What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Shandon Par]

Poor Things

Some very witty lines. Incredible visuals and quite the accent by Mark Ruffalo as the caddish Duncan Wedderburn. I think he’s meant to be English but inadvertently nails a sexy Aberdonian voice now and again. Quite disconcerting. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Jaws (1975)

What is so captivating about fiction about men who go out to sea to capture some impossibly large and inhuman beast? I don't know what it is, but it am. Music could have been better. Immaculate besides. 

[KnightswoodBear]

On 15/08/2023 at 11:01, Lex said:

Watched Hell or High Water at the weekend, one of the best movies I’ve seen for years. So much so that when it finished and the Mrs went to bed, I rewound it and watched it a second time. Only 1 hour 40 long but packs plenty into it. The extreme violence never seemed frivolous either.

I watched that this week. A really magnificent film. 

[accies1874]

5. The End We Start From - Cinema

My thoughts on this are a bit all over the place, and I think that's because the film itself is quite disjointed - perhaps intentionally so.

I slowly but surely felt myself getting quite stressed out by it: there are sudden jolting sound effects, a lot of movement of the camera or within a frame, characters (some of whom are pretty big actors) drop out as quickly as they drop in, and it moves from scenes and locations quicker than you might anticipate. These are all quite prominent staples of this genre - apocalyptic drama - especially the latter couple as they help to flesh out the world with stories that make it feel alive while also showing the stakes that come from an apocalypse, though these gradually become more about the character's choices than the nature of the world. There's a section in a refuge centre with a lot of insert shots of folk coming to terms with their new normal which kind of felt like you were viewing the world through the eyes of Jodie Comer's baby who's born just as the apocalypse kicks off. However, I began to get frustrated with it due to the fragmented story and understated main character. 

I was actually still thinking about it when I went to bed last night and that's when I considered it more as a sort of dreamlike/nightmarish allegory for coming to terms with having a baby. A lot of what Jodie Comer's character encounters feels like it speaks to a lot of those anxieties (avoiding a toxic upbringing, providing food, being a single mum, balancing work and your baby) and even if I began to lose the feeling of going on that journey with her, I still found retrospective pleasure in it, especially when considering the water as a Jaws-like metaphor for embracing your fears. Every chance I could be talking shite though. 

This was also the closest I'll ever get to a 4DX experience given that I saw it during the current mental weather and was still damp throughout. 

[CraigFowler]

5 - Poor Things

After about 15 minutes I thought to myself "mmmmm, really not sure about this" but by the time they got to Lisbon and the screen started exploding with colour at regular intervals I had very much done a 180. I'm pleased I watched it on the big screen because many of the shots leave you gaping at the screen in wonder. This is an absolute feast for the eyes - and not least because a fully nude Emma Stone goes for it in just about any sexual position you could imagine!

But while I say that in jest, the sex is a strength of the film and is played as much for comedy, arguably more so, than to titillate the audience. It's a movie about someone learning how the world works, piece by piece, so sex is obviously a huge part of that. It's about questioning social norms, structures and hypocrisies. So it's very fitting the film takes such a broad and liberal view of the human race's oldest pastime. It's seen it described as a sex-comedy. I don't disagree with that, but the comedic aspects of those moments play on our in-built discomfort with what has traditionally been a taboo subject outside of closed doors.

Emma Stone, after she gets out of her tantrum-throwing toddler stage of the performance, is incredibly charming as she always is. William Defoe plays his part to a tee. But, and kinda similar to Barbie in this regard, it's a supporting male costar in a production which revolves around a female lead who (almost) steals the show. Without wishing to give away too much, Mark Ruffalo runs the gambit from pompous to pathetic and is going for it 100 per cent every time he's on screen. He's just brilliant.

It is over two hours long and shouldn't necessarily be. It does drag in the middle with the chapter aboard the boat, which isn't entirely necessary in itself and certainly goes on for too long, but the shots at sea were those which I marvelled at the most, so I can forgive the movie for taking its time here.

I don't tend to rewatch many movies these days, but when I do I end up sticking them on 5, 6, 7, 8 times in the span of a few months. I can see Poor Things being one of those when it comes to streaming.

 

6 - One Life

I knew I would like this film when, in the very early stages, the younger Nicky Winton makes a series of phone calls. It's cuts to two or three times where he's trying to get his point across but the unseen character on the other end hangs up - and it wasn't followed by a dial tone! There are so many Hollywood and TV directors who should take note of that and dispense with one of the oddest cliches there is on screen.

