What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[scottsdad]

2 hours ago, DA Baracus said:

Batman (1989)

Hadn't seen this in years. In fact I can't remember the last time I did. Must be at least 15 years.

It's much better than I recall, possibly because I thought it was campy and daft as Batman Forever and Batman and Robin (although less so).

However, it's a really good Batman film that gets loads right, and only has a couple of moments of silly campiness that don't detract from the film at all. Gotham feels run down, grimy and corrupt. The atmosphere of the city feels malign.

Michael Keaton is great as Bruce Wayne and Batman. He plays them just slightly differently and nails both I think, although he's not in the film for a surprising amount of time. 

That's because the real focus is Jack Nicholson's Joker/Jack Napier, although they too are different like Bruce Wayne and Batman are. Nicholson's Joker comes across as genuinely unhinged and with a sense of danger, comparing favorable with Ledger's portrayal. It blows Leto's dogshit attempt out of the water. Leto's Joker seemed to created by dull suits in a shiny boardroom who used Excel and PowerPoint to build a consensus on what constitutes 'wacky' and 'keeraazzee!!!!!'. The result was a shiny, corporate piece of nonsense that exuded no menace at all and was a boring, irritating dullard who was no threat to anyone. The Fast Show's Colin Hunt would have been more convincing.

Anyway, Nicholson nails Joker. The film is very enjoyable and there's good support from Kim Basinger and Billy Dee Williams. It's a basic enough plot but doesn't waste time on Bruce Wayne becoming Batman (he arrives 'fully formed' and the viewer's hand isn't held with who and what Batman is; there's only a small allusion in a brief conversation between Batman and Joker at the end, like a couple of lines) and doesn't waste time in general. The late 80s vibe is present but doesn't smother the film in cheese.

Really, this film was more of a Joker film featuring Batman, but as an introduction to Batman, with a sequel very much in mind (see the introduction of the Bat Signal at the end) it did what it needed to, and did it very well. 

  Hide contents

Oh, and Batman kills Joker. None of this 'chuck him in prison' daft moral code, only for Joker to break out and murder hoardes more, rinse and repeat.

I recently rewatched all of these. For me, Batman Returns was a far better and more enjoyable movie. 

[BFTD]

4 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

I recently rewatched all of these. For me, Batman Returns was a far better and more enjoyable movie. 

I've noticed it seems to have been re-evaluated recently. I remember liking some of the ideas, and how could you not enjoy Michelle Pfeiffer in black leather, but I found it quite dull at the time. Catwoman and Penguin couldn't carry my interest, despite Pfeiffer and Danny De Vito getting rave reviews.

Joel Schumacher went on to do an excellent job of making it look good, of course.

[Bully Wee Villa]

I like Batman Returns. I'd rank the Batman films I've seen as follows:

1. Dark Knight

2. Dark Knight Rises

3. Lego Batman Movie

4. Batman Returns

5. Batman (1990ish)

6. Batman Begins

7. The Batman

8. Batman (sixties)

 

 

 

9. Batman Forever

 

 

 

 

 

10. Batman and Robin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Batman vs Superman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Justice League

Edited January 7, 2023 by Bully Wee Villa

[scottsdad]

7 hours ago, BFTD said:

I've noticed it seems to have been re-evaluated recently. I remember liking some of the ideas, and how could you not enjoy Michelle Pfeiffer in black leather, but I found it quite dull at the time. Catwoman and Penguin couldn't carry my interest, despite Pfeiffer and Danny De Vito getting rave reviews.

Joel Schumacher went on to do an excellent job of making it look good, of course.

I was the same, I remembered this as being a bit shit compared to the 1989 one. But when I rewatched them last year this was far, far better. 

Schumacher took over the franchise in the next one, Batman Forever, and flushed all of Tim Burton's good work down the bog. 

