What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[MSU]

151 Midsommar (#89 in the A24 series) -- What a long and odd way for a woman to get revenge on her asshole boyfriend. I'm not sure if I enjoyed this quite as much as Hereditary, but it's close. The colors are incredible, as is Florence Pugh, and everything is so beautifully unhinged that I think I found it funnier (in a weird way) on this viewing. It is overlong, though, and it seems to revel in how overlong it actually is, and while I can appreciate that indulgence from time to time, I think I'd have been less fidgety if it came in closer to the two-hour mark. That said, a great piece of folk-horror, far scarier for it all being out there in the daylight. 9/10

152 Talk to Me (#137 in the A24 series) -- Maybe not the ideal movie to go see if your wife collects disembodied ceramic hands. Yikes. I can go either way on Australian horror movies these days. For every Babadook, it seems, there's a Run Rabbit Run. Despite showing considerable early promise, Talk to Me kinda falls in the middle of the two. A great premise of a spooky hand reportedly from a medium and covered in a graffitied cast that when you grasp it and say Talk to Me, it connects you to a spirit. A bunch of teenagers abuse this ability when one of them is connected to her deceased mother and things go very awry after that. It's pretty spooky, unflinchingly gory in places, and maybe a little predictable in the finale, but it's nice to see a couple of YouTubers get some A24 backing here and turn in a bit of a money-maker. 7/10

153 Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case -- I vaguely remember this story from the news back in 2000 or so but the wider case of Japanese millionaire, Joji Obara, and his suspected 400 victims was new to me and is shocking stuff. The documentary is a very Netflix documentary. I mean, you know what you're going to get before you click play as the story is told through the talking heads of Lucie's dad, a reporter, and the Japanese detectives who worked the case. Despite all this available insight, it seems reluctant or perhaps unable to go into the broader issues here, such as the societal issues that allowed one man to commit so many horrific crimes, the other victims are hardly named never mind heard, and also the effect this had on the Blackman family is left beyond arm's length. It feels like the focus is only on part of the story but then doesn't tell all of that either. A sad and tragic tale but it misses out on so much. 5/10

154 Piranha -- I've been meaning to go through a Joe Dante rewatch for a while and with Meg 2 out this week, I finally got round to starting here, a B movie rip-off of Jaws that is so obvious in its intentions that they have the heroine playing a Jaws video game at the start and Dick Miller doing his best Murray Hamilton impression. The piranha are hilariously bad as they statically move through the water, they sound like bees, the wounds are about as convincing as the acting, but it's good, stupid, fun and Dante's sense of humor ("They're eating the guests, sir") is put to hilarious use. 6/10

155 Piranha II: The Spawning -- There are a few surprising things about this movie. First, it's directed by James "Yes, That One" Cameron. Second, it's not exactly a cash grab seeing as it came four years after Joe Dante's effort, so one can assume that some thought and time went into it. Third, given the first two, this is perhaps one of the worst movies I've ever seen. It's flat, pointless, meandering, slow, humorless, and absolutely no fun to watch. It also seems that halfway through filming, someone decided to themselves, f**k it, let's make the piranha fly. I know there's some debate over how much Cameron was involved, and the mostly Italian crew couldn't speak much English which just confused and frustrated everyone, but it's frankly incredible that within 24 months of this coming out, the next movie to have Cameron's name on it would be The Terminator. Saw it for free on YouTube. Still feel ripped off. 1/10

156 The Terminator -- I'm really not sure why this scores so well for me because it really isn't all that good. The SFX have not aged well, the score outside of the main theme is dreadful, the acting isn't significantly better than Piranha 2, and the movie takes lengthy pauses from the action so that Michael Biehn can deliver a few pages of exposition to Linda Hamilton. And that's before we mention anything about it not making a lick of sense. All this said, my first rewatch in 20 years was still pretty enjoyable. The scenes in the nightclub and the police station are gripping and brutal and my inner thirteen-tear-old cheers with glee at famous lines. All this goodwill, of course, doesn't detract from the fact that it's nowhere near as good as T2. 7/10

