What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Nomadland 2/10 plotless pish.

[Flybhoy]

Just watched 'Rules of Engagement"... a USA military/courtroom drama from 2001, surprisingly a film ive never got round to watching before despite it being one of the genre of films that appeals to me and includes a stellar cast, Samuel L Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones are fantastic as always and Guy Pearce is excellent as the intensely dislikeable prosecution lawyer.

A very enjoyable watch, not too sure it has enough of a 'wow' factor that it would make my list of films I can watch several times over, possibly because it does feel a bit like you are watching essentially a remake of A Few Good Men, just with a different cast and a few storyline tweaks... SLJ comes close to Jack Nicholson's 'You can't handle the truth' courtroom explosion when pushed to the limit by Guy Pearce, much in the way Tom Cruise does, this is clearly deliberately scripted and feels a bit cliched and obvious, although the two actors execute the scene brilliantly though truth be told. 

8/10 a very enjoyable, riveting watch but just falls a wee bit short of all time classic for me  

[NotThePars]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) dir. Gareth Edwards

Rewatched this for the first time since I saw it in the cinema and it's still class. A good old-fashioned war movie where a cast of characters get introduced, pull off an improbable suicide mission and die at the end. The insurgency scenes in the middle are better than any number of crap Iraq War movies and the big hurrah at the end manages to establish stakes and provide enough excitement despite it being a foregone conclusion. The movie also does a lot to characterise Vader more effectively as a brooding, angry and malicious figure in about 5 minutes of screen-time as well as having a movie villain who finally has a relatable motivation namely his desperation to get that employee of the month award. Had to laugh at how quickly it all gets wrapped up though. Wham bam thank you ma'am in about 5-10 minutes at the end complete with another dodgy CGI insert. 

Maybe once enough of the nerds learn to wrap it and the stink from Rise of Skywalker dissipates we might get another decent Star Wars movie like this. 

8/10

[sfha]

Woman in the window

A Netflix effort, starting off as a kind of Rear Window remake, in reality a hotchpotch of multiple film plots that crashes into a mess.

[Ira Gaines]

46 minutes ago, sfha said:

Woman in the window

A Netflix effort, starting off as a kind of Rear Window remake, in reality a hotchpotch of multiple film plots that crashes into a mess.

There's a moment at the start where Rear Window is actually on a screen and it's never good for me to start from a position of "f**k this movie".

[Mr. Brightside]

The Woman in the Window is complete and utter dross which draws (unsuccessfully) from about 5 different films. However the thing that struck me most about it was just how weird and off everything seemed.
Not one actor puts in a good performance, every interaction on screen is full of weird hammy dialogue, facial expressions  and characters just acting completely bizarre. It must be something to do with the edits because some sections of dialogue/interaction just seem to completely stop or change direction without any warning.
The plot is just meh, the pacing all over the place and I understand that Anna is supposed to be dealing with serious psychological issues, but at times she acts like the most stupid person in the world. For instance, when somewhat inexplicably everyone is in her house at one point, it is revealed she went into her own basement where her tenant was living which leads to the obvious question of "why were you down there?" and instead of telling the literal truth "I was looking for my cat and heard a meow from down there" she says nothing at all, weird. This wasn't the only instance of stupid behaviour from her.
And don't get me started on Ethan and his terrible acting and bizarre interactions with Anna near the start of the film.
Also what was with the female detective being a complete and utter c**t for absolutely no reason to Anna from the moment they first interacted.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Mr. Brightside

[Ira Gaines]

A couple of the editing choices literally made me burst out laughing. The blood spatter one was a real highlight. One of my favourite bits of the movie.

I actually thought Wyatt Russell turned in a decent performance. His was the only one I bought into. Amy Adams was TERRIBLE which surprised me.

[Mr. Brightside]

2 minutes ago, Andre Drazen said:

A couple of the editing choices literally made me burst out laughing. The blood spatter one was a real highlight. One of my favourite bits of the movie.

I actually thought Wyatt Russell turned in a decent performance. His was the only one I bought into. Amy Adams was TERRIBLE which surprised me.

The editing was choppy as f**k and the pace really suffered as a result I think.
That's fair enough actually Russell I will give pass marks to, but Adams and Oldman should be collecting Razzies for their performances here.

[Ira Gaines]

Oldman going full ham was a delight. I mean... he was shit, but at least he kept me happy.

Wyatt Russell added genuine unease at times which was the only time the movie really managed it.