While I'm kidding (to an extent, it does irrationally annoy me), I think that attention to small detail is what helps make the movie as good as it is. It packs so much story into its tighter-than-tight one hour and 40 minutes, but at no point do you feel lost or not fully given the information to grasp the severity of the situation or the motivations/emotions of the leading characters. It could so easily have slipped into melodrama but, much like its main character, it remained restrained and didn't unnecessarily draw attention to itself. And speaking of which, props to Johnny Flynn for quickly allowing me to fully believe that he and Anthony Hopkins were playing the same man.

I was also really impressed with the structure of the film, which very much helped its pacing. It follows two timelines but didn't go with the common usage of doing five minutes here and then five minutes there and then back again. It cut it into chunks of varying sizes which made perfect sense for the story to flow seamlessly until you get to the emotional wave of an ending. (Needless to say, tears poured out of me in the cinema.)

It's an incredible real-life story and congratulations to James Hawes and the rest of the filmmakers for doing it justice.

 

Not even into February yet and I've got two films that I'll be hugely surprised if they aren't in my top 10 at the end of the year. Adding to that, I saw Godzilla Minus One as the last film at the cinema before Poor Things, so it's a helluva run I'm on right now.

[accies1874]

I suppose the benefit of the UK often getting films later is that we get to watch the awards stuff in January while America have to make do with stuff like The Beekeeper and Night Swim. Sorry @MSU

[101]

All of Us Strangers 9/10

Absolutely incredible film, story is really clever and nicely worked.

Very very sad though.

Not sure you can say much about it without giving it away, just go to the cinema and enjoy it.

[RuMoore]

Just watched Slumdog Millionaire (seen it plenty) 

Top top film, my top 10 usually changes but this is solidly in my top 5. 

I'm not articulate enough when it comes to films to do any description justice so I won't try but it's got everything imo. 

[MSU]

Doing my best to see all the movies nominated for an Oscar. Going into this week, I'm 14 out of 53.

010 NYAD -- Aquatic-based true-story sports movies continue, following George Clooney's attempts to get us interested in historic rowing. This is better than The Boys in the Boat, but not a whole lot better. A woman in her sixties, Diane Nyad, wants to swim a ridiculous distance through open water from Cuba to the US, and she has a few attempts at doing so. The subject matter didn't grab me all that much -- and in fact swimming in those conditions is my worst nightmare -- but the performances from Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, the latter in particular, are what makes this an enjoyable couple of hours. I don't remember seeing Foster so at ease in a role as she is here, playing the friend, coach, and old flame to Diane, and she is incredibly cool in doing so, so much so that Bening's performance as Nyad kinda takes a back seat for long periods. I imagine Da'Vine Joy Randolph will win Best Supporting Actress, but if she doesn't, it had better go Jodie Foster's way. It's a good movie to watch at home on a Sunday, curled up in a comfy chair, preferably when it's raining outside. 6/10

011 Elemental -- Pixar's Obvious Metaphor department does it again. The animation outside of the actual characters is amazing but the story is so bland and the humor very juvenile, which, yes, it's a kids' movie but does Pixar not throw in any jokes for the parents anymore? I dunno, despite the actual point of the movie, I found it quite hard to connect with. 4/10

012 Nimona -- I loved this, and not just because of Metric featuring in the soundtrack. What a fresh piece of storytelling that was cute, sassy, delivered its message far more effectively than Elemental and was genuinely funny. I adored the science-fantasy setting which made sure that pretty much every frame was interesting to look at and the animation itself was just perfect. And how refreshing to have two gay knights whose sexuality has no real influence on proceedings. They're gay, just because, like people are straight, just because. My only complaint is the path the story took was a little predictable in places, but I'm nit-picking. Brilliant stuff. Nominated for Best Animated Feature. 9/10

013 Flamin' Hot -- Okay, so it's clawingly overly sentimental. And okay, so large sections of it may or may not have been made up. And okay, so it paints a rather optimistic rags-to-riches story that hopes to cover up its corporate, commercial, capitalist angle, but goddamit, Richard Montañez's story of inventing the Flamin' Hot Cheeto flavor while working as a janitor in a Frito-Lay factory still managed to tug on these old heartstrings and it's funny enough frequently enough for me to nod along and say, yep, this feelgood movie did, in fact, make me feel good. Nominated for Original Song at 2024 Oscars. Can't say I noticed it specifically, but the soundtrack was spot on. 7/10

