What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Detournement]

Valhalla Rising (2009)

A very violent film where Mads Mikkelsen is a captured Viking who is the medieval Scottish version of a Mandingo fighting slave and eventually takes up with a band of genocidal early Christians. It' directed  by Nicolas Winding Refn and all filmed in Scotland with the Scottish scenes being filmed in the pissing rain and gloom with the scenes outside Scotland in slightly better weather. It looks very low budget but apparently cost £5 million quid which makes me think Refn bumped Creative Scotland a belter.

Mother! (2017)

A very trippy, nightmarish Darren Aronofsky film starring Jennifer Lawrenece, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. It seems to be exploring all the ways you can physically and mentally abuse Lawrence's character. It's extremely unpleasant and there must have been loads of walkouts from people who just went to see J-Law.

Jules et Jim (1962) 

The story of two friends who end up on opposite sides of WWI and eventually fall in love with the same troublemaking woman played Jeanne Moreau. The tone is totally different pre and post war as the characters from young and full of life to struggling to exist after the war.

The Exorcist (1973)

This was on after MOTD on Saturday and I ended up watching until nearly 2am as I couldn't put it off. It mixes up horror, crazy Catholics and reactionary fears about women's lib and single parent mothers raising children into something very watchable. 

39 Steps (1935)

Somehow this was filmed in 1935 and the guy who played Private Frazier looks older than does in Dad's Army. The main character Richard Hannay get chased from London to Loch Tay and back again after stumbling on a German spy ring. A several points he has to bully and manipulate pretty blonde women to survive which is how you know it's a Hitchcock film.

[scottsdad]

21 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Off to see Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at the cinema with the kids tonight.

I forgot how utterly long this film was. Due to start at 7.40, we left the cinema at 10.35.

Around 15 folk in to watch it in total, including me and two kids.

It is a good movie, but if they trimmed half an hour off it, it would be excellent.

[Stellaboz]

4 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

I forgot how utterly long this film was. Due to start at 7.40, we left the cinema at 10.35.

Around 15 folk in to watch it in total, including me and two kids.

It is a good movie, but if they trimmed half an hour off it, it would be excellent.

Aye but it's worth it though.

I think the series starts to really get going from the next film, Azkaban but I can't complain about getting as much of these stories on film as possible.

[accies1874]

56 minutes ago, Detournement said:

Mother! (2017)

A very trippy, nightmarish Darren Aronofsky film starring Jennifer Lawrenece, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer. It seems to be exploring all the ways you can physically and mentally abuse Lawrence's character. It's extremely unpleasant and there must have been loads of walkouts from people who just went to see J-Law.

I think it's great fun. Complete schlock but enjoyable to follow the allegories. I've not seen The Fountain or Noah but Aronofsky's got a 100% hit rate for me from the ones I have seen. Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler are genuinely brilliant and Mother! and Black Swan are strangely entertaining. 

[accies1874]

199. Hocus Pocus (1993)* - Digital Rental

It’s pretty much just a pantomime, and that’ll appeal to a lot of people/families but it is rubbish.

200. Tales of Halloween (2015)* - Digital Rental

The aspect ratio of Amazon’s stream was squashed beyond all belief so had to bail and rent it on YouTube instead.

It’s an anthology film so you’re obviously gonna win some and lose some, but there’s nowhere near enough time spent on the good (devil kid, cannibals, Hansel) and too much time spent on a couple of the bad ones (the hood one and the pumpkin). The most interesting part of the film, and it took me a few stories to appreciate this, is when there are really short tales that purely serve to flesh out the town and atmosphere. If there were more of these random interjections and more time spent on the good ones, then you wouldn’t need the filler – or you could at least shorten them to be like the former. In better anthologies, the opening and closer here would both be decent filler stories which kind of sums Tales of Halloween up.

This is also quite a good example of pretty pictures not necessarily equating to good cinematography, as there’s a lot of great lighting, especially through the fog, but it’s quite visually confusing and not effectively scary enough in that department.

202. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)* - Digital Rental

I didn’t like this an awful lot. Good concept that I might’ve found more engaging if I’d seen A Nightmare on Elm Street more recently, but just couldn’t get into it at all.

