What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[jimmy boo]

The House of Gucci. Some stellar performances by the cast, especially Jared Leto, which you will either love or hate. Pretty entertaining but kinda seemed to have some pacing issues which was odd considering it's over 2 and a half hours.
Nightmare Alley. An absorbing Del Toro flick, got really sucked in with this. Really stuck the ending with this one.

Wasn't expecting much from Gucci but it was actually tremendous.

[Paul Kersey]

On 04/02/2022 at 17:48, Arch Stanton said:

Theres a film from the 70s called Straight Time where Dustin Hoffman, a repeat offender, has the chance to drive off into the sunset with his GF yet goes out of his way to kill the guy who fucked up the robbery.

The robbery takes place in a jewellery store where all the glass cabinets are smashed with hammers, sound familiar? It's a pretty influential movie.

I'd like to see LA Takedown one day just for comparison to Heat.

Straight time is fantastic. It really shows that career criminals are disorganised half wits more than anything else.

It's always annoyed me that Hoffman blames Busey for fucking up the robbery when it was Hoffman's character that didn't stick to the schedule.

[BigDoddyKane]

3 hours ago, Paul Kersey said:

Straight time is fantastic. It really shows that career criminals are disorganised half wits more than anything else.

It's always annoyed me that Hoffman blames Busey for fucking up the robbery when it was Hoffman's character that didn't stick to the schedule.

Straight time is a great movie, and Hoffmans performance is top notch

[BigDoddyKane]

On 06/02/2022 at 02:33, UpInTheAyr said:

Think Mann is doing a prequel to Heat. Usually cause for concern with things like this but the fact Mann is at the helm I don't doubt it will be good. He's a director that rarely misses, I even liked Blackhat and Miami Vice. The Keep is an interesting unknown film of his, worth a watch if you can find a decent copy.

Thief is a brilliant movie that Mann directed. James Caan stars in it. Might of been Manns first movie even

Edited February 7, 2022 by BigDoddyKane

[velo army]

spider man: no way home

I'm not that into marvel stuff and much of it passed me by. 

This is fantastic though. I'm an absolute sucker for redemption arcs and this is full of them. Getting to see Tobey McGuire as Peter/Spidey again was an absolute treat and serves as a kind of elder statesman on this film. Garfield is wonderful too and his redemption story had me in tears. In fact I cried pretty hard at about four different bits of this movie. 

The plot is actually pretty straightforward, which was a relief considering it's got Dr Strange in it and the idea of parallel worlds tends to have me switching off. It's all wonderful though and the development of Holland's Spiderman is utterly compelling.

I'll watch this again, no doubt. Utterly magnificent.

 

 

 

[Cheese]

The Kingsman

I didn't mind the 1st 2 Kingsman films, they're silly and never take themselves too seriously. This one isn't great. Terrible bad guy, bizarre and abrupt changes in tone, the use of the historical characters is wonky and that MCU end credits scene is just wtf.

4/10, extra point for Ralph Fiennes.

[CaspianChris]

On 24/01/2022 at 11:43, Sliced Bread said:

The new Ghostbusters film. 
 

I guess it was just what it needed to be,  new and youthful enough to attract a young audience and reboot the franchise, but plenty from the original films to hook in us old farts who watched it in the 80s. It was ok, a bit too long, Bill Murray looks decrepit and it wasn’t the same without Harold Ramis. I did prefer it to the Paul Feig one a few years ago. 

Not seen the new one yet but have seen one or two clips of it.

Seen the original 80s one a few times though.

Good to see the return of Gozer and the the terror dogs even through they terrified me in the original film.

The wee Stay Puft marshmallow men in the new film look cute though

[BFTD]

Moonfall - Roland Emmerich does a straight remake of his prior disaster flick 2012. This isn't quite as hilariously nonsensical as the John Cusack film, but it's close enough and is just utterly risible in every way; contrived as f**k and matches the previous film beat-for-beat, even down to some remarkably specific plot dynamics. So bad that I will definitely watch this again at some point, just like I occasionally put on shite like 2012 or The Core, because clearly I hate myself.

