What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[DA Baracus]

AI is absolutely terrible. So long and so very boring, not to mention the wee android lad is a nippy wee flange.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

The Lady Vanishes ( part )

I was a pleb , sorry impatient , and skipped to the train journey. 

Could not cope with Hitchcock " setting the scene " with two Englishmen abroad in Switzerland (?) worrying about getting back for the cricket

Very dated but q bit exciting and quite amusing !

Edited February 23, 2023 by Ewanandmoreagain

[Ewanandmoreagain]

On 19/02/2023 at 15:18, MSU said:

Apologies, got through a bunch this week, so I'll try to keep it brief.

038 On Her Majesty's Secret Service -- Some dodgy editing and way too long, but I've always thought it was a shame that George Lazenby didn't make more Jimmy Bond movies. Feels closer to the Daniel Craig era in a lot of ways. 8/10

039 Diamonds Are Forever -- A definite step back after OHMSS, and very much the lowest ebb of Sean Connery's involvement in the Eon canon, with a lackluster performance by Charles Gray as the third incarnation of Blofeld. The Mustang moment in Vegas still satisfies, but it's plowing a lonely furrow. And what a ropey pre-credits sequence. 3/10

040 Alice, Darling (#40 in the Anna Kendrick series) -- As with last year's She Said, I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Kendrick is the titular Alice who we learn is in an emotionally abusive relationship and her friend's birthday retreat becomes an intervention. The friends are preachy, the drama is more tell than show, which is a shame because it's acted well. 5/10

041 The Twilight Saga: New Moon (#7 in the Anna Kendrick series) -- There's a point in the movie where Bella, the werewolf guy, and some other dork, go and see the fictional movie Face Punch. We never see Face Punch, but we hear it, and it sounds about a hundred times better than Bella's Depressing Year. Kendrick is still engaging as one of the few characters not falling for Bella's bullshit. Someone we can all relate to. 1/10

042 Live and Let Die -- Roger Moore's high-camp first outing as Bond sees him inexplicably thrown into a blaxploitation movie, then there's Julius Harris definitely not just holding a hook in his right hand, and the bizarre intermission of The Misadventures of JW Pepper where Bond and the baddies disappear for five minutes while the bumbling cop pisses all over the momentum. I don't mind Roger Moore but this feels like a starting point that leads to Moonraker and A View to a Kill and it's hard to imagine Connery on Lazenby in either. 5/10

043 Triangle of Sadness -- Another in 2022's collection of movies about rich people being p***ks in a place, this time on a yacht (mostly). I enjoyed the first two acts more than the last but when it's good it's pretty good and when it's funny it's pretty funny. The sequence around the Captain's Dinner will stay with me for a while. I didn't really care for The Lord of the Flies third act and what it has to say about the super-rich guests, the entirely white crew there to pamper them, and the entirely non-white support staff below deck is a bit on the nose, but Harris Dickinson, the sadly departed Charlbi Dean, and Woody Harrelson put in great shifts,

And then I went to see the five Oscar-nominated animated shorts, one of which I'd already seen:

044 An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It -- This Australian short has an interesting central premise where we see the area around the animated set and flashes of the animators' hands and arms flashing in to adjust things, and the whole thing is really viewed by looking at the screen on the camera, all of which plays in well with the central character, a young telemarketer, having an existential crisis, but it's let down be being little more than an idea, and the vocal talent is pretty poor. 5/10

045 The Flying Solder -- This stunning short plays out like a Radiohead video and tells the true story of the Halifax explosion of 1917, which surprisingly to me at least, means an awful lot of a naked sailor flying through the air. The animation feels like it's on two planes, with the naked sailor painted fairly modestly but it's the backgrounds that really come to life and give a true feeling of vertigo, and I felt like I learned something, so there's that. 7/10

046 Ice Merchants -- I loved the vector-style animation in this short that deals with loss, grief, climate change, and the importance of a soft hat. A father and his son live on the side of a mountain, high above town, and travel down each day to deliver ice to the residents. It's beautifully told, all the more powerful for being silent except for the lovely score. I felt the very end was a bit of a letdown but the whole thing was pretty moving stuff. 6/10

047 The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse -- The UK entry that has Christmas on BBC1 at 5:20 written all over it. It's the prettiest to look at and has the most impressive vocal talent (Tom Hollander, Idris Elba, Gabriel Byrne). It's also one of the twee-est, schmaltziest half-hours I've ever had to endure. I get that it's not aimed at an adult audience, but I honestly don't know who is going to take anything from it. A boy wants to get home but doesn't know where that is or what that is, so three animals show up to, apropos of nothing, dispense inspirational fortune-cookie words of wisdom that I guess are supposed to help or, I dunno, stop the wee boy killing himself or something? Given that JJ Abrams' Bad Robot is involved, I had hopes for a smoke monster to take care of the lot of them, bones and all. Cringeworthy stuff. 4/10

048 My Year of Dicks -- Saw this a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it, but enjoyed it more on the big screen and against its peers. It has the most complete story, is the most satisfying, combines many genres of animation seamlessly, has great vocal talent, and is pretty funny and heart-warming. I still think the end was a bit obvious, but the manner in which it got there is worth a tip of the hat. Hope it wins next month. 8/10

I believe there is a YT post somewhere imagining Sean in OHMSS !

