It's all really disappointing because the source material is amazing and the actors do a generally great job in this. To contradict my opening take, it just needed anyone but Sorkin doing the directing or if he had to be involved then it needed to be heavily filtered through like Sorkin's writing was for the Fincher directed Social Network. As it stands it's just Aaron Sorkin writing fanfiction where Will Menaker, Amber Frost and Dan Bessner like and respect him.

The things that Sorkin changes to suit his demented political beliefs genuinely irritated me beyond being able to appreciate what was good about this

5/10. 

[BFTD]

Trauma - Chilean horror/thriller metaphor about the lasting effects of the fascist military regime. A group of young women on holiday find themselves under attack from a man who was indoctrinated by one of Pinochet's death squads.

Well, any film that starts with a young man being forced to rape his own mother while she's being executed is probably trying to send a message, and I think the message is "look how badass and nasty our film is". It doesn't come close to plumbing those kind of depths again, but there's a bit of rape and some very impressive practical gore effects, for those who are in to that kind of thing.

Unfortunately, the plot isn't very inspired, although it feels like there's a decent allegorical idea behind it all, but the implementation is poor. There's no real reason given for why the present-day events of the film kick off in the first place, nor why (apparently) the authorities have been aware that a madman has been killing people in a remote location for decades, but chose to do nothing about it. There are also several scenes where multiple people fire on a single stationary target and miss entirely, which just comes off as achingly lazy.

The cast do a decent job with what they're given, and the film's generally pretty well made, but it's let down badly by a lack of thought in the script department. Pity, as the idea that these kinds of horrors don't go away overnight is one worth exploring.

[Twinkle]

Promising Young Woman 8/10

Enjoyed this despite it not knowing which genre its supposed to be. Can be classed as a revenge drama but theres some really dark humour in it as well. Revolves around a woman who has a traumatic event earlier in her life and starts taking revenge on those who were involved

 

The Mauratanian 9/10

 

Jodie Foster plays a lawyer who is defending a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay. Benedict Cumberbatch plays the american army lawyer on the prosecution. The main character is played by Tahir Rahim who was excellent in the recently released The Serpent. All revolves around the 9/11 attacks and all the innocent people who were sent to GuatMo in the aftermath. Quite a shocking film which shows just how bad things were there with beatings, torture etc. How the yanks got away with this stuff is a disgrace

[Arch Stanton]

On 21/03/2021 at 18:23, Mark Connolly said:

The Sixth Sense

Kid hangs out with his psychiatrist. Never found out what was wrong.

The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl kills the first person she meets and then teams up with three strangers to kill again.

[stanton]

On 22/03/2021 at 18:16, JustOneCornetto said:

Misery (1990)

Been so long since I last watched this that I'd forgoten a lot of the detail although I always remember the scene with Kathy Bates, a sledgehammer and James Cann's legs as it makes me wince even thinking about it. Easy to see why Bates won her Oscar and the film holds your attention as you wonder if Caan will ever get out alive.That final fight scene as well is pretty brutal and is really well done.

8.5/10

Great film and a good book too 

[BFTD]

The Hole in the Ground - Irish chiller about a woman who begins to believe that her son has been replaced by a stranger.

Wasn't expecting much from this as the synopsis sounds like a bunch of other films, but the plot didn't quite go where I was expecting, and there's a nice atmosphere and tension throughout. Believable acting from all concerned too, and some really quite eerie shots. I liked it.

[Ira Gaines]

I went to see that at the cinema and LOOOOOVED it.

EDIT: Apparently it's a 9/10 from me.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Andre Drazen

[Ira Gaines]

I didn't want to include this in my previous edit as this bit of info probably deserves it's own space. The guy that directed The Hole in the Ground, Lee Cronin, his next movie is Evil Dead Rise. Which... yep. New Evil Dead movie. With deadites in a skyscraper.

[JustOneCornetto]

1922 (2017)

A Stephen King horror with an Edgar Allen Poe 'Tell Tale Heart' feel to it about a farmer who decides to kill his wife, with the help of his teenage son, so that he can keep the land she has inherited. Shortly after the deed is done strange and supernatural things start happening and lots of rats feature in those events.

7/10

 

[DA Baracus]

AWOL

7/10

Also known as 'Lionheart'. A Jean Claude Van Damme classic in which JCVD plays Leon, a French Foreign Legionnaire who, upon learning of his brother being gravely injured and hospitalised, asks to go to the US to be with him.

The Legion denies him this request, which is a poor decision. He batters a few of them then escapes to a boat that takes him to America. He thinks it docks in LA but it docks in NY. Skint, badly dressed and lost, he stumbles upon a fight under a bridge. After watching the victor get a stack of cash, he volunteers to be in the next fight. Obviously he knocks f**k out of the guy and draws the attention of a homeless dude, who becomes his manager.

The homeless dude is somehow well connected to a dreadful late 80s yuppie woman who is part of a lucrative underground fighting ring.

Leon wins a fight and gets the money to get to LA.

Alas, his brother has perished from his injuries and his brother's wife and daughter are in financial trouble. To support them financially, he must fight!

Some silly stuff but a classic JCVD film that follows the classic formula of some of his best films (i.e. he fights a load of folk in a tournament). Whilst there isn't quite a tournament here, Leon does work his way up the ranks until he faces off against the top fighter, Atilla.

[DA Baracus]

X-Men: Dark Phoenix 

4/10

Boring. So boring. Who were the aliens that were defeated so easily? Why should we care? We shouldn't, and nor should we care a single bit about anything in this film, especially given how little anyone involved cared.

A sad end to a decent series (especially the first two films, which were tremendous).

[Elric]

Watched The Father last night. Decent enough film if a little confusing at times but an outstanding performance bu Anthony Hopkins.  8/10

[YER SISTERS YER MAW]

Watched The Father last night. Decent enough film if a little confusing at times but an outstanding performance bu Anthony Hopkins.  8/10

Watched this last night as well. I'm the same and found it a bit confusing but I think that was the whole point, with the filmmakers wanting you to see it from the old man's perspective with his mind playing tricks on him. Have to agree that Hopkins put in a stellar performance.

[Mark Connolly]

12 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

X-Men: Dark Phoenix 

4/10

Boring. So boring. Who were the aliens that were defeated so easily? Why should we care? We shouldn't, and nor should we care a single bit about anything in this film, especially given how little anyone involved cared.

A sad end to a decent series (especially the first two films, which were tremendous).

It was arguably a worse attempt at the Dark Phoenix story than The Last Stand, and it was fucking dreadful. Sophie Turner also has the acting ability of a lamp post

[DA Baracus]

13 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

It was arguably a worse attempt at the Dark Phoenix story than The Last Stand, and it was fucking dreadful. Sophie Turner also has the acting ability of a lamp post

The Last Stand was at least fairly funny at times, even if that mostly unintentional.

Dark Phoenix is just so dull and plodding, with pretty much everyone phoning it in (except the massively wasted Jessica Chastain).

[jimmy boo]

Watched this last night as well. I'm the same and found it a bit confusing but I think that was the whole point, with the filmmakers wanting you to see it from the old man's perspective with his mind playing tricks on him. Have to agree that Hopkins put in a stellar performance.

I read a review somewhere which confirmed it was made that way to make the viewer connect with his condition.