[MSU]

002 The Hole in the Ground (#78 in the A24 Series) -- We'll be seeing more of Lee Cronin's work in Evil Dead Rise later in 2023, but back in 2019, he was busy making what I imagine will turn out to be a much quieter affair with The Hole in the Ground. It's a decent, creepy movie that genuinely gave me chills. Sarah and her young son Chris move to rural Ireland where they discover a sinkhole in the woods behind their house and after a fashion, she begins to doubt that her son isn't who he seems to be. Seána Kerslake and James Quinn Markey are both in top form, particularly the latter who is channeling some Irish version of Haley Joel Osment from The Sixth Sense. He's a creepy wee boy, and while the movie doesn't storm bravely down any new ground, what it does do it does pretty well, mainly thanks to his performance, but it's let down by an overly ambiguous ending. 5/10

003 Gloria Bell (#79 in the A24 Series) -- Writer and director Sebastián Lelio remade his own Spanish-language movie, 2013's Gloria, with a supporting cast that includes John Turturro, Michael Cera, Brad Garrett, Jeanne Tripplehorn. As good as they are, it's really Julianne Moore's movie and she's brilliant as the middle-aged divorcee who leads something of a secret life in LA's disco scene where she meets Arnold (Turturro), himself a divorcee with an ex-wife and two adult daughters still financially dependent on him, and the two strike up a relationship. While a little light on story and conflict, and questions on which planet Brad Garrett and Julianne Moore could possibly produce Michael Cera as a son, it's still an engaging, comedic look at everyday life and the absurd complexities of families, and a glorious opportunity to see Moore tear it up to a multitude of 80s disco classics. 7/10

004 High Life (#80 in the A24 Series) -- Claire Denis's vision of Interstellar but with more artificial insemination is a pretty interesting study of humanity and sexuality on a space mission destined for oblivion. Short on laughs, then. It's a difficult watch and a frustrating one at times, with the non-linear narrative approach intent on challenging the viewer, but overall it's worth the effort, helped in part by Robert Pattinson's performance. I really need to stop being so surprised at how great he is in pretty much everything I've seen him in. Mia Goth is better here than in X or Pearl for my money, and while we're talking about money, let's just say Denis gets her worth out of Juliette Binoche. As far as indie arthouse sci-fi goes, it's not really my cup of tea, although I did appreciate the occasional nod to Silent Running. 6/10

005 Cavalcade (#6 in the Oscar Best Picture Series) -- Cavalcade documents the history of a rich London family from New Year's Eve 1899 to the 1930s and it's done in an Upstairs Downstairs fashion where despite all the war and dead monarchs and ships sinking and more war and other historical events, we mostly only get to hear bad actors deliver stale lines to each other talking about them. It's a 2/10 movie every day of the week, but I've awarded an extra point for the scene where a maid holding an enormous knife say she doesn't know where Africa is. 3/10

[Ewanandmoreagain]

18 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I like Batman Returns. I'd rank the Batman films I've seen as follows:

1. Dark Knight

2. Dark Knight Rises

3. Lego Batman Movie

4. Batman Returns

5. Batman (1990ish)

6. Batman Begins

7. The Batman

8. Batman (sixties)

 

 

 

9. Batman Forever

 

 

 

 

 

10. Batman and Robin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Batman vs Superman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Justice League

Ah but the theme song !

Spoiler

as covered by the Who and the Kinks and

 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

The HARD WAY.

" The Prisoner " v. the " Bad "

Spoiler

Patrick McGoohan v. Lee Van Cleef ! "

 

A slow burner with the tension ratched up at the end.

Retired contract killer blackmailed into coming out of retirement.

Spoiler

His ( ex ) wife's words give a clue to how it will end !

 

 

[BFTD]

Eastern Promises (Blu-Ray) - London nurse Naomi Watts investigates the background of a young girl who dies in her hospital, turning out to be a sex trafficking victim of the Russia mafia.

After the success of A History of Violence, David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen reunite with diminishing returns IMO. It's not bad, but I found it a little dull and, despite filling out her jeans quite nicely, Naomi Watts' character is dull as dishwater. The story feels somewhat hindered by Cronenberg's intimate treatment, which has a touch of soap opera about it, and it didn't work as well for me as in their prior film. If you fancy seeing Viggo's genitals jiggle about in a bathhouse, however, you'll struggle to find a better evening's entertainment.