157 Meg 2: The Trench -- I quite like Ben Wheatley movies and I was fairly ambivalent about the first Meg movie from 2018, so I was curious to see how the two would mash up in this sequel. Turns out, it's less of the former and more of the latter. Jason Statham returns as Jonas Taylor along with a few of his buddies from the first movie and he leads an exploratory expedition to the Mariana Trench but discovers that his efforts have been deliberately sabotaged by a horrible billionaire corporate lady or whatever, happy to trade environmental efforts for the almighty dollar. A lot of that stuff is pretty dull, and an awful lot of it is missing any kind of big shark action. This picks up, and the movie picks up, and it starts to be a bit more fun -- ironically enough when we get to the Fun Island portion -- but by that point, I'd kinda made up my mind to be disappointed. In a sequel, I think it's acceptable to have an expectation for the bigger and grander even if that is at the expense of any sense being made, and while the sight of Statham on a jet-ski with explosive harpoons does try, it's really just not enough. 4/10

[accies1874]

29 & 31. Talktomeimer - Cinema

Talk to Oppenheimer? Talktoppenheimer? Doesn't matter, it's the double bill EVERYONE'S been talking about. Or at least, everyone who isn't brave enough to see Barbie in the cinema yet. I first saw Oppenheimer a couple of weeks ago but rewatched it in IMAX this week before going for Talk to Me later that day, which was better than the only other double bill I've done (Bombshell and Jojo Rabbit in 2020) but still question marks over both films. 

Oppenheimer:

It took me a long time for me to get settled into the hectic rhythm of this - especially the first time around - mostly as a result of the non-linear narrative and snappy scenes which comes across as a bit strangely structured. That isn't inherently bad, but I felt that it did diminish some reflection that should come about in the final act and I did get a bit lost on a few occasions - the little flashes of a character whenever they were mentioned were much appreciated. However, it's impressive that a 3-hour film can maintain such an intense pace while staying true to its intentions as a character study. I remember there being a bit of a narrative around Tenet that Nolan losing his editor and composer had a detrimental impact on it, but while I have no real insight into editing, it massively stands out here (as a slight negative in terms of getting settled, but that's a necessary sacrifice for the overall pacing/intensity imo) and in a lot of Jennifer Lame's other work for a variety of reasons. Christopher Nolan is more often than not the star of his films, and it's class that there's still a director with that pull through name only, but they still remain remembered for those collaborative efforts too. It's also easy to take for granted just how good a Christopher Nolan/Hoyte van Hoytema films looks, but similar to Dunkirk, the depth of colours is just an absolute joy to behold. I was really glad I decided to give it a go in IMAX (the first time I've gone to an IMAX screening), and I don't care what anyone says, I thought the crazy sound mixing was another necessary sacrifice to pack a punch in certain moments, especially around the time of the bomb going off. He's not got the prestige of Tarantino, Scorsese etc, but he's a brilliant event filmmaker whose latest film is doing gangbusters despite not being the kind of thing that appeals to mass audiences anymore. 

Oppenheimer's a really interesting character, but I did find myself longing for better execution in the final act which dragged on both watches. The idea of watching him getting dragged through the mud for his own determination and success had really effective moments. I've not seen Cillian Murphy lead in anything other than a couple of Danny Boyle films, but Nolan gives him a lot to do in order to pack an emotional punch through the lines of boring scientific dialogue, especially with those closeups, and I think he absolutely aced it. RDJ plays a version of himself that we've become used to - weirdly enough, Sherlock Holmes was the one I thought of the most - but there's undoubtedly enough of a difference from those roles that makes it a worthwhile performance. It's a shame that Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt blend into the supporting cast of such a jam-packed lineup, but at least Blunt gets one scene to truly flex her muscles. It is Cillian Murphy, RDJ and a million others though. 