[Guest]

Given that my previous three films over the past week were Women Talking, The Son and The Inspection, all with far more serious themes, I wasn't really expecting a lot of Cocaine Bear this afternoon, but there were a few laughs along the way.  

The kid three seats along who'd come straight from school seemed to be laughing at things that should have been beyond his years but then again it's 2023, after all.  And I was in Plymouth. 



 

[MSU]

10 hours ago, IncomingExile said:

Given that my previous three films over the past week were Women Talking, The Son and The Inspection, all with far more serious themes, I wasn't really expecting a lot of Cocaine Bear this afternoon, but there were a few laughs along the way.  

The kid three seats along who'd come straight from school seemed to be laughing at things that should have been beyond his years but then again it's 2023, after all.  And I was in Plymouth. 



 

I'm intrigued by Cocaine Bear. The trailer looks nuts and it doesn't seem to be taking itself seriously at all. Hopefully I'll get to it in the next couple of weeks.

[Fullerene]

On 23/02/2023 at 20:44, Ewanandmoreagain said:

The Lady Vanishes ( part )

I was a pleb , sorry impatient , and skipped to the train journey. 

Could not cope with Hitchcock " setting the scene " with two Englishmen abroad in Switzerland (?) worrying about getting back for the cricket

Very dated but q bit exciting and quite amusing !

There was also a 1979 remake with Cybil Shepherd, Elliot Gould and Angela Lansbury.

I also failed to understand the point of film before they get on the train.

Basically I love films set on trains, such as Breakheart Pass, Narrow Margin (the original and the remake),  The Taking of Pelham 1,2,3 (the original but not the remake) and even Under Siege 2.

There are not enough films set on trains.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

23 hours ago, IncomingExile said:

Given that my previous three films over the past week were Women Talking, The Son and The Inspection, all with far more serious themes, I wasn't really expecting a lot of Cocaine Bear this afternoon, but there were a few laughs along the way.  

The kid three seats along who'd come straight from school seemed to be laughing at things that should have been beyond his years but then again it's 2023, after all.  And I was in Plymouth. 



 

Is Cocaine Bear Paddington , or Rupert , unleashed from copyright restrictions ?

 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

2 hours ago, Fullerene said:

There was also a 1979 remake with Cybil Shepherd, Elliot Gould and Angela Lansbury.

I also failed to understand the point of film before they get on the train.

 

Somehow I do not think there would be a couple of Englishmen going on about cricket in that version ?;

[sfha]

There is Something Wrong With The Children.

Dear, oh, dear...

 

[Scotty Tunbridge]

Cocaine bear is a solid 10/10 movie if you want something that does exactly what it says on the tin and doesn’t take itself seriously doing so.

Edited February 25, 2023 by Scotty Tunbridge

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Ewanandmoreagain said:

Is Cocaine Bear Paddington , or Rupert , unleashed from copyright restrictions ?

 

Your typical sad tale of a child star unable to cope with the pressure. 

[Theroadlesstravelled]

1 hour ago, Scotty Tunbridge said:

Cocaine bear is a solid 10/10 movie if you want something that does exactly what it says on the tin and doesn’t take itself seriously doing so.

I watched the trailer and it looks like a slapstick comedy in parts.

I couldn’t work out what it was meant to be.

[Savage Henry]

Glass Onion - Daniel Craig and Ed Norton in an entertaining whodunnit.   Lightweight but fun stuff.  Loads of cameos. 

[Ewanandmoreagain]

13 hours ago, IncomingExile said:

Your typical sad tale of a child star unable to cope with the pressure. 

the bear cub ?!

[MSU]

15 hours ago, Scotty Tunbridge said:

Cocaine bear is a solid 10/10 movie if you want something that does exactly what it says on the tin and doesn’t take itself seriously doing so.

Already looking forward to the sequel, Amphetamine Tortoise. 

[BFTD]

Skinamarink (fifteen men on the dead man's chest) - young siblings are trapped alone in their home with a hidden entity.

Remember those early Nineties games that would attempt cut scenes with a slideshow of still pictures and the occasional sound sample? Kyle Edward Ball does, and has a 100 minute film he'd like you to see!

Not surprised that critics seem to have loved this, considering they're usually desperate for something, anything that seems slightly different to the other six films they watched that day. A lengthy slideshow of ceilings and walls, coupled with the constant threat of being roused from slumber by an occasional terrible jumpscare. Very reminiscent of the kind of experimental Sixties films that people stopped making because they were shite. One of the worst films I've seen in some time; try its spiritual predecessor Plumbers Don't Wear Ties instead, as it's much shorter.

 

[MSU]

Another bunch to get through this week, so repeated intentions to be brief.