Atroz (splice the mainbrace) - Mexican entry in the edgelord, look-how-nasty-we-are-daddy genre. Cops discover a depraved snuff film at the scene of a drunk driving accident, leading to a whole bunch of other unpleasantness.

Yeah, I wasn't expecting this to be endurance horror - don't go watching it if you're after an interesting story, it just exists to depress the soul and demonstrate how nasty the makers' imaginations are. Despite essentially consisting of a bunch of camcorder vignettes featuring all manner of vile torture, it still manages to trip the bullshit meter in a variety of ways:

• if you want to film this for later enjoyment, why do such a terrible job of it?
• how come the picture breaks up only when something involving special effects happens?
• who is filming this, and how?
• why on Earth would the perpetrator keep this particular tape that's so humiliating for them?
• CSI's certainly don't start watching found footage at the scene
• the big twist at the end is terrible

I guess it's successful in that it's an unpleasant experience, but that's about it.

[Mark Connolly]

23 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I like Batman Returns. I'd rank the Batman films I've seen as follows:

1. Dark Knight

2. Dark Knight Rises

3. Lego Batman Movie

4. Batman Returns

5. Batman (1990ish)

6. Batman Begins

7. The Batman

8. Batman (sixties)

 

 

 

9. Batman Forever

 

 

 

 

 

10. Batman and Robin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11. Batman vs Superman

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. Justice League

Extremely generous to Justice League there IMHO TBQHWY

[BFTD]

I will say that the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League was better than what made it out to cinemas at the time. By "better", I mean that it was more coherent and tonally matched the films that came before.

The whole Warner Bros DC project was still mystifyingly misguided, although I'm a little disappointed that we're not going to see more of where they were going with that mess, as it's pretty funny when someone's taking dudes in tights deathly serious.

[Squalor Vic]

Till - 2022

The horrific true story of Emmett Till who died at the hands of racists in Mississippi in 1955 is told through the POV of his mother Mamie, who went on to be a prominent civil rights activist. Wisely framing it through her eyes means we don't have to watch the actual deed being done (although the sight of the body is quite horrific) and no focus is really given to the white supremacists who participated in it, in fact I'm not even sure you see there faces fully, which is a welcome change. 

It could have done with 20 mins off it imo and the look of it felt like a made for tv movie at the start but when it gets to the  crux of the story it really picks up. The performance of Danielle Deadwyler as Mamie is very good too. 

Overall a worthwhile watch if you like historical films of this nature 

[Guest]

On 06/01/2023 at 18:14, jimmy boo said:

A Man Called Ove

This is the original Swedish version of the new Tom Hanks film A Man Called Otto. Grumpy old widower stuck in his ways and thinks he can boss everyone about has his world changed when new neighbours move in next door. Told in flash backs and is both funny and emotional.........8/10. 

I enjoyed the new one last Friday, would like to see the original.  

[MSU]

006 M3GAN -- A by-the-numbers 12A/PG13 Blumhouse horror movie that doesn't seem to know if it wants to make you scared or make you laugh but succeeds far better in the latter. Nine-year-old Cody's parents die in a fairly amusing car crash and so she is sent to live with her single Aunt Gemma, her mum's sister, who fortunately for the rest of the movie is a big hot shot designer at a toy company and she's been secretly working on a new project. M3GAN (Model 3 Generational Android) is a child-sized robot capable of spontaneous conversation, full of life lessons and worldly advice, and who will do ANYTHING to protect her owner. Gemma tests her new creation out on Cody and doesn't have to wonder what could possibly go wrong for very long before things start to go wrong. The effects of the doll are pretty neat and the performances are solid enough, but it's difficult to ignore how much it borrows from the likes of Child's Play, Ex Machina (a wee bit), Toy Soldiers, and Annabelle. In fact, M3GAN and Annabelle are made by the same people, which is a bit icky. It's not terrible, it's not great, but in the absence of interesting kills, effective jump scares, or anything remotely original, there are a few decent laughs to be had, particularly when M3GAN decides to sing, that makes it just about worthwhile. 6/10

[JustOneCornetto]

Inspired by @MSU and @accies1874 I'm going to try and list/review all the films I watch this year. Here's the first batch of four.

