What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[accies1874]

16. Licorice Pizza (2021)* - Cinema

Finally got to see it. Hanging out in this film with these characters is enjoyable. It lingers on a lot of moments which is often really pleasant, and the two leads are terrific, really buying into that youthful immaturity, lashings of anger and the contentedness and frustration of being in each other's company. That said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't become a bit repetitive being dropped into one too many similar scenario. It wasn't a massive problem at the time, but I'm wondering now how the film would be without one or two of those moments and situations. What would it lose? I accept that it more than deserves a rewatch though - all his films do. 

A lot of the plot points are bizarre, somewhat unrealistic, which along with the cinematography (especially at the 35mm screening) added up to the film feeling like someone  looking upon a life that may not actually reflect the reality of events. A nostalgic yearning for how we think youth played out, or maybe wish it played out. A lot of it is like a teen summer hangout movie with Alana dropped in and she doesn't quite know how to feel about that. 

17. The Shape of Water (2018) - Channel 4

There's a new Del Toro out so I've been watching and rewatching a few of his others. This is his Best Picture winner for the majority of you who have probably already forgotten, and it's got some really great elements (score, production and costume design and cinematography), a good lead performance, a multi-genre narrative and some ideas that were relevant when it's set, when it was released and are relevant now.

So why was I bored for much of it?

18. Pacific Rim (2013)* - Netflix & 19. Crimson Peak (2015)* - Film4

Combining these two as I have pretty much the same thing to say about them. 

Wasn't a big fan of either but what makes Del Toro admirable is that he's more than happy to venture into almost schlock/pulp stories and give them the same respect he would his Oscar-winning stuff. Tbf I'm not sure he intended for Crimson Peak to be considered that way, but it has all the twists and melodrama of a classic sensational Gothic romantic drama (with a blend of good horror elements) that naturally brings about ridiculousness - so many of them are daft! With Pacific Rim, he takes big, stupid monster/robot bashing and completely commits to the grandiose fights and huge scale as well as that lore shit that losers care about. I don't know why it was lit like... that, though. 

20. The Devil's Backbone (2001) - DVD

I watched this during one of the lockdowns but couldn't remember much about it. HOW?

This is fucking great. A tale that blends coming of age with mortality and lets child actors lead the way - in fact, they make it all work thanks to their childhood innocence effectively on a timer with the war going on around them and death that they're not yet aware of. There are some big themes that could've been trite if not told in a wonderfully put together film. 

It effortlessly sets things up in plain sight that lead into moments later in the script. Stuff that you don't think about at the time but are impressed by when it links into the story later on. It's got a cool look too, pretty much using three dominant colours with quite impactful flashes of red. Even the simple effects on the ghost are impressive. 

[UpInTheAyr]

The 355.

Looking at the stacked cast you would think this would be worth a watch. You would be wrong. Awful script, awful acting, awful action scene. As generic a spy/action film as you can get.

[J_Stewart]

Just watched Boiling Point on Prime, and it is very, very good. One shot throughout, Stephen Graham plays the head chef who’s just started in his own restaurant with not everything going to plan either personally or professionally. As per usual, his performance is fucking incredible. No one does angry, apologetic, intense, vulnerable in a single character better than Graham, one of the absolute best actors around.

The way it’s shot, coupled with the performances and the story itself make it tense from the very first moment to the very last. An easy 7 out of 10 on the Uncut Gems scale of movie relentlessness. Well worth a trip to the cinema, or the tenner to rent it at home.

[Shandon Par]

The Power of the Dog

Netflix’s algorithms tick various boxes marked “Oscar judges will like this”. Just felt a bit cynical. Or maybe that’s just me being cynical?

[MSU]

006 -- Parallel Mothers. Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar's latest effort. The audience realize what its secrets far far earlier than any character in the movie so the events that contrive to push Cruz's Janis, and fellow new mother Ana together are nowhere near as satisfying or interesting as the secondary storyline of confirming the fate of Janis's great-grandfather during the Spanish Civil War. Cruz's performance and some delicious looking plates of food make it just about worth a gander. 5/10

Edited January 30, 2022 by MSU

[Detournement]

There is only one Boiling Point as far as I'm concerned. 