014 American Fiction -- Cord Jefferson's debut is a sharp and assured social satire that focuses on a talented but underappreciated Black writer who resorts to a pseudonym and a parody of the racial poverty porn that invigorates the white masses, only for the joke to go over everyone's head, and the money and movie offers to come in. Which is lucky, as his mother's Altzheimers demands expensive, round-the-clock treatment. Jeffery Wright is as captivating as ever in the role of Thelonious “Monk” Ellison and he's supported by talented actors who deliver Jefferson's hilarious script brilliantly. As the conceit progresses, though, it loses prominence to the family drama aspect of the story, meanders through some obvious detours, and then has a few attempts at finding a decent ending, none of which really land as a worthy resolution. It's nominated at the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Original Score, Best Original Screenplay, and a Best Supporting Actor for Sterling K Brown. I doubt that it'll convert any of those to a win, but it's still entertaining, funny, and knows how to get you in the feels from time to time. It'll be interesting, and probably fun, to see where Cord Jefferson goes from here. 7/10

Edited January 28 by MSU

[Frankie S]

Realise I’m a bit late to the party to post my 2023 movie highlights, but here goes anyway.

I began 2023 intending to post monthly updates of all the films I’d seen, with rankings and short reviews, but as the year wore on, my work commitments were such that there were months when I saw almost nothing, and even then, I didn’t have time to write or post reviews of the few films I’d seen.

Rather than try to catch up with the backlog, I’ll just post a list of the top 50 films that I saw in 2023, noting the platform, the medium, or the location.

I watched a total of 79 films in 2023, probably a record low (and a pathetic effort compared to 115 films in 2022, 149 films in 2021 and 171 films in 2020), 16 of them in cinemas.

These are my favourite 50 films that I watched in 2023.

1-La Haine (Matthieu Kassovitz, 1995) Criterion blu-ray

2-Beasts (Rodrigo Sorogoyen, 2022) Amazon Prime 

3-Cure (Kiroshi Kurosawa, 1997) Criterion blu-ray 

4-Beau is Afraid (Ari Aster, 2023) Vue Cinema, Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh

5-Nightcrawler (Dan Gilroy, 2014) Netflix 

6-Tár (Todd Field, 2022) Vue Cinema, Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh 

7-Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927) with live orchestral accompaniment - Kino Babylon, Berlin 

8-Watcher (Chloe Okuno, 2022) Amazon Prime 

9-Only the Animals (Dominik Moll, 2019) Mubi 

10-Holy Spider (Ali Abassi, 2023) Mubi 

11-Performance (Donald Cammell, Nicolas Roeg, 1970) Amazon Prime 

12-Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944) Criterion Channel 

13-Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Sara Driver, 2017) Mubi 

14-The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh, 2022) Disney+ 

15-Beast (Michael Pearce, 2017) Amazon Prime 

16-Pacification (Albert Serra, 2022) Mubi

17-My Architect: A Son’s Journey (Nathaniel Kahn, 2003) Criterion Channel 

18-Bait (Mark Jenkin, 2019) Amazon Prime 

19-Chameleon Street (Wendell B. Harris) Criterion Channel

20-Beyond Time (Alex Turnbull & Pete Stern, 2012) Vimeo 

21-Flesh and Fantasy (Julien Duvivier, 1943) VSL blu-ray 

22-Enys Men (Mark Jenkin, 2022) + Q&A with director - GFT, Glasgow 

23-Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022) Mubi 

24-To Leslie (Michael Morris, 2022) Amazon Prime 

25-Loving Highsmith (Eva Vitija, 2022) Criterion Channel 

26-In the Court of the Crimson King (Toby Amies, 2022) Amazon Prime 

27-Huesera: The Bone Woman (Michelle Garza Cervera, 2022) Shudder via Amazon Prime 

28-The Tenant (Roman Polanski, 1976) Amazon Prime 

29-Caveat (Damian McCarthy, 2020) Shudder via Amazon Prime 

30-Dead Reckoning (John Cromwell, 1947) Indicator blu-ray 

31-The Black Cat (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1934) Criterion Channel 

32-The Shout (Jerzy Skolimowski, 1978) Criterion Channel 

33-Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (John D. Hancock, 1971) Amazon Prime 

34-Holiday (Isabella Eklöf, 2018) Amazon Prime 

35-Penny Slinger: Out of the Shadows (Richard Kovitch, 2017) Amazon Prime 

36-Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945) Criterion Channel 

37-Infinity Pool (Brandon Cronenberg, 2023) Vue Cinema, Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh 

38-The Daytrippers (Greg Mottola, 1996) Criterion Channel 

39-Godzilla Minus One (Takashi Yamazaki, 2023) Vue Cinema Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh 