(01) Private Property (1960) - Talking Pictures

Quite a controversial film when it was released due to the sordid and harrowing plot about a couple of drifters who follow a beautiful blonde and spy on her from the empty house next door to her. The bossy one of the drifters, Duke, plans on seducing her and then passing her on to his pal Boots who is hopeless at getting a girlfriend. Of course things don't go smoothly for them and there's a dramatic end when the woman's husband returns home. JFK watched this on the night he won the Presidency and joked that because the film was condemned by the Legion Of Decency it would have helped him with some anti Catholic voters if they knew him and Jackie had watched the film.  6.5/10

(02) Wrong Turn (2023) - Netflix

Think of Deliverance, which even gets mentioned in this film, and you get the idea. A bunch of young city people find themselves lost deep in the Appalachians and encounter some mutant/cannibialistic hillbillies. Nowhere near as subtle or good as Deliverance it pretty much turns into a gorefest with the characters being picked off one by one. Has the odd good and tense moment but not a film I'd ever watch again.  4.5/10

(03) The Swimmer (1968) - DVD

A favourite film of mine which on first viewing would seem like a novelty and just a showcase for Burt Lancaster to show off his physique as he goes the entire film in just his swimming shorts. It's an odd start to the film as Ned Merrill just appears wearing his trunks and arrives at a big house with a swimming pool. He knows the owners and after some reminiscing he has the idea to get back home via a series of swimming pools in the affluent suburb of Connecticut. At each pool you learn a bit more about Ned and start to see that he is losing his sense of reality with the climax to the film really quite disturbing as you see a broken man at the lowest point in his life. Terrific film.  8.5/10

(04) The Hitch-Hiker (1953) - Talking Pictures
Bit of a landmark film as it's the first film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino who had a pretty amazing career as an actress, director, writer, producer and singer. This is a good film about a killer on the loose who hitches lifts then robs and kills the occupants. Two friends who are heading for a fishing trip in a small Mexican town pick him up but are then held hostage and threatened by the killer, Emmett Myers. Some good, tense scenes as they drive to the small town especially the scenes inside the car which give you a really claustrophobic feeling and as you'd expect a tense finale as the police close in on him.   7/10

Edited January 8, 2023 by JustOneCornetto

[UpInTheAyr]

BlackBird

Funded, directed, and starring the lord of the dance guy Michael Flatley. A vanity project where he gets to pretend to be 007 and make pew pew noises.

Watched this based on the review by Kermode who sounded like he was having an aneurysm having to suffer through it.

This is one of those films that is so bad you can't help but admire the sheer audacity and stupidity of it

[jimmy boo]

Till.

True story of 14 year old boy being lynched and murdered in Mississippi 1955. Some outstanding performances...8/10.

 

[Frankie S]

Movie Watch 2022

I only managed to see 115 films in 2022, well down from a total of 149 films in 2021 and 171 films in 2020.

Regrettably, at least in part due to work commitments, I only saw 11 films in the cinema in 2022, compared to 14 in 2021, and even more regrettably one of those cinemas (The Filmhouse) has now closed. Support your local cinemas, particularly the independents.

There were some great discoveries amongst the films I watched over the last 12 months, but it was by no means a vintage year. I’ll try to do better in 2023 - particularly by going to the cinema more, and I resolve to start making inroads into my large pile of unwatched blu-rays / dvds.

Going forward, I plan to jump on the bandwagon and list / review all the films I watch in 2023. In the meantime, these are my favourite 75 films that I saw in 2022 (a slightly arbitrary number - I’d rather have made it 100, but I couldn’t really make a case for having seen 100 good films last year).