[Detournement]

1 minute ago, accies1874 said:

I think it's great fun. Complete schlock but enjoyable to follow the allegories. I've not seen The Fountain or Noah but Aronofsky's got a 100% hit rate for me from the ones I have seen. Pi, Requiem for a Dream and The Wrestler are genuinely brilliant and Mother! and Black Swan are strangely entertaining. 

I liked it but it was a bit too stressful to be fun.

I like his movies as well. Black Swan is mental and there definitely won't be another film for a long time glorifying anorexic white girls.

 

 

[KnightswoodBear]

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. 

Great fun.  Cage and Pascal look like they're having a great time.  The scene with the two of them on acid is fucking hilarious. 

And Sharon Horgan is in it and she's both funny and hot, so win win. 

[Detournement]

Paths of Glory (1957)

Kirk Douglas doubles up as a French WWI colonel leading his men into battle who also acts as a defence lawyer for soldiers unfairly accused of cowardice. It's very 1950s and Kubrick would never be earnest enough again to give a big name actor a preachy 12 Angry Men/High Noon style hero role. Kirk Douglas is obviously the star but it's a great cast with the standouts being George McCready as sleazy as he was in Gilda, Timothy Carey using his unfortunate face to the extreme and Joe Turkel looking young and innocent compared to the The Shining. The No Man's Land and trench scenes are fantastic and despite the carnage we never actually see a German soldier which was probably the experience for most of the men in WWI. Kubrick also establishes his philosophy of rich people in big fancy houses being evil which would continue up until his death.

Igby Goes Down (2002)

I loved this when it first came out and in some ways it stands up pretty well even if there's too much clever banter. Jeff Goldblum and Susan Sarandon steal the show and whoever cast Amanda Peet and Claire Danes as the love interests deserves a medal. Ryan Phillipe plays his p***k character from Cruel Intentions and Kieran Culkin could conceivably be doing a Roman Roy prequel. It's a nice time capsule film for when I just entering adulthood with the clothes, music and the final throws of the pre internet era.

Saint Jack (1979)

The absolute king Ben Gazzara plays a pimp with a heart of gold in 1970s Singapore. Peter Bogdanovich directs and plays a very interesting character who I won't spoil. It addresses the end of Empire through a rotating cast of absolutely pathetic old English drunks and features a Vietnam War plotline but doesn't go to heavy on either and stays focused on Gazzara's character who is a mixed up romantic who doesn't really know what he wants from life. It looks fantastic and really gives you the feeling of being in an Asian city at night with everything good and bad going on out in the street. I was reading a bit about it after watching and Bogdanovich said Cybill Shepherd dumped him afterwards because she came over from the states while they were shooting and immediately clocked that him and Gazzara were brassing it up.

Vivre Sa Vie (1962)

A much more feminist look at prostitution with Anna Karina's very naive character going on the game and being exploited. A great film if you are able to put aside the fact that one of the most beautiful women of all time would be reduced to streetwalking for money to survive. 

 

[Mark Connolly]

4 hours ago, KnightswoodBear said:

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. 

Great fun.  Cage and Pascal look like they're having a great time.  The scene with the two of them on acid is fucking hilarious. 

And Sharon Horgan is in it and she's both funny and hot, so win win. 

I thought it was excellent. Tiffany Haddish annoys the f**k out of me though, and the film could easily have done without her

[accies1874]

The cinematography is the main star of Paths of Glory imo

[supermik]

The Journey.

Why the hell Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney never won every single award going for their performances in this movie I will never know. 
15/10.