While I found the last act a bit of a drag, I liked that it existed. The film could've ended bang-on two hours once the bomb successfully exploded, and there will have been many other biopics where such an event was the conclusion, but this needed that extra hour to go further into the psychology behind a cataclysmic event. That said, I did feel that said psychological exploration peaked shortly after the explosion. We all know the scene I'm talking about where Oppenheimer is giving a speech to the Los Alamos residents - it's absolutely horrific in its decision to isolate certain sounds and pair that with some effective imagery and Murphy's performance. The next hour or so after that is more about how he responds to his emotions in that scene, which is all encapsulated in a line earlier in the film that I can't for the life of me remember, but none of that is depicted in as interesting a way. 

Dunkirk is still the gold standard of post-TDK Christopher Nolan imo (the holy trilogy of Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight, then Dunkirk), but I liked Oppenheimer a lot more than TDKR, Interstellar and Tenet so it's probably on a par with Inception in terms of being great but with big turn-offs. 

Talk to Me

As with most horror movies, it starts out with an impressive opening scene which made me excited for what was to come, but I was seriously let down. There are moments of look-away brutality, however it just never, ever scared me; maybe a couple of creepy images and surprises, just not a prolonged period of tension or atmosphere. I much preferred the character interactions earlier on when it was just being a drama - a pretty pleasant drama at that. This did make the bad shit more effective as I cared about the characters, although I found it to be a bit uneven tonally between the modern teen partying, some corny family stuff and ultra serious "elevated horror" fare.

I'll also say that it tackled the theme of addiction in an interesting way by concealing it within a film about grief and absent figures to show how addictions creep into people's lives. 

[MSU]

15 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

29 & 31. Talktomeimer 

Extra greenies for that.

[Wee-Bey]

MEG 2: The Trench

Watched this in 3d. Cheesy and ridiculous but also some fun in places, with the world's most serious man Jason Statham trying to stab giant sharks. Lame jokes, annoying teenager along for the ride and stereotypical baddies amongst the lowlights. Not as good as the 1st film. I'm sure we'll end up with a 3rd edition as well.

[Mark Connolly]

2 hours ago, accies1874 said:

It's a shame that Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt blend into the supporting cast of such a jam-packed lineup, but at least Blunt gets one scene to truly flex her muscles.

TBF, wee Flo was flexing her muscles in a couple of scenes too...

[BFTD]

Barbie (cinema) - the famous plastic doll comes to the real world after sensing that her owner is depressed.

The Meg 2 was sold out, which hasn't happened to me in years, while Oppenheimer and Talk to Me didn't have a showing for a few hours, so we opted for the fourth choice.

This was weird as f**k. The first half or so was quite pleasant, giving us a tour of the utterly vapid Barbie World, with plenty of amusing (but not laugh out loud funny) moments, and a terrific cast essentially making the picture by throwing themselves into it with gusto. Unfortunately, it slowly becomes a piece about the evils of the patriarchy, which seemed like it could be fun in a Barbie context until it really kicks in and is just quite depressing and preachy, with several long (and eye-rollingly dire) monologues that amount to the filmmakers talking directly to the audience - criminally lazy screenwriting.

Overall it's a propaganda piece from a toy company that seems desperate to justify its product's existence and to reframe Barbie's conception, to the point of almost deifying her creator. It's very, very strange; you'd think Mattel had been accused of war crimes or something, rather than selling superficial plastic dolls to tots. I can well imagine MRAs and Incels being up in arms, and there's bound to have been a DeSantis-type politician trying to make hay out of "woke Barbie", but the truth is that it becomes quite dull and plodding by the end after a promising start, and it's a shame it was used as a vehicle to rehabilitate Mattel (who seem to think people are way more upset with the concept of Barbie than they really are these days).

[Boo Khaki]

Meh, Sindy >>> Barbie in any case. 

 

There should be a Ken Loach Sindy movie, probably starring Maxine Peake, where she works part-time on an underwear assembly line in some shithole in the north of England, the foreman is a lecherous pig, she permanently has a Benson hanging from her gub, and the one highlight in her life is getting pished on Babycham at the bingo with her pal Maureen.

I'd totally go to the cinema to see that. I'd even wear a pinny and put my curlers in.