1-Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957) Criterion Collection blu-ray

2-The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, 1960) Criterion Collection blu-ray

3-Leave Her to Heaven (John M. Stahl, 1945) Criterion Collection blu-ray

4-Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021) Amazon Prime

5-The Card Counter (Paul Schrader, 2021) Amazon Prime

6-Rose Plays Julie (Joe Lawlor, Christine Malloy, 2019) Amazon Prime

7-Hard to be a God (Aleksei German, Aleksei German Jr. 2014) Amazon Prime 

8-Licorice Pizza (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2021) Edinburgh Filmhouse 

9-The Worst Person in the World (Joachim Trier, 2021) Mubi

10-Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock, 1943) Universal 4K disc 

11-The Northman (Robert Eggers, 2022) BA in flight entertainment

12-Bad Day at Black Rock (John Sturges, 1955) Criterion Channel

13-Speak No Evil (Christian Tafdrup, 2022) Shudder via Amazon Prime

14-Witness for the Prosecution (Billy Wilder, 1957) BBC2 

15-Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul, 2012) Amazon Prime 

16-The Endless (Justin Benson, Aaron Murhead, 2017) Arrow Blu-ray 

17-Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland, 2009) Mubi 

18-Gwen (William McGregor, 2018) Amazon Prime 

19-Code Unknown (Michael Haneke, 2000) Criterion Channel 

20-Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996) Mubi

21-The Invitation (Karyn Kusama, 2015) Amazon Prime 

22-The Wailing (Na Hong-jin, 2016) Amazon Prime 

23-La Llorona (Jayro Bustamante, 2020) Amazon Prime

24-Beyond the Black Rainbow (Panos Cosmatos, 2010) YouTube

25-The Empty Man (David Prior, 2020) Amazon Prime 

26-Everything Everywhere All At Once (Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, 2022) Amazon Prime

27-November (Rainer Sanet, 2017) Amazon Prime 

28-Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997) Mubi 

29-Mister John (Joe Lawlor, Christine Malloy, 2013) Mubi 

30-Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched (Kier-La Janisse) Severin blu-ray

31-The Batman (Matt Reeves, 2022) Everyman Cinema, Edinburgh

32-Cry of the City (Robert Siodmak, 1948) BFI blu-ray

33-Pontypool (Bruce McDonald, 2008) Shudder via Amazon Prime 

34-Stray Dog (Akira Kurosawa, 1949) Criterion Channel

35-Dogman (Matteo Garrone, 2018) Mubi

36-Reprise (Joachim Trier, 2006) Mubi 

37-The Prowler (Joseph Losey, 1951) YouTube

38-Oslo, August 31st (Joachim Trier, 2011) Mubi 

39-Palm Springs (Max Barbakow, 2020) Amazon Prime 

40-The Black Godfather (Reginald Hudlin, 2019) Netflix

41-Café Society (Woody Allen, 2016) Amazon Prime

42-Force Majeure (Ruben Östlund, 2014) Amazon Prime

43-Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk, 1954) Criterion Channel 

44-I Walk Around Moscow (Georgiy Daneliya, 1963) YouTube

45-All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger, 2022) Netflix 

46-Titane (Julia Ducournau, 2020) Mubi 

47-The Piano Teacher (Michael Haneke, 2001) Criterion Channel 

48-Wattstax (Mel Stuart, 1973) Criterion Channel 

49-Blonde (Andrew Dominik, 2022) Netflix 

50-Where are you, João Gilberto? (Georges Gachot, 2018) Mubi

51-Call Northside 777 (Henry Hathaway, 1948) Criterion Channel 

52-Faya Dayi (Jessica Beshir, 2021) Mubi

53-The Curse of the Cat People (Gunther V. Fritsch, Robert Wise, 1944) BBC2 

54-Oxide Ghosts: The Brass Eye Tapes (Michael Cumming, 2017) Cameo Cinema, Edinburgh

55-Elvis (Baz Luhrmann, 2022) Vue Cinema, Ocean Terminal

56-The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009) Amazon Prime 

57-Inmate #1: The Rise of Danny Trejo (Brett Harvey, 2020) Sky Documentaries

58-Minions: The Rise of Gru (Kyle Balda, 2022) Century XD, Union Square, San Francisco