[MSU]

149 From Russia With Love -- I don't remember this being as good as it was, but it might just be my favorite Bond. It's a step up from Dr No in pretty much every regard. The storyline is more interesting and thrilling, it's more fun, and Bond here is far closer to how he appears in the rest of the Connery stint. The action set-pieces still get the pulse raised all these years later and it strikes a near-perfect balance of tongue-in-cheek absurdity ("Shocking!") and Cold War tension. It could maybe be accused of taking its time to get going, but once it does, director Terrence Young hardly allows time to take a breath. 8/10

150 Tár -- Cate Blanchett plays a world-renowned conductor whose world starts to collapse just as she's at the cusp of a few monumental moments in her life and career, is decent stuff if you can get by how painfully boring and slow it is. It takes an awfully long time to tell us how horrible and pretentious Blanchett's character is when it's abundantly clear in the first thirty seconds. I expect Oscar buzz around this. 7/10 

151 Goldfinger -- The seduction of Pussy Galore is a little bit yikes and the point of the Masterson sisters seems to be only to advance the plot a smidge and then get killed. Also, Bond is an oddly passive participant in proceedings. Still, it has a great theme tune, a few iconic scenes and the "I expect you to die, Mr Bond" is worthy of a star on its own. 7/10

152 Never Goin' Back (#71 in the A24 series) -- Two young pals decide to celebrate a birthday by heading on holiday to Galveston, Texas, but when their cash is lost during a drug scam, they go to great lengths to get it back. I've been to Galveston, and it isn't worth the effort. The two leading actresses work brilliantly together, and a lot of their interactions feel very natural, and sort of amusing, and there are sections of this sub-90-minute movie that are funny, but I guess I just spend most of my time watching stoner comedies wanting to shake the people in them. A frustrating movie but still better than Spring Breakers. 4/10

153 The Banshees of Inisherin -- I loved this. A small island off the Irish mainland during the civil war is home to two friends, Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson, when one day, seemingly out of the blue, one of them decides he doesn't like the other any more and terminates their friendship. The civil war metaphor might be a bit on the nose, but there's lots of other stuff quietly going about its business in the background, like commentary on mental health, toxic masculinity, and the grief that comes with appreciating one's own mortality that were pretty close to home for me. I found it funny throughout, though seldom enough to laugh out loud, but mostly I found it full of sadness and a melancholy that just hit my emotional buttons. I expect it to be nominated for lots, it'll win nothing, but looks and sounds gorgeous, the chemistry between Farrell and Gleeson has never been better, and it's one of the best movies 2022 has offered up. 10/10

[Theroadlesstravelled]

Crimes of the Future 2022

Aragorn, Lea Sedoux and Kristen Stewart.

Sci-fi. Horror. Weird. Decent.

 

[KingRocketman II]

Live. Die. Repeat (or Edge of Tomorrow) 2014

The concept of reliving the same events over and over has been done to death (even at the time the short novel came out that this was based on in 2004). My favourites are an X-Files episode called Monday and ST TNG's Cause and Effect but most sci-fi shows that last beyond the first couple of seasons will have a time loop episode at some point. I digress - this was excellent with both Cruise and Blunt playing off each other really well. At no point did you feel you were sat through previous scenes (as the reboot set in even though many scenes are repeated) - plot, dialogue and action scenes (on a par with Saving Private Ryan on their first landing) were fresh and exciting. Liman, Cruise and McQuarrie all at the top of their game. One criticism would be the climax at the Louvre where the lighting and CGI seemed a little at odds with what had gone on before. 8.5/10

The Tomorrow War (2021)

Had vibes of LDR (above) and pulled a lot of strands from other movies. I quite enjoyed the concept that involved humans fighting a losing battle on Earth against aliens in the not too distant future jumping through a time portal and appearing at the Qatar 2022 WC final (the football scenes were very American and very laughable) to urge conscriptions from their "fathers, mothers and grandparents". Aside from the concept and some good battle scenes (agains similar in tone and execution to LDR), the movie was let down by overly simplistic plot devices (with an ending/outcome achieved by a kid who knew a lot about volcanos) and a thick layer of sentimental and sometime unwatchable father/daughter/family messaging applied throughout. An add to the trope thread would be how two people can have a long drawn out, intimate and un-interrupted conversation in the middle of a battle or when facing a very tight deadline (and suddenly become oblivious to that deadline). Chris Pratt was fine but I can't work out if I like him as an actor : ). 4.5/10

In keeping with the above theme, I think I will revisit Looper and Source Code.....