Edited August 7, 2023 by Boo Khaki

[JustOneCornetto]

(56) Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case (2023) – Netflix

I do like these real-life murder cases that Netflix do but this one felt a bit incomplete. I agree with MSU’s review that there was so much more to tell. I couldn’t really remember this case but the whole documentary seemed to be more about the father who seems to be pretty well off and was able to spend a lot of time in Tokyo noising up the Police and trying to raise the profile of the search for his daughter. You also see a lot of him in present day telling the story of how it all panned out but you never get a sense of grief from him. From what I’ve read subsequently the Police were very inept and slow to bring Obara to justice but the documentary tends to paint them otherwise. 5.5/10

(57) Happiness For Beginners (2023) – Netflix

Quite liked this, there’s nothing complex or out of the ordinary about it. it’s all light-hearted and easy to watch. Ellie Kemper is pretty good as Helen who has been divorced a year and decides to go on an organised hiking trip on the Appalachian Trail along with a quirky bunch of other novices. The romance part of it is pretty predictable but never too schmaltzy and the run time is just about right with no padding out for the sake of it, also some great scenic shots along the way. 6.5/10

(58) Maggie Moore(s) (2023) – Sky Cinema

I was really looking forward to this as it seemed to be a Coen Brothers style film with John Hamm and Nick Mohammed, both of whom I like, as an unlikely Cop duo investigating the murder of two women called Maggie Moore. It’s directed by John Slattery another of my favourite actors from Mad Men plus Tina Fey, who is always good, as Hamm’s love interest and also plays a good part as a nosy neighbour  but while there is some good dry humour it never reaches the quality of Fargo. 6/10

Edited August 7, 2023 by JustOneCornetto

[Wee-Bey]

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1

Even though the Mission Impossible films are a bit shit, they're also a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. This one however didn't quite hit the mark with its AI plot and average set peices. Atwell may end up a decent acquisition for the franchise after being brought in to replace Fergie. Simon Pegg looks quite old now too which is one of my main takeaways from the film, which sums it up I guess.

[scottsdad]

Barbie.

I enjoyed it more than I should. 

If anyone is passing by the Falkirk retail park later on, can they please nip to Cineworld and collect my testicles? I think I left them there last night. 

[LowerLeagueFC]

The Dark Knight.

a timeless classic, Ledger, Oldman and Bale fantastic.

[jimmy boo]

Bull........low budget British revenge among criminals film with David Hayman and Neil Maskell. Very violent and very good.

[Squalor Vic]

2 hours ago, jimmy boo said:

Bull........low budget British revenge among criminals film with David Hayman and Neil Maskell. Very violent and very good.

Ending was a bit out there 

[jimmy boo]

2 hours ago, Squalor Vic said:

Ending was a bit out there 

I had to Google it!

[Miguel Sanchez]

Event Horizon (1997): Lawrence Fishburne leads a spaceship to the skies above Neptune to find a ship long thought lost. Sam Neill is on board and explains it travelled through a wormhole and came back, bringing hallucinations, gore and general unpleasantness. Lots of extremely stylish sets, a horrifying premise and Jason Isaacs are let down by studio meddling (it was rushed out because Titanic was delayed, I'm not sure where the audience crossover was), some weird characters and Morpheus playing the whole thing like a robot. If I saw this when I was 12 it would have scared the shit out of me, but I didn't. Still, it's the sort of sci-fi that should be made now.

In the Loop (2009): The Thick of It featuring Tony Soprano. Some characters from the TV show return as is. The rest return as is but with different names. The problem with making a feature length version of The Thick of It is that there are long gaps between the sweary Scottish people, and these are filled with Americans who aren't funny. 

Mouse Hunt (1997): Two brothers discover their dad left them a house. The house has a mouse in it which evades all their attempts to kill it. Classic slapstick farce, and a nice throwback to my childhood where I no doubt wore out the tape. Dumb, not as funny as I remembered, but a welcome nostalgia trip. 

