What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Detournement]

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

[DA Baracus]

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

[Bully Wee Villa]

But apart from that, quite good?

[Frankie S]

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

[DA Baracus]

12 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

But apart from that, quite good?

Surprised it didn't chart in the P&B 100.

[Mark Connolly]

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.

 

[Wee-Bey]

Arnie would have made a decent Bane. 

[scottsdad]

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...

[MSU]

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. 

[scottsdad]

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.

[MSU]

37 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

Jack Nicholson's name was first on the 1989 movie.

I hated that too. For the same reason.

[Detournement]

@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.

[JustOneCornetto]

(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

[Detournement]

Something I learned on my recent Lolita deep dive is that Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin when he was 27.

 

[Squalor Vic]

Midnight Special (2016)

Been on my watch list since it came out. Jeff Nichols' follow up to the excellent Mud, is weird and challenging sci-fi that doesn't spoon feed you the answers all the time, letting you piece together what's going on as it goes. Dropping you right into what feels like the middle of a story, it rattles along as a road trip thriller, with Michael Shannon and Joel Edgerton on the lam with a boy with special 'gifts' that have attracted the attention of not just the authorities but a religious cult too. A cracking support cast featuring Adam Driver, Kirsten Dunst and a whole load of 'that guy' actors you'll recognise carry it and not one of them is missing a beat with great performances across the board (Michael Shannon always leaves me a bit cold though it has to be said)

Definite hints of Speilbergy energy, though more Close Encounters than E.T. it takes in faith, parenthood, destiny and has an ending which is both strange and emotional. A must for sci-fi fans who like things a bit more thoughtful 

[Guest]

On 09/01/2023 at 23:28, Scotty Tunbridge said:

Agree on the couple of shouts for Till was a great film if maybe a wee bit too long. I genuinely genuinely did not know this was a true story until the recap bit at the end, I thought it was a more intense/dramatic to kill a mockingbird style story until the end. The bit with the dead boy was absolutely harrowing (suppose that’s what they were aiming for). After doing my own reading about the real life situation it’s scary how accurate the film is.

Wild the woman that lied in court and basically got the boy killed is still alive and kicking living a normal life, hope she has had nightmares every night of her life.

Saw it last Monday, followed by a repeat documentary last night on the PBS channel on Freeview. It's sickening how descendants of some of the key figures involved mirror the attitudes of their forebears - the son of the local sherrif defends his father's ridiculous theories of the time, all these years later, when the two murderers had already admitted it four years after the event.   

If you look on Google maps you'll see some of the memorial signs even now are riddled with bullet holes, the one outside the ruined Bryant Store has been removed after vandalism. And even after burial the poor lad couldn't rest in peace, as the cemetery where he's buried was later mired in scandal and neglect.  I'm just glad the story has been brought back into the headlines. 

Edited January 13, 2023 by IncomingExile

[Miguel Sanchez]

2 hours ago, Detournement said:

Something I learned on my recent Lolita deep dive is that Edgar Allan Poe married his 13 year old cousin when he was 27.

 

Did you google "famous people who were nonces"?

[Shandon Par]

The Pale Blue Eye, Netflix

An experiment into exactly how much money it takes for mighty actors such as Tim Spall, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Christian Bale to appear in a pile of pish.

Could have been okay if it ended at 90 minutes but the extra half hour tacked on to the end broke my patience.

[the aggressive beggar]

On 13/01/2023 at 00:09, Frankie S said:

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.

Thanks for the recommendation, watched the first two episodes last night.  Incredible TV and a travesty that Amazon didn't scream about it from the rooftops.

That tiger scene in ep 1 though..... 

Edited January 14, 2023 by the aggressive beggar

[Detournement]

12 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

Did you google "famous people who were nonces"?

It's mentioned in a round about way in the book. Nabokov also seems to be saying that JM Barrie and Lewis Carroll were nonces which is well known but maybe also AA Milne and RL Stevenston.