 

Edited November 6, 2022 by KingRocketman II
TTW rating added

[Savage Henry]

On 17/02/2022 at 20:39, BFTD said:

Death on the Nile - infamous Belgian murderer Hercule Poirot gets away with it again, this time on board a steamer in Egypt.

After a dynamic opening, the gradual introduction of characters gets a little dull (as others have mentioned), but once we get into the swing of murder and Poirot doing his intense thing, that's easily forgiven. I've a feeling that American audiences might appreciate the cast slightly more, as it's hard to get over the feeling you're watching a French & Saunders sketch at times, and the sight of Russell Brand might be a tad distracting, although I have to admit that I didn't recognise him at first and he's actually not too bad in quite an underplayed role. Other than that, there's some sprightly scenery consumption and outrageous accent work, but Gal Gadot is once again the least expressive thing on screen by some distance, and that includes the CGI scenery, which I didn't find as distracting as some - they can get away with that stuff a lot better these days, I think.

I enjoyed Kenneth Branagh's first shot at Poirot far more than I was expecting, so my expectations were higher this time; it's slightly disappointing, but an enjoyable watch nonetheless. No hints dropped about another film in the series this time, but I could happily watch more of these, so fingers crossed.

Gal Gadot might rival Megan Fox in the utterly and genuinely terrible actors stakes.   Her “enough champagne to fill the Nile” is one of the worst deliveries I’ve ever seen.  Amateurish is putting it mildly. 
 

I watched See How They Run, which is a vaguely amusing send up of the Agatha Christie genre.  It has a stellar cast, and Sam Rockwell is brilliant as always.   Perfectly acceptable brainless time waster. 6/10. 

[accies1874]

9 hours ago, MSU said:

 

153 The Banshees of Inisherin -- I loved this. A small island off the Irish mainland during the civil war is home to two friends, Colin Farrell and Brendon Gleeson, when one day, seemingly out of the blue, one of them decides he doesn't like the other any more and terminates their friendship. The civil war metaphor might be a bit on the nose, but there's lots of other stuff quietly going about its business in the background, like commentary on mental health, toxic masculinity, and the grief that comes with appreciating one's own mortality that were pretty close to home for me. I found it funny throughout, though seldom enough to laugh out loud, but mostly I found it full of sadness and a melancholy that just hit my emotional buttons. I expect it to be nominated for lots, it'll win nothing, but looks and sounds gorgeous, the chemistry between Farrell and Gleeson has never been better, and it's one of the best movies 2022 has offered up. 10/10

Wouldn't put it past Colin Farrell winning tbf. 

[BFTD]

58 minutes ago, Savage Henry said:

Gal Gadot might rival Megan Fox in the utterly and genuinely terrible actors stakes.   Her “enough champagne to fill the Nile” is one of the worst deliveries I’ve ever seen.  Amateurish is putting it mildly. 
 

I watched See How They Run, which is a vaguely amusing send up of the Agatha Christie genre.  It has a stellar cast, and Sam Rockwell is brilliant as always.   Perfectly acceptable brainless time waster. 6/10. 

Word for word, I could've composed this post myself.

[MSU]

4 hours ago, accies1874 said:

Wouldn't put it past Colin Farrell winning tbf. 

The more I was thinking about it and looking back to other movies of 2022, he really does have a shout. 

[Theroadlesstravelled]

One for the money. 2012

Katherine Heigl loses her high paying job in lingerie sales and starts work as a bail bonds agent at her uncle’s firm. The main focus of the story is her attempting to bring in her ex-high school boyfriend who has skipped bail but not all is as it seems.

A few laughs to be had here and there. A traditional “girly movie” but Heigl is beautiful so there’s something for everyone.

This got 2% on Rotten Tomatoes which is extremely harsh as it’s way better than Life of Pi.

[Savage Henry]

The Inbearable Weight of Massive Talent: Nicholas Cage playing Nicholas Cage.   He’s pretty funny when he doesn’t try to be serious, and he’s pretty funny when he does.  I enjoyed it a lot, and I’m not usually a Cage fan.  6.2/10