Ghostbusters (1984): And on the subject of tape. The biggest difference between watching this now, streaming in HD and on tape on whatever television I had 20 years ago is seeing how all the scenes from the end outside of the main set are paintings. Good paintings, mind.

Mean Girls (2004): A homeschooled girl who is clearly a genius despite having the Janitor from Scrubs for a dad goes to school and hits literally every single American high school cliche imaginable. She makes two friends, one of whom is quite clearly a man in his thirties. Some laughs, a performance from Lindsay Lohan who seems very aware that it's a breakthrough for her, and finally some context for so many references I've seen over the years. Felt oddly shallow by the end, but not in a Plastic way.

Casino Royale (2006): James Bond sells Smirnoff, Omega (not Rolex), Sony electronics, Ford and Aston Martin (owned by Ford) while playing a game of poker which as far as I can tell lasts about a week, and features handy running commentary for people who've never stayed up all night watching PokerStars on Channel 4 while hideously depressed and wondering just how hard it could be? I'm no Bond historian, and I've seen Daniel Craig's films much more than anyone else's, but I really can't connect this character to any of the others I've seen, and it definitely feels like a good thing. There are times where it suffers from the problem I had with the Mission: Impossibles - too many big setpieces which don't really seem connected to one another but it somehow comes together well enough.

[TheScarf]

Parasite (2019). My first rewatch since seeing it in the cinema when it was released. Simply, one of the greatest films of all time. 

[scottsdad]

Off to see Oppenheimer tomorrow, with Scott...and his girlfriend.

Taking the girl to the pictures is one thing - but this movie? With his dad?

[MSU]

158 The Farewell (#90 in the A24 series) -- Such an incredibly simple and emotional movie that succeeds in pushing many of my buttons. Awkwafina is immense as Billi, a Chinese-American who goes back to China to see her beloved grandmother who is unaware that she has Stage 4 lung cancer. Lulu Wang's direction and writing uses a very light touch to examine the cultural differences and societal expectations between the US or really the West, and China, as Billi is conflicted by her love for her grandmother who she thinks deserves to know what is wrong with her. I just adored the way this movie moved and how beautifully it was shot and presented, and how it realistically moved between languages. There's a little sting in the tail at the end that I wish hadn't happened, but otherwise, I found it a bit of a triumph and a welcome reminder of how good Awkwafina can be. 9/10

159 The Death of Dick Long (#91 in the A24 series) -- Daniel Scheinert, out of off of Daniels, directs this odd wee story, which apparently has its basis in a true story, which on its own doesn't sound that remarkable until you actually sit down and watch the movie and then it's oh my fucking god. It's funny, intriguing, and deeply disturbing as a group of friends who play Nickelback covers for fun -- FOR FUN -- lose one of their buddies in suspicious circumstances and it's these circumstances, and the attempts to cover them up, that provide the intrigue. Reminiscent of Scheinert's Swiss Army Man and Coen brothers' back catalog, it's entertaining stuff and on the one hand it's hard to understand how it made so little money, but on the other hand, it makes all the sense in the world. 7/10

160 The Last Voyage of the Demeter -- Alien set on a boat with a vampire should be a better movie than this. It opens at the end and then recounts the events that led to the conclusion. We've all seen this done before rather well but here it just drains any lingering dregs of suspense. Based on the captain's log section of Dracula, it tells the tale of the ship and its crew hired to transport a consignment of wooden boxes from Romania to London. It's all just fine, there are some really heavy emotional moments, but the decision-making of the crew leaves a lot to be desired and Dracula really would be scarier if he didn't look like a peckish version of Dobby the House-Elf. 5/10

Edited August 14, 2023 by MSU

[Mark Connolly]

3 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Off to see Oppenheimer tomorrow, with Scott...and his girlfriend.

Taking the girl to the pictures is one thing - but this movie? With his dad?

This is not going to be awkward at all...

[TxRover]

John Wick 4…enjoyable ultra-violence. Quite enjoyed the ending, watching the fight up the steps at Sacre Coeur while remembering climbing those very same steps…also reminded me of: