What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[banana]

13 hours ago, Christophe said:

Tickled  7/10

Ooh, is this out already? Been looking forward to it for ages, apparently some bizarre politics explode into the film and a shitstorm arises. (no spoilers please).

[Tommy Nooka]

48 minutes ago, killienick said:

The thing that I liked best was the film acted almost as a study of human tribal behaviour. It was like Lord of the Flies, (with actual massive bitey flies).

 

 Total gut punch of an ending. As a Dad I quite honestly don't know what I would have done.

That's Stephen Kings forte imo, The Stand and Under The Dome are great examples of this.

The Mist has a completely different ending to the short story, in fact the book has an almost polar opposite ending.

Spoiler

The last word in the story is "Hope"

 

[killienick]

51 minutes ago, Tommy Nooka said:

That's Stephen Kings forte imo, The Stand and Under The Dome are great examples of this.

The Mist has a completely different ending to the short story, in fact the book has an almost polar opposite ending.

  Reveal hidden contents

The last word in the story is "Hope"

 

Yes. Spot on. Stephen King is good at exploring the worst of man and likes to pit his protagonists against almost evil archetypes. If I have one criticism of King it would be of supporting character development though - they tend to be rather predictable, especially the 'baddies'. In the Mist, I think Darabont was better at ramping up the tension and division.

In terms of the ending, I read somewhere that Stephen King thinks Darabont's ending is better. Personally, I also prefer the ending of the film as it was so unexpected and visceral. Like being kicked in the balls while you were looking away.

[Christophe]

5 hours ago, banana said:

Ooh, is this out already? Been looking forward to it for ages, apparently some bizarre politics explode into the film and a shitstorm arises. (no spoilers please).

Showing at The Cameo if you're Edinburgh way? The DVD is £20!!

[ICTChris]

The Witch
I love horror films but my wife hates them so I don't really get to see much of them. Today my wife was out so I stuck this on and I enjoyed it.

It tells the story of a 17th century New England Puritan family who leave their community due to theological disagreements and move to an isolated farm to build a life for themselves, alone. The family are intensely religious and all their interactions are rooted in the gospel, the idea of original sin, damnation. Early on you see the oldest daughter, played superbly by Anya Taylor-Joy, pray for forgiveness in secret for her sins but the mysterious disappeared of her baby brother begins to drive the family into self destruction.

I've read some about this beforehand and it's an interesting concept, telling the story of this family as they would've understood it, believing in evil, witches, a vengeful God and what it would be like to face up to things like the death of an unbaptised child while having these beliefs. While the supernatural is laid bare (literally at some points) I think the real drama is in the unraveling of the family, the grief, the turning against each other. The ending makes sense when you see what has gone before.

As well as Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie are superb as the parents and the twins are excellent, unsettling without falling into the tired 'evil child' horror cliche.

The only criticism I'd have is that the climactic scenes perhaps jar with the atmosphere of the rest of the film although that a minor grumble really.

[dogmc]

7 psychopaths.....again 10/10 kinda film tarantino wishes he could still make

[jagfox]

See No Evil, Hear No Evil - Brilliant 9/10

[jester]

On 8/12/2016 at 22:41, wellinwigan said:

The shallows

7/10

Not too bad a film and Blake lively in a bikini.ridiculous ending though 

Yeah, I know.

Those Go-Pro cases are ridiculously hard to open, there's no way a kid could manage that. That's not to mention the sub menus.

[jester]

The Purge: Election Year 7/10

Quite enjoyed this one, if you've seen the previous Purge films you'll know roughly what to expect...almost.

Good to see Arlo Givens and Ellstin Limehouse of Justified in this. I didn't realise that Limehouse (Mykelti Williamson) was Bubba in Forrest Gump. 

Edited September 4, 2016 by jester

[killienick]

The Lady in the Van 6/10

Very strange, slightly jarring, story telling style. In essence, a playwright is telling the story of a woman who lived in his driveway for 14 years, in her van. The medium used is essentially a monologue but visually a dialogue between the writer and himself. It's just rather annoying and doesn't work on film IMO.

I know that this was a very successful West End play based on a true story but what works in theatre doesn't necessarily work in film and this is certainly true of the Lady in the Van.

Maggie Smith is utterly brilliant as the lady though and more of the film's time should have been spent with her.

[GrahamJags]

The Purge: Election Year - 2/10. Utter dross. Couldn't get into it, plus the overly black stereotyping just annoyed the life out of me.

Bad Mums - 5/10. Not great, but Mila Kunis.

Cafe Society - 7/10. Not seen too many Woody Allen films, and I can't stand Jesse Eisenberg but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Great storyline and fantastic performances from Steve Carrell and Kristen Stewart (who I'm generally not usually arsed with). Thought it was very Great Gatsby at times though (not necessarily a bad thing)

[nelsjfc]

Spider's Web - A pigs tale

My youngest daughter saw this dvd in a second hand shop for 50p and I didn't have the heart to say no. It was 50p too much, spectacularly shit. Offensively bad voice overs, brutal MS paint-level animation and utterly bizarre storyline including an outcontrol killer tv. YouTube of it below if your brave enough

[banana]

Spider's Web - A pigs tale

My youngest daughter saw this dvd in a second hand shop for 50p and I didn't have the heart to say no. It was 50p too much, spectacularly shit. Offensively bad voice overs, brutal MS paint-level animation and utterly bizarre storyline including an outcontrol killer tv. YouTube of it below if your brave enough

Aye but did your wee lass enjoy it?

[throbber]

The Witch
I love horror films but my wife hates them so I don't really get to see much of them. Today my wife was out so I stuck this on and I enjoyed it.

It tells the story of a 17th century New England Puritan family who leave their community due to theological disagreements and move to an isolated farm to build a life for themselves, alone. The family are intensely religious and all their interactions are rooted in the gospel, the idea of original sin, damnation. Early on you see the oldest daughter, played superbly by Anya Taylor-Joy, pray for forgiveness in secret for her sins but the mysterious disappeared of her baby brother begins to drive the family into self destruction.

I've read some about this beforehand and it's an interesting concept, telling the story of this family as they would've understood it, believing in evil, witches, a vengeful God and what it would be like to face up to things like the death of an unbaptised child while having these beliefs. While the supernatural is laid bare (literally at some points) I think the real drama is in the unraveling of the family, the grief, the turning against each other. The ending makes sense when you see what has gone before.

As well as Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie are superb as the parents and the twins are excellent, unsettling without falling into the tired 'evil child' horror cliche.

The only criticism I'd have is that the climactic scenes perhaps jar with the atmosphere of the rest of the film although that a minor grumble really.

Me and my Mrs put that off after 20 minutes as both thought it was pish.

[19QOS19]

Spider's Web - A pigs tale

My youngest daughter saw this dvd in a second hand shop for 50p and I didn't have the heart to say no. It was 50p too much, spectacularly shit. Offensively bad voice overs, brutal MS paint-level animation and utterly bizarre storyline including an outcontrol killer tv. YouTube of it below if your brave enough

[ICTChris]

2 hours ago, throbber said:

 

Me and my Mrs put that off after 20 minutes as both thought it was pish.

 

Well this just proves that I'm right and you and your wife are wrong and stupid and I'm the best.

 

Last night I continued my descent into horror heaven/hell with It Follows.

