DA Baracus Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 2 hours ago, scottsdad said: Don't worry. Batman and Robin is a true return to form and you'll love every second of it. It shall be tonight's viewing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I watched Chinatown the other day, which is class, but is the sequel any good ? The fact that it was made 16 years later has got me a bit dubious. Got myself a wee BFI subscription this week to broaden my viewing horizons this year. Started off with Pusher II as I'd watched the first before, but not the sequels. Big Mads is great and the film is an excellent example of what can be done with a small budget. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Slim Charles. said: I watched Chinatown the other day, which is class, but is the sequel any good ? The fact that it was made 16 years later has got me a bit dubious. Got myself a wee BFI subscription this week to broaden my viewing horizons this year. Started off with Pusher II as I'd watched the first before, but not the sequels. Big Mads is great and the film is an excellent example of what can be done with a small budget. Pusher II is amazing. It's my favourite Refn film. It's also maybe the only decent depiction of coke addiction i've seen on film. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Connolly Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 6 hours ago, Zetterlund said: Looking back at the Batman catalogue,, it completely escaped my brain that George Clooney did one. I'll have to revisit these older ones too now that I'm in the mood You won't regret watching Batman and Robin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squalor Vic Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 2 hours ago, Detournement said: Pusher II is amazing. It's my favourite Refn film. It's also maybe the only decent depiction of coke addiction i've seen on film. I actually quite liked Only God Forgives. Kinda swung for the fences a bit with it, admired him for that as he could have played it safer after Drive being such a success. Valhalla Rising is good too, much preferred it to The Northman from last year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squalor Vic Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 19 hours ago, DA Baracus said: Batman Forever . It's fucking nonsense mind, but managed to successfully stay on the right side of the line with it, unlike its successor. Talking of which, I may as well give it a view tomorrow since I've done the rest. Sigh. I rewatched all these in the past couple years too. I thought Batman Forever was abysmal but somehow... inexplicably...they made one worse. Tbh I couldn't finish Batman and Robin 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Squalor Vic said: I actually quite liked Only God Forgives. Kinda swung for the fences a bit with it, admired him for that as he could have played it safer after Drive being such a success. Valhalla Rising is good too, much preferred it to The Northman from last year. Only God Forgives is great as well and you have to hand it to Gosling for embracing NWR's depravity but the Pusher trilogy makes you feel like you are buying gear in a dodgy strippers in Copenhagen or Hamburg or Amsterdam and not many movies go there. I'm currently watching Copenhagen Cowboy and rewatching Too Old To Die Young so I'm Refn'd out my nut. TOTDY is incredible, it should not exist. Edited January 12, 2023 by Detournement 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) Batman and Robin War! This film declares multiple wars and commits numerous war crimes. Wars are declared on logic, comedy, Batman fans (Bane!), eyeballs and science, with physics being the most offended party. The Fast and Furious films would gasp at the audacity of the physics baiting in this film. Silly? Yes. Idiotic? Yes. A lurid fever dream of a film, flawed in every sense. There is surely no way this wasn't done on purpose. Surely no one read the script, saw the sets, read the plot, heard the dialogue, saw the costumes and saw cuts and decided this was not an outright assault on the senses of the prospective audience and an affront to god? In the very first scene we get a close up of the Batass and Batcrotch, both sheathed in the tight rubber of the most ludicrous Batman costume committed to screen (as well as the Robin equivalent, and later we get the female Batass along with the Battits and Batvadge). The tone you would think is set, but somehow it quickly gets even more ludicrous. There's a plethora of ridiculous gadgets Batman uses, from handy miniature bat shaped heaters to ice skates in his boots, and of course the infamous Bat credit card. The colour pallete is a full frontal attack on the retinas and all other parts of the ocular apparatus, firing bright gaudy primary colours all over the place like an early years school painting contest. The dialogue appears to have been written by a dog, a toddler or a brain damaged criminal. Possibly all three. There's stifling exposition that floats like icebergs amid a sea of quips and jokes, almost all of which will make your eyeballs roll out of your head from how lame they are or snap your toes from cringing. Mr Freeze alone makes over 30 quips/jokes in this film. The sound effects often seem like they been lifted directly from the Adam West series. All that's missing is the silly POW graphics. The characters are mostly played for laughs and ham it up more than a pig farm. Uma Thurman fires around the screen as if personally insulted and challenged by the Razzies selection committe in what should have been career hari kari. There's a scene where Poison Ivy chews the scenery whilst actually physically smashing up the scenery. Arnold Schwarznegger gurns through a performance that borders on mesmerising such is its breathtaking insanity. Calling it bad feels like calling World War 1 a minor land owner disagreement. George Clooney was an interesting choice for Bruce Wayne and threatens potential here. However, as Batman he was flatter than the Netherlands. Chris O'Donnell plays Robin as whiny and bordering on Amish in terms of naieveity, not to mention brashly moronic (or moronically brash?). Alicia Silverstone is..ok actually. Michael Gough, playing Alfred for the fourth time, is the only one who takes this film seriously, although he's sidelined by a dull illness side plot. Poor Bane.... I'm amazed this didn't instantly end the careers of all involved, from the stars (and it had A list actors), the director and right down to the fucking tea boys; all who were part of this travesty should still be serving time in prison after being immediately jailed following the film's premiere. An absolute lobotomy of a film. Edited January 13, 2023 by DA Baracus 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 But apart from that, quite good? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie S Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, Detournement said: Only God Forgives is great as well and you have to hand it to Gosling for embracing NWR's depravity but the Pusher trilogy makes you feel like you are buying gear in a dodgy strippers in Copenhagen or Hamburg or Amsterdam and not many movies go there. I'm currently watching Copenhagen Cowboy and rewatching Too Old To Die Young so I'm Refn'd out my nut. TOTDY is incredible, it should not exist. Too Old to Die Young is, along with Twin Peaks: The Return, one of my favourite ever TV shows. Almost no-one has seen it (it’s buried deep on Amazon Prime, and the streaming service did nothing to promote it) and some of those who started it, gave up early (it’s one of the most extreme examples of ‘slow TV’ ever made). It’s certainly worth sticking with it, as it unfurls at its own pace, leisurely but deadly, like a King cobra. Episode 5 ‘The Fool’ is probably the nastiest, darkest TV episode I’ve ever seen, and the slow motion car chase where the protagonist (played by Miles Teller) chases a pair of depraved pornographers, accompanied by the soundtrack of Barry Manilow’s ‘Mandy’ is a moment of unexpected genius. It’s a needle drop that just shouldn’t work, but it does, beautifully. Cliff Martinez’s pulsing electronic score for TOtDY is as sleek and effective as his scores for ‘Drive’ and ‘Only God Forgives’, and overall it’s an amazingly assured exercise in long-form TV. I’d love to see a second series, but, sadly, it’s never going to happen. Looking forward to immersing myself in Copenhagen Cowboy in due course though. Edited January 13, 2023 by Frankie S 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 12 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said: But apart from that, quite good? Surprised it didn't chart in the P&B 100. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Connolly Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Hard to disagree with the majority of that review, but there is one place where I would take issue. Arnold is clearly the only one that realised it was a complete bombscare of a film, and just went full ham. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D Angelo Barksdale Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Arnie would have made a decent Bane. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 There was a rumour ahead of it coming out that Patrick Stewart was going to be Mr Freeze. Then it came out and it was Arnie... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 I always hated how the poster was contrived to give Arnie top-billing. The guy playing Batman should always be at the top of the bill. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 1 minute ago, MSU said: I always hated how the poster was contrived to give Arnie top-billing. The guy playing Batman should always be at the top of the bill. Jack Nicholson's name was first on the 1989 movie. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSU Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 37 minutes ago, scottsdad said: Jack Nicholson's name was first on the 1989 movie. I hated that too. For the same reason. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 @Frankie S https://www.avclub.com/nicolas-winding-refn-amazon-buried-too-old-to-die-young-1849970496 Quote “Well, they took all my marketing money away because they were afraid that the show would reflect badly on Amazon,” Refn tells Vulture. “They told me that directly. They were so shocked by it. I was like, ‘What’s so shocking?’ They said, ‘It’s going to make us look bad.’ And I said, ‘But I don’t think anyone’s going to look at you at all.’” “Certain parts of Hollywood are so self-absorbed that they think they’re at the center of the universe,” Refn continues. “The rule of fear is very dangerous. Amazon released the show, but they said, ‘We will bury you.’ And so they did. However, you can’t bury a diamond.” I would love to know how much it cost to make, how many people have watched it all and what happened when they showed the Amazon execs what they had made. He says Netflix are still talking to him which is good news. He's the only person working in TV who seems to understand the potential of making shows for high quality wide screen TVs. Everything else looks like shit in comparison. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustOneCornetto Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 (edited) (05) Lourdes (2009) – DVD An interesting wee film about a wheelchair bound French girl, Christine, played really well by Sylvie Testud, who is on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. She doesn’t really have a lot of faith and sees this as a bit of holiday and a way of getting out of the house. The experience all seems very touristy and you see how various people react in different ways especially when Christine is able to start walking, an apparent ‘miracle’, before she has to go before the medical experts to declare it a miracle or not. Very understated film but quite an enjoyable watch. 6.5/10 (06) The Pale Blue Eye (2022) – Netflix Christian Bale plays a detective in 1830 who is hired to investigate the suspicious death of a cadet at West Point. He enlists the help of young cadet, Edgar Allan Poe, who is not really how I imagined he would be but his character did grow on me as the film went on. It’s over 2 hours long and feel it could have been edited down by about 20 minutes to make it a bit tighter but saying that it is very moody and atmospheric with a good twist in the final act. 7/10 (07) The Counterfeiters (2007) – DVD Based on a true story about Operation Bernhard, the largest counterfeiting operation in history, carried out by the Nazis in WWII. The film focuses on Salomon ‘Sally’ Sarowitsch, the king of counterfeiters who is sent to a concentration camp but his skills are soon noticed and he is forced to help in forging millions of dollars and pounds. He is conflicted as to whether help prolong the war or put his life in danger and finds other Jews in his team of forgers are not all on his side. Very good film. 7.5/10 Edited January 13, 2023 by JustOneCornetto 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Detournement Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 Something I learned on my recent Lolita deep dive is that Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin when he was 27. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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