[Ira Gaines]

If I'm putting a rating on it, it's 4/10 because I'm not going thumbs in the middle or up but I can easily see myself watching this again for a multitude of reasons.

[BFTD]

House III: The Horror Show (Blu-Ray) - improbably successful serial killer (Brion James) is caught by troubled cop Lance Henriksen and executed, only to somehow return and haunt his nemesis. One of those sequels that has nothing to do with the others in the series, and was clearly made to be a standalone release.

This was one of the first films I saw on the fledgling Sky Movies channel, back when it was actually worth paying for (although this isn't the best advertisement). Produced by Sean "Friday the 13th" Cunningham, it's a film that takes a lot of inspiration from his old mate Wes Craven's films, like Nightmare on Elm Street and Shocker, and tries its hardest to be as gruesome as mainstream US cinema was allowed to get at the time.

The effect is that the film is unintentionally goofy as f**k, with a rollicking OTT performance from Brion James, quality support from an absolutely ripped Henriksen (who spends half the film topless, with light glinting off his rippling, muscled torso), and perhaps the most annoying teenage boy character this side of The Visit. Nice work from actors like Dedee Pfeiffer too, whose character is raped off-camera at one point and seemingly gets over it really fast like it ain't no thang.

It's not a good film, but solid gold if you're a fan of daft horror with plenty of laughs (intentional and otherwise). Lot of fun revisiting it with BigFatTabbyBoy, who noticed that there are gay undertones to the whole thing, which adds an extra level when you watch it assuming that Brion James is just trying to eliminate everything stopping him from getting in to sexy Lance Henriksen's pants.

[Paul Kersey]

Fiddler on the Roof

Epic musical about a Jewish man in early 20th Century Ukraine who is torn between the wishes of his family and the traditions of his faith. 

This is really well acted and entertaining. 

9/10

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Fiddler on the Roof
Epic musical about a Jewish man in early 20th Century Ukraine who is torn between the wishes of his family and the traditions of his faith. 
This is really well acted and entertaining. 
9/10

Absolutely love this. A proper musical, with a proper overture, and even an interval. I can only think this was as an attempt to make a night at the cinema as like a night at the theatre as possible. Oliver! has the same set up - and is also a great musical. They've both been on my by box for over a year, as even just having the songs on in the background makes the day better. Tradition!

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Shaun the Sheep in Farmageddon. Don't judge me. I love the Aardman studio's output, and this is one of their best. Just delightful from start to finish. (Amazon Prime Video) Nine from me.

[Ira Gaines]

6 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

Shaun the Sheep in Farmageddon. Don't judge me. I love the Aardman studio's output, and this is one of their best. Just delightful from start to finish. (Amazon Prime Video) Nine from me.

Both Shaun the Sheep movies are an absolute delight. 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

Both Shaun the Sheep movies are an absolute delight. 

Both? Not counting the Farmer's Llamas?

[BFTD]

I've no idea about Shaun the Sheep, but I'll admit that I enjoyed the wean's Timmy Time phase, which I believe is related to StS.

The last couple of Timmy Time DVDs may have been purchased after he'd started to grow out of it  

[Ira Gaines]

12 minutes ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

26 minutes ago, Andre Drazen said:

Both Shaun the Sheep movies are an absolute delight. 

Both? Not counting the Farmer's Llamas?

What's this now?

[WhiteRoseKillie]

What's this now?

Farmer comes back from sales with a couple of llamas with split personalities, and much hilarity ensues, often at Bitzer's expense.
(Spoiler Alert) our woolly hero sorts it out in the end.
ETA: there's actually three of the camelid pranksters.

[Paul Kersey]

1 hour ago, WhiteRoseKillie said:

2 hours ago, Paul Kersey said:

Fiddler on the Roof
Epic musical about a Jewish man in early 20th Century Ukraine who is torn between the wishes of his family and the traditions of his faith. 
This is really well acted and entertaining. 
9/10

Absolutely love this. A proper musical, with a proper overture, and even an interval. I can only think this was as an attempt to make a night at the cinema as like a night at the theatre as possible. Oliver! has the same set up - and is also a great musical. They've both been on my by box for over a year, as even just having the songs on in the background makes the day better. Tradition!

It was the first time that I'd seen it. The three hours just flew in. Like you say the music is good and it has made me want to check out some authentic Klezmer music.

The only other film that I can think of with an intermission is Tora Tora Tora. It works well there, kinda builds up the tension before Pearl Harbour is attacked.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Paul Kersey