What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[accies1874]

My tales from Germany:

51. Sometimes I Think About Dying - Digital Rental (on the plane out)

This is my bag. A silent protagonist, existentialism, a clear visual style and colour scheme - it's for me!

Daisy Ridley's Fran is out of place in a world - mostly limited to her workplace - full of quite strange people who are harmlessly annoying. She's a woman of few words who starts dating this guy who talks too much, and their relationship kinda reminded me of Cat Person from last year due to the film putting you into the shoes of the main character as you, along with her, try to work out if the male romantic interest is a good dude or not. The main character also has visions of her own demise, hence the title. It's funny, too, again in a way that appeals to me. The laughs come from awkward interactions between the awkward Fran and her eccentric associates, sometimes poking fun at the weird ways people try to connect with one another.

The visual style stuck out to me most of all, though. The camera is always stationary, there are a lot of browns and beiges and flashes of blue, and it's shot in an extremely observational way. Fran is often framed detached from the action as her colleagues have conversations that block the camera's view of her. The film feels like a window into this woman trying and failing to navigate life. That said, while plenty will find it boring, I wouldn't say that its realism is dreary, as it slightly dials up both ends of the introvert-extrovert spectrum and still manages to look good. There's some beautiful music, too, which feels like an expression of Fran that we seldom see but is always there, detached from the film but still fitting. On sound, the soundscape, especially in the office scenes, relates to the cinematography nicely due to hearing dry conversations between co-workers while Fran doesn't engage. A benefit of watching with headphones as opposed to on TV, I suppose.  

Rewatch. Robot Dreams - Cinema (Arena Filmtheater, Munich)

Making an exception to my rule of not reviewing films I see twice in one year to mention that this was my first experience of a German cinema, the Arena Filmtheater in Munich. Absolutely loved it as a location, just a tiny wee area in a block of flats where I felt like I’d nipped into a shop to be met with two small screens. I chose Robot Dreams to see in Germany, as: a) I liked it when I saw it a couple of months ago, and b) it doesn’t have any dialogue, so I didn’t need to worry about translations. There’s a scene in the film where characters exchange middle fingers that was censored in the UK – which was funny so I thought was part of the joke – so I was surprised when they actually showed it this time! Got an unexpected chuckle out of me. I also think that the branding and twin towers stuff is supposed to ground the themes to our world while showing something surreal.

It was just me and two others in the screening, a dad and his kid, which was a trial. They wouldn’t shut up, though I tried to tell them a couple of times which didn’t really help, so I was delighted when they both left with about half an hour to go, leaving the room all to myself. Then two minutes later they came back! Then five minutes later they got up to leave. Then the kid stopped its dad which almost caused me to lose all hope. Then they finally left again, this time out the backdoor which let all outside light and noise into the screening. Some place.

52. Problemista - Cinema (Filmpalast Koln)

 

A unique cinema experience! I walked round the corner to go to Filmpalast Koln only to find hundreds of mental Turkey fans beginning to gather outside to celebrate their win over Georgia. It was a welcome change from the usual sights while going to the cinema in Glasgow.

Problemista lived up to the weird tone set by the Turkish locals. I saw a trailer for it on a tram in Munich and thought that it looked somewhat interesting, so I was fairly happy to see that it would be showing while I'd be in Cologne. It's a somewhat trippy film that manages to convey the exhausting experience of being a job-seeking immigrant, particularly in the US, in an entertaining way. The humour has a detached irony and surreal quality that some will find grating but helped me to understand Alejandro's struggles. There's also a voiceover reminiscent of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood's interjections and brief musical cues that are all too often punctured by reality. I appreciated its use of comedy to convey its messaging, but I can completely understand why others might not. It's worth pointing out that this might also be the first time I've ever thought that Tilda Swinton has put in a bad performance. If it wasn't for her then it would have very much had the look of a cheapo indie flick (a lot of boring mid-shots, a quite washed out look, but uses colour in a nice way), so as well as her not hitting the right comedic beats she also detracted from the faux-quaintness of it.