 

[MSU]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

^^^How many spoilers can I fit into 100 words type post. 

You're absolutely right. It was late. I wasn't thinking. I'll redact.

[welshbairn]

2 minutes ago, MSU said:

You're absolutely right. It was late. I wasn't thinking. I'll redact.

[Mark Connolly]

14 minutes ago, MSU said:

You're absolutely right. It was late. I wasn't thinking. I'll redact.

A bit late now you've told everyone Bruce Willis was Keyser Soze all along tbh

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

A bit late now you've told everyone Bruce Willis was Keyser Soze all along tbh

It was Brad Pitt's head being in the box at the end of Fight Club that really ticked me off.

[NotThePars]

As an aside one of my favourite 30 Rock jokes is when Tracey Morgan says "I finally understand the end of the Sixth Sense! All those names were the people who worked on the movie."

[8MileBU]

Spider-Man: No Way Home

My wee lassie is right into Marvel just now and been champing at the bit to see this for weeks. I only half paid attention to it so I ain’t gonna critique it. 
 

Rucker (The Trucker): 

Probably would never even have heard of this movie if I hadn’t read on Blabbermouth that Slipknot’s Corey Taylor had a part in it.

A lot of pish.

[Fullerene]

10 hours ago, BFTD said:

It was Brad Pitt's head being in the box at the end of Fight Club that really ticked me off.

I was really enjoying watching the World at War until somebody told me who won it.

Spoiler

.. but I am not telling you.

 

[coprolite]

Sing 2

Anthropomorphic singing animals blag a high budget musical production. 

Quite entertaining despite having Bono in it. By the numbers but made great use of the animated format for the visuals. 

Highlights were mercury rev on the soundtrack and the shy elephant doing "say a little prayer".  Bono's voice acting was probably the worst i've ever heard. He should stick to eradicating global poverty. 

Wolves get unfairly maligned, again. 

7/10

[accies1874]

21. Nightmare Alley (2022) - Cinema

Nah. 

Cool sets and costume design as always, but just way too baggy for me and takes some good things and surrounds them with boredom. It never really felt like it was building towards anything and seemed pointlessly meandering, but it actually almost tied things together at the end. The journey just wasn't worth it for me. Around 45/50 minutes in I thought "right here we go, the setup's done and we're into the meaty stuff" and while kinda yeah, also very much no. 

22. Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - DVD

A pretty much perfect film? Yes, most likely. Del Toro really does love setting his stuff against the backdrop of war without, as far as I remember (and have seen), actually doing a full-on war film. I think that tends to provide a nice way to juxtapose the fantasy that he loves with the constant reminder of suffering and violence that also loves. I'm not a nerd so don't know about history but I'm sure the films will tie in with commentary on the wars too. With Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone, he's actually made me want to look into the Spanish Civil War a bit, not because I'm all that interested but because I think it might help me get even more out of those two, especially with Pan's Labyrinth which feels more thematically linked to it. 

So what makes it so great for someone who knows nothing about the war?

You've got a setting that manages to feel completely grounded in reality while also being a classic fairytale home and shot beautifully. Those constant shot transitions where the camera moves behind an object and then comes out the other end at a different angle give off a magical yet prying vibe, especially in the forest scenes. 

It makes some different decisions compared to other films of its kind, too, that I think makes it stand out more. DT probs made them to be more miserable, to give that grounding of reality to escape from which leads into the whole propaganda and blind faith aspects of the story. The faun being so unsettling (to me, anyway) plays up to that too, as does not really narratively linking the war and the fantasy as far as I remember. Ofelia is the only real bridge between the two despite the setting and other elements being very fairytale-like (dead parent, wicked stepparent, potions, evil in power) but they're very passive in each other's world. 

You really do spend a lot of the film with Mercedes in the real-life side of things and there's a lot more of that than I remembered and much less fantasy. 

23. The Million Pound Note (1954) - Film4

Spreads its premise thin after the opening 25 minutes but I suppose it has some funny moments as a result of it. I don't know why everyone thought Gregory Peck was poor as he was just dressed like a middle-aged middle-class man of today. 