40-Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse (Joaquim Dos Santos & Kemp Powers, 2023) Vue Cinema, Ocean Terminal, Edinburgh

41-Antiviral (Brandon Cronenberg, 2012) Amazon Prime 

42-Suddenly (Lewis Allen, 1954) YouTube 

43-Les félins (Rene Clement, 1964) YouTube 

44-Resurrection (Andrew Semans, 2022) Amazon Prime 

45-Daughters of Darkness (Harry Kamel, 1971) Criterion Channel 

46-Coup de Torchon (Bertrand Tavernier, 1981) Criterion Channel 

47-Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022) Amazon Prime 

48-The Dark Corner (Henry Hathaway, 1946) Criterion Channel 

49-Man Hunt (Fritz Lang, 1941) Criterion Channel 

50-Messiah of Evil (Willard Huyck, 1973) Shudder via Amazon Prime 

Edited January 28 by Frankie S

[Flybhoy]

No Hard Feelings. 

 

Jennifer Lawrence is actually a pretty decent comedy actress, first time I've really noticed her in this type of role and she pulls it off quite well. 

Some of the jokes are a bit forced and predictable but some of the one liners and ad libs from the supporting cast are decent in fairness. 

Also J-Law is insanely smoking hot throughout, the phrase 'Till it fell off' springs to mind. 

[RuMoore]

When I was a teenager I used to love watching classic movies and critically acllaimed stuff, used to pride myself with expanding my list however over the years I've basically stopped watching movies. Always annoying because I've got loads I wanna watch but lack the commitment/attention span, the idea of a 3 hour film usually puts me off but then I'll spend the same time happily watching a series or shite on YouTube.

For a long time I've wanted to regain my love of films and cinema and this year I'm proud of myself as I've seen Napoloean in the cinema and watched, Barbie, The Truman Show and Joker for the first time. Probably more new films than the last 2 years combined. It's like when you cba to go for a run and then when you do it feels class after. Patting myself on the back as I type. 

Just finished the Joker and thought it was so good. Terrific acting performance. 

If I stay consistent I've got the Northman, Wolf of Wall Street, Asteroid City and All Quiet on the Western Front lined up also contemplating seeing Argyle in the cinema. 

Edited January 29 by RuMoore

[CraigFowler]

7 - Nimona

Watched this based solely on MSU's recommendation above as I hadn't heard the title before - though when I started watching the story sounded a little familiar so I must've heard it reviewed on Kermode and Mayo and forgot about it. Like MSU, I thought this was great. I would actually disagree slightly about the predictability part. Yes, there were bits that I expected to happen, but it didn't follow the typical structure you find in this kind of story and that kept me on my toes throughout the runtime. So I thought that was actually a strength of the film. Although, I would have preferred if the very final scene would either have not been there or left a little more ambiguous, which would've made for a better ending IMO. That and it not being quite as consistently funny for my tastes as I would've liked stopped this from being a 10/10 for me, but I still very much enjoyed watching it and would recommend it to anyone seeking this type of family-friendly-but-adults-should-enjoy-too film.

[Arch Stanton]

The Machinist (2004)

Excellent psychological drama about an insomniac machine operator (Christian Bale).

Bale lost an incredible 63 lbs (28.5 kg) by eating only 1 can of tuna and an apple a day for weeks; a result that shocked director Brad Anderson when Bale turned up for filming. All the more incredible since Bale knew he'd have to bulk up massively since he was shooting "Batman Begins" later the same year. Twice it's commented on that "if you were any thinner you wouldn't exist".

There are loads of clever wee bits of fore-shadowing and callbacks.

Spoiler

(for example, the time of 01:30 appears repeatedly and, bang on 1 hour 30 minutes into the film the big plot twist is revealed)

Perennial baddie Michael Ironside doesn't play a baddie (and he only loses one arm here unlike both in "Total Recall") and there a couple of familiar faces to fans of "The Wire" (Larry Gilliard and Reg E. Cathey).

One last thing, whoever wrote the score was a big fan of Bernard Hermann because it's so Hitchcock-esque.

Edited January 30 by Arch Stanton

[Scorge]

Just been to an unlimited screening of The Iron Claw - I'm not an afficionado of wrestling generally and had less than zero knowledge about the von Erich family before going in, but just like The Wrestler it's a film that should engage just about anyone. Has exactly the right blend of throwing around the ring stuff on one hand, and playing out the (extensive) drama on the other. I really liked it - any of the wrasslin' fans on here should find it a treat.