53. Marmalade - Digital Rental (on the plane home)

One of those films that I found myself liking more and more as it went on. It started off a bit crap with the main character trying to tell a story that keeps getting interrupted by tiring interjections from the guy he’s telling it to, but then the story starts getting a few different layers added to it that continued to up my interest. The films leads you to believe that you’re getting a Bonnie and Clyde story with a monotonous man and a manic pixie dream girl who plan a heist together, however it’s very much aware of those expectations and uses its unreliable narrator to twist them in a way that’s kinda goofy/stupid but makes for a fun time.

Despite watching it on a plane on my phone (because my laptop wasn’t playing ball), I thought that the film looked great too. The colours are deep and striking with high-contrast shadows which convey a nostalgic atmosphere, and it adopts some funky ways to shoot a scene.

-------------------

I failed in my quest to go to a cinema in all three cities (Munich, Cologne and Stuttgart) which is frustrating as I probably could have made it to an English-language screening of Inside Out 2 before Scotland-Hungary, however I very much liked the two I did get to. The Munich cinema is very much one of my favourites. I also watched The Best Years of Our Lives on a long train journey and rewatched Adventureland en route to Stuttgart, the former was absolutely excellent and the latter hit the spot given I needed some corny stupidity by that point in the trip. 

[JustOneCornetto]

On 25/06/2024 at 11:51, accies1874 said:

My tales from Germany:

51. Sometimes I Think About Dying - Digital Rental (on the plane out)

This is my bag. A silent protagonist, existentialism, a clear visual style and colour scheme - it's for me!

Daisy Ridley's Fran is out of place in a world - mostly limited to her workplace - full of quite strange people who are harmlessly annoying. She's a woman of few words who starts dating this guy who talks too much, and their relationship kinda reminded me of Cat Person from last year due to the film putting you into the shoes of the main character as you, along with her, try to work out if the male romantic interest is a good dude or not. The main character also has visions of her own demise, hence the title. It's funny, too, again in a way that appeals to me. The laughs come from awkward interactions between the awkward Fran and her eccentric associates, sometimes poking fun at the weird ways people try to connect with one another.

The visual style stuck out to me most of all, though. The camera is always stationary, there are a lot of browns and beiges and flashes of blue, and it's shot in an extremely observational way. Fran is often framed detached from the action as her colleagues have conversations that block the camera's view of her. The film feels like a window into this woman trying and failing to navigate life. That said, while plenty will find it boring, I wouldn't say that its realism is dreary, as it slightly dials up both ends of the introvert-extrovert spectrum and still manages to look good. There's some beautiful music, too, which feels like an expression of Fran that we seldom see but is always there, detached from the film but still fitting. On sound, the soundscape, especially in the office scenes, relates to the cinematography nicely due to hearing dry conversations between co-workers while Fran doesn't engage. A benefit of watching with headphones as opposed to on TV, I suppose.  

Glad you got to see this and your review sums up how I felt about it too, Definitely a film I'll want to watch again when it comes on the telly and will go with your suggestion of using headphones.

[jimmy boo]

Barbarian.......Not usually a fan of horror films but must've read about this somewhere and had it on my watch list for ages. Piqued my interest from the start and did make me feel uneasy at some points despite containing many classic elements of the genre. Unexpected twists were welcome in retrospect once I realised what the hell was going on. Most enjoyable.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

I've mostly been watching Willem Defoe's stuff.

What an incredible range he has. His performance in Spiderman has been meme'd to death but he was great in it.

 

He should have at least one Academy Award. Madness when you remember Halle Berry got one just for having beautiful tits.

[accies1874]

23 hours ago, JustOneCornetto said:

Glad you got to see this and your review sums up how I felt about it too, Definitely a film I'll want to watch again when it comes on the telly and will go with your suggestion of using headphones.

I try to avoid watching things with headphones wherever possible, but it can definitely make you notice the soundscape a wee bit more. 

[Craig fae the Vale]

Went to see Inside Out 2 this afternoon. Went in expecting a nice, enjoyable wee film. What I got was the most accurate portrayal of anxiety I've ever seen on screen. I did not expect a kids film to be so emotional and profound. A really beautiful film.

[BFTD]

11 hours ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

I've mostly been watching Willem Defoe's stuff.