59-Lynch / Oz (Alexandre O. Philippe, 2022) BFI Player

60-The Most Dangerous Game (Irving Pichel, Ernest B. Schoedsack, 1932) YouTube 

61-Lamb (Valdimar Jóhannsson, 2021) Mubi

62-Prey (Dan Trachtenberg, 2022) Amazon Prime

63-House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller, 1955) Criterion Channel

64-Mulberry St (Abel Ferrara, 2010) YouTube

65-The Oak Room (Cody Callahan, 2020) Amazon Prime

66-The Night House (David Bruckner, 2021) Disney+

67-The Last Duel (Ridley Scott, 2022) BA in flight entertainment

68-Ad Astra (James Gray, 2019) Amazon Prime 

69-Eyes of Fire (Avery Crounse, 1983) Severin blu-ray

70-The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican, 2022) American Airlines in flight entertainment

71-Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond, 2021) Mubi 

72-Existenz (David Cronenberg, 1999) Amazon Prime 

73-The Red House (Delmer Daves, 1947) YouTube

74-Crimes of the Future (David Cronenberg, 2022) Amazon Prime 

75-Quincy (Alan Hicks, Rachida Jones, 2018) Netflix

Edited January 9, 2023 by Frankie S

[coprolite]

Watched a fair few over the last week or so, mostly but not all forgettable family viewing. Highlights:

Gremlins 2 (1990) 

wee rubber monsters terrorise yuppies in very silly postmodernist sequel to original kids' horror. 

Great fun. Less of a film than the original and more of an excuse to get gremlins doing stupid shit. They are brilliantly malevolent. 

6/10

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory  (1971) 

Pauper child and his malingering elderly relative win a trip to an  eccentric confectionery geniuses factory. 

This gets more unsettling every time i see it. All five children suffer potentially fatal incidents. The whole thing is a massive ego trip for a rich megalomaniac. And the oompah loompahs are brutally sanctimonious about everything. Also the Oompah loompahs may well be trafficked. 

It's great though, probably my favourite Gene Wilder performance. Just the right mix of whimsy and menace. 

8/10

End of Watch (2012) 

Gritty and Brutal police drama with idealistic young cops coming up against reality. 

This had lots of things going for it, did really well at creating a believable world for the characters and the acting and look of it was pretty good. 

The characters, especially the gangs, were caricatures and the events (and therefore plot) were dumb. 

Disclaimer, i watched this on Prime where the description had a major plot spoiler in it, that only happened about 85% of the way through. I may have enjoyed it more without this, but i'll never know. 

4/10

Puss in Boots (2011)

Walking talking cat has adventures in extended Shrek universe. 

Relatively entertaining. They had great fun playing with the anthropomorphic aspects and animal aspects of the cat chatacters. The playing with the fairytale tropes and characters felt half arsed. 

The humpty dumpty character was annoying and looked terrible.

Relatively engaging caper with plenty going on and some decent moments of entertainment, but nothing particularly hilarious or memorable. 

6/10

The Battle of Algiers (1966)

Watched because of its write up in the top 100.

Story of a terrorist campaign and counter insurgency operation in 1950s Algeria. 

Largely follows one insurgent/ freedom fighter lieutenant from radicalisation in jail and then the head of the counterinsurgency in a curiously detatched, almost reportage style. 

It's pretty unflinching on the moral dilemmas and tactical expediency on both sides. There is no moral guide at all and that's left entirely to the viewer. 

It looks superficially rough but it's really well crafted. The different areas of the city feel like separate worlds and there's a couple of jump cuts between them where that difference is shocking. And the soundtrack just fits. 

My only real complaint is that it ended too early in the overarching story. 

9/10

That "ironic" Nicholas Cage "comedy". (2022)

15 minutes in and was getting increasingly unimpressed by how shit it was. And really annoyingly shit because it thought it was clever. 