One one level It Follows is a slasher flick, a supernatural entity pursues sexually active suburban teenagers.  However, the details and ideas in the film really elevate it to the top echelon of slashers.  The plot is that a 19 year old student, Jay, has sex with her new boyfriend in a car after several dates.  Immediately afterwards he drugs her and ties her up, revealing that he has passed on a sexually transmitted curse.  A 'thing' (the 'It' of the title) will now pursue her until she passes it on to someone else through sex.  If the 'thing' catches her it will kill her.  The 'thing' takes the form of a person, who only the cursed and previously afflicted can see, who walks directly towards you.  It never runs, it never speaks, it can't be killed.  Written down the premise sounds a little daft but in the film it was very creepy.  You find yourself looking for people walking in a straight line and when you spot the 'thing' it's eerie and it's not.  Rather than having some horrible deformed creature jumping out in a haunted house shouting "Boo!" you have this sense of dread when you see someone out of place walking serenely in the mid-distance.  I think focusing on this for a long time also makes it more chilling, more scary, reminding me a bit of the denouement of the Ring, which, for me, is about the most terrifying thing I've seen in cinema.

The film also focuses more on the characters of the main group of friends, which works very well, adding depth to the drama and a different aspect, as well as the 'thing' you also have to deal with the jealousies, manipulations and desires of the group.  The idea that sex curses you but that it also saves you from the curse causes tensions in the group and gives the film more depth.  The acting is excellent, all the main cast are natural and give a lot more than running around screaming.  It's odd to say but the actors playing the 'thing' are also really good, although walking in a straight line isn't the most challenging role.

I read the Kermode review before watching the film and absolutely agreed with the comparisons he made to Halloween (one of my all-time favourite films).  The scenes walking about the suburban streets could be taken from the early scenes in Halloween and the way that the 'thing' appears in the background echoes what Carpenter did with The Shape (Michael Myers).  Another big nod is the soundtrack, a super-creepy squishy synth delight.  It reminded me a lot of the Drive soundtrack, maybe not as good as a standalone but perfectly suited to the film.  I really liked the scenes in and around Detroit, the broken down derelict houses and buildings were atmospheric without being cliched.

Overall I loved it and really liked the ending as well.  

 

 

[lichtie23]

Suffragette

Started slow but was quite invested towards the end. Carey Mulligan was very good in the lead role as was Brendon Gleeson as the copper.
6/10

[nelsjfc]

Aye but did your wee lass enjoy it?

She got bored pretty quickly and her older sister was a bit bemused by it.

They did put it on again yesterday though leading to my rage.

[throbber]

5 hours ago, ICTChris said:

Well this just proves that I'm right and you and your wife are wrong and stupid and I'm the best.

 

I'm going to give it another watch as at the time we just weren't in the mood for it but it did seem to be getting off to a slow start.

Watched both Conjuring films in the last few days, pretty creepy films especially the second for me although that may be just because i wasn't feeling as brave as i was when watching the first one! 

[Shandon Par]

On 9/4/2016 at 17:42, ICTChris said:

The Witch
I love horror films but my wife hates them so I don't really get to see much of them. Today my wife was out so I stuck this on and I enjoyed it.

It tells the story of a 17th century New England Puritan family who leave their community due to theological disagreements and move to an isolated farm to build a life for themselves, alone. The family are intensely religious and all their interactions are rooted in the gospel, the idea of original sin, damnation. Early on you see the oldest daughter, played superbly by Anya Taylor-Joy, pray for forgiveness in secret for her sins but the mysterious disappeared of her baby brother begins to drive the family into self destruction.

I've read some about this beforehand and it's an interesting concept, telling the story of this family as they would've understood it, believing in evil, witches, a vengeful God and what it would be like to face up to things like the death of an unbaptised child while having these beliefs. While the supernatural is laid bare (literally at some points) I think the real drama is in the unraveling of the family, the grief, the turning against each other. The ending makes sense when you see what has gone before.

As well as Taylor-Joy, Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie are superb as the parents and the twins are excellent, unsettling without falling into the tired 'evil child' horror cliche.

The only criticism I'd have is that the climactic scenes perhaps jar with the atmosphere of the rest of the film although that a minor grumble really.



 

I can't wait to see this. Sounds right up my street. Listened to an American film review show the other day that did a comparison of this and the Wicker Man (not the Nick Cage one) and all the contributors were big fans of both.