Some other thoughts:

• The writers clearly play video games, as there are some very specific elements cribbed from Mass Effect, specifically #3 and Andromeda.
• The film looks very strange. You'd obviously expect a lot of green screen in a disaster movie like this, but the actors never quite look like they're actually in any scene, even at the beginning when it's just a bunch of people standing about in nondescript rooms. It's not bad, so much as it just adds an unreal feel to what's already a film that never comes close to suspending disbelief. There's also no real sense of weight or importance to any of the absurd levels of destruction - a trait it shares with 2012.
• There are quite a few of these films that go down the "crazed conspiracy theorist turns out to be right all along" route, which I've never had a problem with as a device in fiction, but it's starting to grate on me, considering popular opinion is turning to the idea that experts aren't to be trusted and loons with a camera and a YouTube account are legitimate sources of trusted information. This film is particularly bad, as

Spoiler

one of the characters seems like a complete Mary Sue for some nutjob on the writing team, as he not only is the archetypal conspiracy loon who's proven entirely right, but he out-thinks all of NASA's experts, can perform incredible calculations with no training, sacrifices himself to save the world, and seems like he's about to become God at the close of the movie. WTAF.

 

Edited February 10, 2022 by BFTD
Typos; typos everywhere.

[Cheese]

The Power of the Dog

Slow burning Western dealing with issues of toxic masculinity and repressed sexuality. Cumberbatch is good and the cinematography is great.

Not really my cup of tea, but I can see why it's rated by the critics and the awards people.

7/10

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

Belfast

Ken branagh manages to take a subject matter famously big on hate and somehow transform it into a love letter - to a family in danger, to working class community, to the city of Belfast, to the wonder of cinema. Every frame drips with affection and, supported by superb performances, it works perfectly. Right down to Van the Man. A 9/10 for me 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by Genuine Hibs Fan

[Shandon Par]

Titane 

(French for Titanium)

Young girl involved in a bad car crash grows up to have a kink for vehicles and murdering folk then has to take refuge. Extreme body horror but strangely quite sweet and tender and even funny at times. 

[Shandon Par]

Cruella

Emma Watson in the back story of Cruella Devil. Tonally it’s a mess. For long periods it’s like Joker but then it tries to ape some of the cute slapstick of Paddington. Some amazing cars, clothes, music and the camera is on Emma Watson’s face for the bill of the film so it’s no hardship to watch. 

[Gianfranco]

I think you’ve got the wrong Emma.

[pawpar]

Just watched the shawshank redemption because everyone keeps raving about it. Thought people were maybe exaggerating about it. Could not have been more wrong. Only one word to describe it. Beautiful. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

On 12/02/2022 at 00:40, Shandon Par said:

Cruella

Emma Watson in the back story of Cruella Devil. Tonally it’s a mess. For long periods it’s like Joker but then it tries to ape some of the cute slapstick of Paddington. Some amazing cars, clothes, music and the camera is on Emma Watson’s face for the bill of the film so it’s no hardship to watch. 

Can't believe they've already remade that so soon after the Emma Stone version.

[MSU]

008 -- Death on the Nile. It seemed the 1970s version of this with Peter Ustinov was always on TV on a Sunday afternoon so I knew the story and had a vague idea of whodunnit, although not quite sure of the why or the how. The Kenneth Branagh version is solid and steady enough, but maybe a bit too uniform in pace, a bit lacking in excitement, and has the odd curiosity value of having an incredibly understated performance from Russell Brand. It suffers from the fakery of all the CGI backdrops and the fact that no one seems to be having an awful lot of fun. Still, a decent enough way to spend a couple of hours. 6/10

[Rodhull]

Terminator Dark Fate. Surprisingly not nearly as bad as I expected but more because after the last couple my expectations for Terminator movies are Rock bottom. That is to say it is in no way good but could have been worse.

[Squalor Vic]

House of Gucci. I liked it, took a while to get used to the accents, which are pretty much ditched by the end by most of the folk. Gaga was great and Jared Leto was in a different film from everyone else, don't know if he was terrible or great in it. 

[Fullerene]

12 hours ago, MSU said:

008 -- Death on the Nile. It suffers from the fakery of all the CGI backdrops and the fact that no one seems to be having an awful lot of fun. Still, a decent enough way to spend a couple of hours. 6/10

On the flip side I recall "A Caribbean Mystery" with Helen Hayes as Miss Marple.

At one point, despite the fact that people had been murdered, she declares, "this really has been jolly good fun.  We must do it again".

How can anyone have fun if Poirot or Marple are about.  Bad omen if ever there was one.

Edited February 13, 2022 by Fullerene

[accies1874]

29. A Shot in the Dark (1964)* - Film4

A fantastic opening and title sequence that aren't really matched for the rest of it but still a well-constructed comedy. 

30. Belle (2022)* - Cinema

Spoiler

Should start by saying that despite not consuming any anime films or TV shows, I'm just not really a fan of the art style. I think it's because it reminds me of rubbish childhood cartoons on Jetix etc that might not even be anime or, tbh, even exist, but there's just something about it that doesn't connect with me. Between that and the fact it was dubbed, and the fact I saw it in the worst cinema itw and the fact there was an annoying-ass kid there who wouldn't shut the hell up, I really didn't see it in the best environment. But still, lots to like. 

It starts with two juxtaposed character introductions - the "irl" Suzu and her online persona Bell - which makes for quite an impactful shift from one to the other, although it's somewhat deceptive in where we meet each of them and I was more interested in what it initially promised. 

While the film is good and has interesting ideas (which I'll get to), the script does falter quite a bit. Firstly, it's disappointingly on-the-nose at times which is just weird, explaining exactly what characters are feeling at times which takes away from the emotion of scenes. Secondly, some plot progressions come out of nowhere - confusing. Finally, and most annoyingly, the ending had a big issue for me. Its climax has Suzu travelling to another part of Japan because her online romantic interest is in trouble, but they make it very clear that his danger is immediate and it will take her a long time to get to him. This made for a climax that was completely devoid of any tension as I just assumed that the guy in danger (The Beast) was getting battered and there was nothing our protagonist could do about it, but not in a No Country was as her arrival is depicted as heroic. Plus, for some reason they decided to have The Beast believing that Suzu is Bell twice and I'm not sure why. 

However, there's a lot of good here and it's a very balanced portrayal of digitisation and fame that I haven't really seen done before. 

We slag social media and the fucking metaverse but you can see here that someone who has an unfulfilling life can find solace in a community who know nothing about her and her baggage. For better or worse, the internet can empower people due to its anonymity and/or only showing a tiny sliver of themselves which can give them a platform and a voice in the real world. The Beast and Bell also find connection over the internet when they had very little in the real world. 

There's also a respect for privacy and an understanding of the dangers of doxing. A lot of characters use the internet to find a better version of themselves that they can shape in any way they want (again, this can obvs be bad) and taking that agency away can be harmful. It's also established early on about half of the world's users hating Bell which would be overwhelming - who'd want that spilling into real life? Including a celebrity in the film's real world as a side character and writing them an arc was clever too. A lot of society constantly look to dig deeper into celebrities etc to try and expose a persona or facade when, in reality, so much of the population has parts they want to hide irl which is no different, as shown by the popular girl having an admittedly boring revelation. This is obviously completely disrespectful of their privacy for no reason other than the fact they have an audience (that they often didn't ask for). However...

... that audience investment can be used for good - aka "virtue signalling" by The Losers. When famous people choose to expose their issues, it can legitimise them for those who might not have a voice or people to understand how they feel. The allure of celebrity gives off an impression of strength to a lot of people so if they can use their audience and talent to inspire and help then surely that's good? It is here, but I always felt that undercurrent of how legitimising the voiceless can be dangerous - neo-Nazis! The Beast, perhaps deliberately, gave off big school shooter vibes to me too. 

What Belle does most importantly, though, is to emphasise the genuineness of irl connection. The Bell persona only worked thematically as it grew Suzu as a character and she embraced what she previously succumbed to as opposed to running away from herself. The internet and celebrity is all well and good but that's nothing compared to pure connection - even if her friend is an a-hole which never seems to be resolved?

The songs were shit though. 

31. Murders at the Lake (2019)* - Channel 5

Actually a bit better than the usual Channel 5 TV movies which is slightly disappointing. Still trash, obviously, but it actually resembles a film at points which is unheard of for this genre.