Film abandoned

0/10

 

 

[Frankie S]

#1 Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) Criterion Collection blu-ray 9

Excellent Japanese psychological horror film from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. I was intrigued enough to buy the blu-ray after reading an interview with ‘Parasite’ director Bong Joon-ho, in which he described ‘Cure’ as one of the greatest films ever made. While I don’t rate it quite that highly, Kurosawa skilfully suffuses this police procedural with a sustained atmosphere of dread. I suspect this film was an influence on South Korean director Na Hong-Jin’s excellent 2016 film ‘The Wailing’, one of the best horror films I saw last year, and, even at this early stage, I expect ‘Cure’ to be one of my highlights of 2023.

#2 Bait (Mark Jenkin, 2019) BFI Player 8

Hugely promising breakthrough film from Mark Jenkin, which explores the culture clash in a Cornish fishing village as the community’s traditional way of life comes under threat from the tourists who descend during the summer months. Jenkin cleverly converts his micro budget into an asset, and the roughness of the 16mm monochrome film stock works exceptionally well, lending the rugged Cornish landscape and the stoic locals a mythic quality. I’m greatly looking forward to Jenkin’s upcoming folk horror film ‘Enys Men’, which is also set in Cornwall.

#3 Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022) Amazon Prime 6

I greatly enjoyed Östlund’s ‘Force Majeure’, but this (Palme d’Or-winning) film isn’t (IMO) in the same class. It‘s one of a number of voguish recent films (see ‘The Menu’) that attack the privileged, but it lacks the potency to land a decisive blow on a soft target. The film is split into three chapters, and the middle segment, set on a luxury yacht, with the ever-reliable Woody Harrelson excelling as the drunken ship’s captain, a socialist who holds his rich passengers in contempt, is by far the best. Overall though, it’s a disappointingly crude and overlong farce, punctuated with occasional amusing moments.

#4 The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022) Vue Cinema, Omni Centre, Edinburgh 5

Heavy-handed satire masquerading as a horror film. Presumably the intention is to satirise the pretensions of the high class restaurant industry and its customers, but whenever a deft incision is required, the director’s instrument of choice tends to be a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel. Mylod honed his directorial skills on one of my favourite TV series (‘Succession’) and one of my least favourite (the irredeemably crass ‘Entourage’), neither of which are renowned for their subtlety, and it’s hard to care very much about the fates of the patrons of celebrity chef Julian Slowick (Ralph Fiennes)’s exclusive restaurant (conveniently situated on a remote island) as they’re such crudely-drawn caricatures (the sycophantic foodie, the ageing film star who is hitting on his young P.A., the parasitic food critic & cynical magazine editor, the nouveau-riche new tech brats etc). Rather like chef Slowick’s amuse-bouche, ‘The Menu’ is an insubstantial confection, offering little in the way of nourishment.

Edited January 9, 2023 by Frankie S

[accies1874]

On 08/01/2023 at 16:13, JustOneCornetto said:

Inspired by @MSU and @accies1874 I'm going to try and list/review all the films I watch this year. Here's the first batch of four.

(01) Private Property (1960) - Talking Pictures

Quite a controversial film when it was released due to the sordid and harrowing plot about a couple of drifters who follow a beautiful blonde and spy on her from the empty house next door to her. The bossy one of the drifters, Duke, plans on seducing her and then passing her on to his pal Boots who is hopeless at getting a girlfriend. Of course things don't go smoothly for them and there's a dramatic end when the woman's husband returns home. JFK watched this on the night he won the Presidency and joked that because the film was condemned by the Legion Of Decency it would have helped him with some anti Catholic voters if they knew him and Jackie had watched the film.  6.5/10

(02) Wrong Turn (2023) - Netflix

Think of Deliverance, which even gets mentioned in this film, and you get the idea. A bunch of young city people find themselves lost deep in the Appalachians and encounter some mutant/cannibialistic hillbillies. Nowhere near as subtle or good as Deliverance it pretty much turns into a gorefest with the characters being picked off one by one. Has the odd good and tense moment but not a film I'd ever watch again.  4.5/10