Edited January 30 by Scorge

[CraigFowler]

8 - Night Swim

This was... fine. Actually, it's quite rubbish but it passed the time and I was never bored. If you're happy enough with the premise going in that it's a swimming pool that kills people then you're going to get exactly what you paid for. I thought the dynamics between the family were quite realistic, especially the son feeling like he's living in the shadow of his famous father, and that father not knowing exactly how to connect with his son because the one thing he's good at his son isn't. Also liked how it asked the audience how far would you be willing to go to chase your dreams, or should you just accept reality. There's also good tension throughout the movie. As soon as someone said "pool party" my heart started beating faster and the dread didn't settle until that scene was done.

On the other hand, I didn't really care enough at the end about whether they made it out alive. Some of the pool spirits are quite creepy but a lot of them looked crap. And that was an issue with the film, it wasn't really that scary. The tension didn't pay off. Also, the ending is weak AF.

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, CraigFowler said:

8 - Night Swim

This was... fine. Actually, it's quite rubbish but it passed the time and I was never bored. If you're happy enough with the premise going in that it's a swimming pool that kills people then you're going to get exactly what you paid for. I thought the dynamics between the family were quite realistic, especially the son feeling like he's living in the shadow of his famous father, and that father not knowing exactly how to connect with his son because the one thing he's good at his son isn't. Also liked how it asked the audience how far would you be willing to go to chase your dreams, or should you just accept reality. There's also good tension throughout the movie. As soon as someone said "pool party" my heart started beating faster and the dread didn't settle until that scene was done.

On the other hand, I didn't really care enough at the end about whether they made it out alive. Some of the pool spirits are quite creepy but a lot of them looked crap. And that was an issue with the film, it wasn't really that scary. The tension didn't pay off. Also, the ending is weak AF.

Can't remember if I mentioned this one on here but, yeah, it's curiously unscary (if that's a word). Even the smattering of jumpscares didn't elicit a flinch from me, and that's involuntary. The ending was a weak version of dozens of other horror films like Mirrors and They.

Still a reasonable enough way to kill 90 minutes (or whatever), but you'd be missing nothing by waiting to see it at home. Quite like Wyatt Russell; has a bit of his dad about him.

[RuMoore]

Scream (1996) - I've watched this lots of times before but not since I wad a teenager, enjoyable as always but by god I don't know how on earth I never noticed all the implausible timing issues however given it's closer to comedy than horror it's clearly not meant to be taken very seriously

-7.5/10

30 Minutes or Less - Watched before once, extremely goofy, quite funny but definitely aimed at a teenage audience. That being side there's something about Danny McBride that has me laughing out loud every time. 

-6.5/10

Asteroid City - First time watching any film from Wes Anderson so wasn't sure what to expect but I've seen people view him as a very creative artsy sort of director, took me a while to settle into the film, the whole stage show element and everyone being hyper literal and meta was quite off putting, the framing was interesting but essentially what I imagined it would be like. I probably missed a lot and may have appreciated it more if I actually understood the wider idea it was going for, I mean I kinda got it and don't want to come across as reductive but it all felt a little bit "dumb guys idea of what a smart film should be" but again I'm probably missing something. Aside from my criticism it was enjoyable and an intriguing watch overall just not quite what I had expected from the trailer. Are all his films made in a similar self aware way?

-7-10

 

[accies1874]

4 minutes ago, RuMoore said:

 

Asteroid City - First time watching any film from Wes Anderson so wasn't sure what to expect but I've seen people view him as a very creative artsy sort of director, took me a while to settle into the film, the whole stage show element and everyone being hyper literal and meta was quite off putting, the framing was interesting but essentially what I imagined it would be like. I probably missed a lot and may have appreciated it more if I actually understood the wider idea it was going for, I mean I kinda got it and don't want to come across as reductive but it all felt a little bit "dumb guys idea of what a smart film should be" but again I'm probably missing something. Aside from my criticism it was enjoyable and an intriguing watch overall just not quite what I had expected from the trailer. Are all his films made in a similar self aware way?

-7-10

 

One of the biggest criticisms of Wes Anderson is that he makes the same film over and over again (which I disagree with) so yeah they're all quite similar to Asteroid City, though they have had a wackier story-within-a-story element lately. 

[RuMoore]

4 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

One of the biggest criticisms of Wes Anderson is that he makes the same film over and over again (which I disagree with) so yeah they're all quite similar to Asteroid City, though they have had a wackier story-within-a-story element lately. 

I can cope with the style and framing etc but if they're all self aware I can't see myself working through the entire catalogue, what would you recommend from him? Are there any that are complete stand outs?