[BFTD]

The Spy Who Loved Me (DVD) - Bond buggers off to the Mediterranean after nuclear submarines start disappearing on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and naturally Britain's top shagabout is required to sort it all out, with the help of his Russian counterpart (an attractive ladyperson, obviously).

Bit disappointed, as I remember this being one of Roger Moore's best, but we're getting into derivative territory now and I think I preferred TMWTGG, TBH. Even the underwater car was a bit of a letdown. Still, some absolutely gorgeous ladies to act as set dressing, and Jaws is legitimately badass. It's passable enough. Nice opening song sung by Carly Simon, but we're getting more into the sweeping romantic themes now instead of the bombastic action tunes, and former were never as good.

I've warned the wean that it's downhill from here for a while. I remember some of Moore's later films being stinkers.

[Mark Connolly]

4 hours ago, BFTD said:

The Spy Who Loved Me (DVD) - Bond buggers off to the Mediterranean after nuclear submarines start disappearing on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and naturally Britain's top shagabout is required to sort it all out, with the help of his Russian counterpart (an attractive ladyperson, obviously).

Bit disappointed, as I remember this being one of Roger Moore's best, but we're getting into derivative territory now and I think I preferred TMWTGG, TBH. Even the underwater car was a bit of a letdown. Still, some absolutely gorgeous ladies to act as set dressing, and Jaws is legitimately badass. It's passable enough. Nice opening song sung by Carly Simon, but we're getting more into the sweeping romantic themes now instead of the bombastic action tunes, and former were never as good.

I've warned the wean that it's downhill from here for a while. I remember some of Moore's later films being stinkers.

Agent XXX is one of the most stunning Bond girls there has ever been. Ringo Starr is a jammy b*****d

[Detournement]

On 26/01/2022 at 20:02, accies1874 said:

16. Licorice Pizza (2021)* - Cinema

Finally got to see it. Hanging out in this film with these characters is enjoyable. It lingers on a lot of moments which is often really pleasant, and the two leads are terrific, really buying into that youthful immaturity, lashings of anger and the contentedness and frustration of being in each other's company. That said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't become a bit repetitive being dropped into one too many similar scenario. It wasn't a massive problem at the time, but I'm wondering now how the film would be without one or two of those moments and situations. What would it lose? I accept that it more than deserves a rewatch though - all his films do. 

A lot of the plot points are bizarre, somewhat unrealistic, which along with the cinematography (especially at the 35mm screening) added up to the film feeling like someone  looking upon a life that may not actually reflect the reality of events. A nostalgic yearning for how we think youth played out, or maybe wish it played out. A lot of it is like a teen summer hangout movie with Alana dropped in and she doesn't quite know how to feel about that. 

 

I'll put my thoughts about this in spoiler tags

Spoiler

I went to see it again and I think that some of the episodes are fantasies.

After Gary gets jealous seeing Alana with Lance the next time we see them it's at the teenage business fair (WTF) and Alana is acting very out character flirting with Gary. Gary then gets arrested for murder for all of 20 minutes and one of the cops says 'Enjoy Attica' which an LA cop wouldn't say but a dumbass like Gary might imagine due to Attica being in the news.

Then after Alana gets jealous at the water bed party she goes home and lies in bed then we hear Sean Penn talking for a few seconds before a Kubrick Shining/Eyes Wide Shut fade into the audition scene. Nothing in the audition or the restaurant makes any sense and with Alana being compared to Grace Kelly by two different people it's obviously her fantasy. The maitre d' knowing that Gary and Alana are on bad terms also makes no sense (would Gary even know?).

The Jon Peters and Joel Wachs episodes aren't quite as clear cut but it seems like whenever there is running the film becomes less realistic.

 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Detournement

[BFTD]

36 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

Agent XXX is one of the most stunning Bond girls there has ever been. Ringo Starr is a jammy b*****d

If I'd read that a week ago, I'd be wondering when he hooked up with Vin Diesel.

[MONKMAN]

Pig.

Brilliant film and for all the shit he gets, Nicolas cage was outstanding. 

I really enjoyed this film. 

Edited January 31, 2022 by MONKMAN