(03) The Swimmer (1968) - DVD

A favourite film of mine which on first viewing would seem like a novelty and just a showcase for Burt Lancaster to show off his physique as he goes the entire film in just his swimming shorts. It's an odd start to the film as Ned Merrill just appears wearing his trunks and arrives at a big house with a swimming pool. He knows the owners and after some reminiscing he has the idea to get back home via a series of swimming pools in the affluent suburb of Connecticut. At each pool you learn a bit more about Ned and start to see that he is losing his sense of reality with the climax to the film really quite disturbing as you see a broken man at the lowest point in his life. Terrific film.  8.5/10

(04) The Hitch-Hiker (1953) - Talking Pictures
Bit of a landmark film as it's the first film noir directed by a woman, Ida Lupino who had a pretty amazing career as an actress, director, writer, producer and singer. This is a good film about a killer on the loose who hitches lifts then robs and kills the occupants. Two friends who are heading for a fishing trip in a small Mexican town pick him up but are then held hostage and threatened by the killer, Emmett Myers. Some good, tense scenes as they drive to the small town especially the scenes inside the car which give you a really claustrophobic feeling and as you'd expect a tense finale as the police close in on him.   7/10

 

26 minutes ago, Frankie S said:

#1 Cure (Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997) Criterion Collection blu-ray 9

Excellent Japanese psychological horror film from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. I was intrigued enough to buy the blu-ray after reading an interview with ‘Parasite’ director Bong Joon-ho, in which he described ‘Cure’ as one of the greatest films ever made. While I don’t rate it quite that highly, Kurosawa skilfully suffuses this police procedural with a sustained atmosphere of dread. I suspect this film was an influence on South Korean director Na Hong-Jin’s excellent 2016 film ‘The Wailing’, one of the best horror films I saw last year, and, even at this early stage, I expect ‘Cure’ to be one of my highlights of 2023.

#2 Bait (Mark Jenkin, 2019) BFI Player 8

Hugely promising breakthrough film from Mark Jenkin, which explores the culture clash in a Cornish fishing village as the community’s traditional way of life comes under threat from the tourists who descend during the summer months. Jenkin cleverly coverts his micro budget into an asset, and the roughness of the 16mm monochrome film stock works exceptionally well, lending the rugged Cornish landscape and the stoic locals a mythic quality. I’m greatly looking forward to Jenkin’s upcoming folk horror film ‘Enys Men’, which is also set in Cornwall.

#3 Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund, 2022) Amazon Prime 6

I greatly enjoyed Östlund’s ‘Force Majeure’, but this (Palme d’Or-winning) film isn’t (IMO) in the same class. It‘s one of a number of voguish recent films (see ‘The Menu’) that attack the privileged, but it lacks the potency to land a decisive blow on a soft target. The film is split into three chapters, and the middle segment, set on a luxury yacht, with the ever-reliable Woody Harrelson excelling as the drunken ship’s captain, a socialist who holds his rich passengers in contempt, is by far the best. Overall though, it’s a disappointingly crude and overlong farce, punctuated with occasional amusing moments.

#4 The Menu (Mark Mylod, 2022) Vue Cinema, Omni Centre, Edinburgh 5

Heavy-handed satire masquerading as a horror film. Presumably the intention is to satirise the pretensions of the high class restaurant industry and its customers, but whenever a deft incision is required, the director’s instrument of choice tends to be a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel. Mylod honed his directorial skills on one of my favourite TV series (‘Succession’) and one of my least favourite (the irredeemably crass ‘Entourage’), neither of which are renowned for their subtlety, and it’s hard to care very much about the fates of the patrons of celebrity chef Julian Slowick (Ralph Fiennes)’s exclusive restaurant (conveniently situated on a remote island) as they’re such crudely-drawn caricatures (the sycophantic foodie, the ageing film star who is hitting on his young P.A., the parasitic food critic & cynical magazine editor, the nouveau-riche new tech brats etc). Rather like chef Slowick’s amuse-bouche, ‘The Menu’ is an insubstantial confection, offering little in the way of nourishment.

Good luck comrades. It'll be long and hard journey but a rewarding one. Should say that I nicked the whole idea from @Christophe who doesn't really post here anymore. 

@Frankie S agree on Bait - top notch and hoping to see Enys Men at the weekend.