What an incredible range he has. His performance in Spiderman has been meme'd to death but he was great in it.

He should have at least one Academy Award. Madness when you remember Halle Berry got one just for having beautiful tits.

Dunno if that's entirely fair for Monster's Ball, which got a lot of acclaim, but when Swordfish turned out to be shite, Warner Bros paid her a bonus of $500,000 to film an extra scene with her knockers out. Think it was more because she was a huge sex symbol who'd never done a nude scene, rather than because her boobs were particularly notable.

Sting (cinema) - edgy tween girl finds an unusual spider and keeps it as a pet. It starts to grow. A lot.

Quite liked this; bit more of a comedy than I was expecting, and has fun with misdirection (it's the spider! No, just the shadow of a plant). Also isn't shy with the grue from time to time. It becomes quite saccharine and obvious towards the end, but it's a decent run up to that point. Maybe two acts of a good film, with a standard, predictable conclusion.

The Watched (cinema) - debut film from M. Night Shyamalamadingdong's daughter (not the acting one). After her car breaks down on a woodland trail, a young woman finds herself trapped in a cabin with some strangers while some unseen voyeuristic creatures monitor them through a one-way window.

You could have shown me this without credits and I'd have guessed it was an M. Night Shyamalan film - he's the producer on this, and either his daughter is his double or he basically directed it too. As late-stage Shyamalan goes, it's not bad, but you'll very much need to have enjoyed his post-Unbreakable work. Personally, I do; even if his films are hilariously bad, they're still often entertaining in their stupidity and obliviousness.

All the hallmarks are here - silly plot that demands to be taken seriously, moments of amusingly wooden acting, some utterly duff dialogue, characters who act in ways that make them unbelievable as human beings...and yes, there's a twist. In terms of quality, it's somewhere between The Village and Glass - not quite A-grade Shyamalan, but nothing like his (their) worst. No need to catch it in the cinema even if you like his films; if you don't, avoid like the plague.

I noticed that the original title in America was The Watchers, so I presume there's something with that title that's already well known in the UK. The only thing I can remember is that turn of the century Keanu Reeves film The Watcher.

[Squalor Vic]

Furiosa 

I'm a massive fan of Fury Road. As one of my favourite films of recent times, I was really looking forward to this. Fair to say I was a little disappointed. For a start it is too long, Fury Road was full on from the start and felt a lot leaner than this, and there was a few times I looked at my watch during Furiosa. I also thought Chris Hemsworth was awful. Every time he came on, I was dragged out the film and his prosthetic nose was ridiculous. There's always been an element of humour with the villains in Mad Max, but I felt it was far too much. Also thought the set pieces didn't match up to Fury Road, could spot the CG a lot easier in this than previous film. Nothing really had me on the edge of my seat. Anya Taylor Joy was good, but the Praetorian Jack character was just a Mad Max fill in, which was a strange choice. 

I really wanted to like this more but it was a struggle and I doubt I'll ever revisit it

[accies1874]

17 hours ago, BFTD said:

 

I noticed that the original title in America was The Watchers, so I presume there's something with that title that's already well known in the UK. The only thing I can remember is that turn of the century Keanu Reeves film The Watcher.

There was Watcher from 2022 which starred Maika Monroe who looks somewhat like Dakota Fanning. I don't imagine this is the reason, but I did think it was a tiny coincidence when I saw the trailer for this. 

[Pocketman]

On 28/06/2024 at 09:08, Theroadlesstravelled said:

I've mostly been watching Willem Defoe's stuff.

What an incredible range he has. His performance in Spiderman has been meme'd to death but he was great in it.

I am something of a Defoe fan myself. 

[MSU]

087 A Quiet Place: Day One -- Obviously not as good as the first one, and I honestly can’t remember enough about the second one to compare, but this is pretty good fun. I think the decision to have our heroine as terminally-ill was an interesting choice as her goal has to shift from survival to something else, and there were plenty of 9/11 flashbacks from the NYC setting. I guess none of these characters, tho, would have survived the first movie as they clomp around empty office buildings and subways, and I’m not sure it’s all that great a sign that my primary concern throughout was the welfare of a cat, but Lupita Nyong'o is as great as ever and Michael Sarnoski gets plenty of decent mileage out of the third version of this story while maintaining its emotional core. It’s good not to talk, sometimes. 7/10

088 Kinds of Kindness -- Artistically valueless sub Wes Anderson try-hard trash. 1/10

[Scorge]

Secret 'screaming' at Cineworld this evening turned out to be In A Violent Nature - a nasty wee 90 minutes from Shudder which might be the goriest and yet boring film I've ever seen. I know some critics have given it a thumbs up for the 'ambience', but I just found it tiring, and there were a fair number of outright walkouts in this screening that seem to back that up.

[Starksdynamo]

Went to see Kinds of Kindness last night and I loved it. Yorgos Lanthimos back to his weird best much more akin to Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Lobster rather than Poor Things.  Helps that Plemons, Stone and Dafoe are three of the best in the biz right now. 8/10 - second story was my favourite.

[accies1874]

Relatively quickfire trio:

54. Sorcery - Cinema

Another recent film about settlers/colonisers in Chile where the look of the film stood out more than anything, but, unlike The Settlers, which was one of the best-looking films I’ve seen in a while, Sorcery looks dirty and cold. This reflects the tone, but it’s a struggle to look at, though I did wonder if there was an issue with the projection (unusual for the GFT). I don’t really have much else to say about this.

55. Fancy Dance - Cinema

It was interesting to see Lily Gladstone playing a frostier character after stealing the show in KOTFM as the heart of that film, and I liked how it portrayed the suffering that goes into keeping a minority culture alive. That social commentary was the most biting thing about Fancy Dance, imo, as I thought it was severely hindered by its naff dialogue and flat cinematography which felt like afterthought when it came to telling this story.

56. Bye Bye Tiberias - Cinema

This wouldn't have worked as well as it did without such a clear focus on its characters, and it's their story of displacement and migration that facilitates the ideas of how the past, memories and legacies live on, which is told through the lens of Palestinian adversity. 

There is footage from the modern day, a few years prior, the early 90s and the mid-20th century which all have authentically distinct forms. This separation of the past and the present could have made the documentary feel immediately dated given it was filmed prior to October of last year, however I came to appreciate the inadvertent meta quality of speaking about the trauma of a previous war while one currently wages. Despite this, it's also a story of resilience and fighting to live on in the face of death - and even when you do succumb to it.

[accies1874]

On 30/06/2024 at 14:24, MSU said:

088 Kinds of Kindness -- Artistically valueless sub Wes Anderson try-hard trash. 1/10

 

2 minutes ago, Starksdynamo said:

Went to see Kinds of Kindness last night and I loved it. Yorgos Lanthimos back to his weird best much more akin to Killing of a Sacred Deer and The Lobster rather than Poor Things.  Helps that Plemons, Stone and Dafoe are three of the best in the biz right now. 8/10 - second story was my favourite.

I wonder if any of his films haven't had a 1-star review immediately being followed by a praiseworthy review. 

[Miguel Sanchez]

The Truman Show (1998)

About a year ago I watched The King of Comedy for the first time and thought it ironic how tame a film about celebrity obsession was, given how media has change since it came out. It's been a while since I'd seen this (and it's shorter than I remembered or realised) but just think the same thing, only without any stalking or torture.

[MSU]

4 hours ago, accies1874 said:

 

I wonder if any of his films haven't had a 1-star review immediately being followed by a praiseworthy review. 

I liked Killing of a Sacred Deer, kinda liked The Lobster, didn't like Poor Things, and absolutely hated Kinds of Kindness, so I feel I have personally covered much of the spectrum of reactions to his movie. Sorry, movies.

[Zetterlund]

The Trust (2016)

Nicolas Cage & Elijah Wood are corrupt cops who plan a heist. Really enjoyed this, and extra points awarded for introducing me to this banger.

 

[scottsdad]

Family Affair (Netflix)

Utter dross from start to finish. 0/10. I'd rather watch Rocky V than this again.

[MazzyStar]

The French Dispatch - I do not like Wes Anderson.