049 The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (#8 in the Anna Kendrick series) -- Still utter muck, the relationship between Edward, Bella, and Jacob is still fucked up, and this is least Kendrick we get, but there's the unintentional hilarity from a battle between groups of vampires which involves them all running at each other. Thankfully, Kendrick isn't in the last two so I can bow out at this point. 2/10

050 The Man with the Golden Gun -- Roger Moore looks a little more comfortable with action scenes, but it's such a nothing burger story and Christopher Lee as the titular (snigger) assassin is far more intriguing than our hero. Does everyone join in with the "Come come, Mr Bond" line? 4/10

051 The Spy Who Loved Me -- If memory serves, Roger Moore's Jimmy Bond isn't going to get better than this, and the best Bond theme doesn't hurt. Roger Moore is still more interested in wisecracks than doing things, but it banks a lot of goodwill from a genuinely thrilling opening. Barbara Bach is a great leading lady as Soviet XXX and Richard Kiel's portrayed as steel-toothed man-mountain Jaws (even if he does overshadow the main villain), along with the Lotus Esprit, are both synonymous with Bond for those of a certain generation. 7/10

052 Moonraker -- I loved this one as a kid so it's difficult for me to hate it as much as some, but as others have observed, compared with OHMSS which was released 10 years previously, this is (in more than one not necessarily positive way) out of this world. The theme tune is awful. Dame Shirley Bassey deserved better. Didn't we all? 4/10

053 Brian and Charles -- David Earl plays Brian, a lonely, eccentric inventor in the Welsh valleys, who accidentally invents a robot called Charles Petrescu and a friendship is born. There's a plot about Brian trying to hide Charles from the village bully, Charles quickly descends into adolescence and develops a desire to visit Honolulu, and there's an eventual love interest for Brian in the form of Hazel, a beautifully simple performance from Louise Brealey, and these elements work and add to the movie as intended, but really, what we came here for, and what we'll come back for no doubt, is the wonderfully absurdist relationship between one man and his robot. 8/10

054 Blue City (#8 in the Brat Pack series) -- I can't imagine anyone involved in this is looking back on it with pride. When the title card wobbles you kinda know what you're in for. The story is blissfully unaware of structure, development, motivation, plausibility, and is unaware that it's unaware. Judd Nelson returns to his hometown to discover his father has been murdered and suspects the local mob boss. Not even an Ally Sheedy nipple or a sub-90-minute runtime can coax another point out of me. 1/10

And then, after last week's Oscar-nominated Shorts, I went to see the five Live Action nominees.

055 Ivalu -- Gorgeous Greenlandic scenery that would've cost a fortune to capture a few years ago these days just needs a drone. The Academy loves bleak shorts about children suffering and we get a few of them this year. Here, it's a young girl searching for her missing older sister and their dad doesn't seem to care. That probably tells you everything you need to know, so the story is kinda thin and obvious but the search around some incredible landscapes is something altogether better. 5/10

056 Night Ride -- In a wintery Norwegian town, a short-stature woman wants to catch the night tram home but the driver won't let her on out of the cold until its departure time in half an hour. So when the driver goes off for a poop or whatever, the woman breaks into the tram and accidentally drives off. What should've been a fairly comedic wee tale rather quickly becomes darker when some confusion among the passengers she's let aboard turns into a bit of transphobia which never feels properly resolved. 4/10

057 Le Pupille -- A Christmas fable as imagined by Wes Anderson and delivered by Disney. This short is a curious tale of Italian orphans in a Catholic school over Christmas during the Second World War in Italy. The kids are adorable and punctuate proceedings with adorable wee songs that sound all the more adorable in Italian but the story is pretty non-existent unless you're interested in an enormous cake and a textbook cruel (kinda) Mother Superior. It's good fun and the moral delivered by the girls at the end does its best to acknowledge the lack of story. 7/10

058 The Red Suitcase -- 16-year-old Ariane, Nawelle Evad, arrives in Luxembourg from Tehran with a distinctive red suitcase, a few euros to her name, and a middle-aged man she's never met before waiting on the other side of security to become her husband. What follows is a cat-and-mouse case of evasion and pursuit as Ariane attempts to escape from the airport with her red suitcase. It's a story of arranged marriage and human trafficking, something that we visited in last year's shorts with the Kyrgyz movie Take and Run. I don't think this is quite as good as that but the cinematography in a desolate airport at night is absolutely stunning. 7/10

059 An Irish Goodbye -- Two estranged Irish brothers reunite following the death of their mother. One of them lives in London, the other had stayed with his mother on the farm, and the latter has Down syndrome which the former thinks is reason enough to sell the farm and ship him off to Auntie Margaret. No one wants to live with Auntie Margaret. The flit is postponed when the brothers learn of their mother's bucket list and resolve to ensure that her urn of ashes is able to complete it. It's a simple story but it delivers brilliantly. The dynamic between the brothers is authentic and the way they reconcile is done at a character level, which makes it all the more satisfying at the story level. There's maybe a misstep or two in the final minutes, but overall, out of the five, this was definitely the best movie to finish with. Picked up a BAFTA last week. Give it the Oscar. 8/10

[Guest]

On 26/02/2023 at 15:07, MSU said:

 

053 Brian and Charles -- David Earl plays Brian, a lonely, eccentric inventor in the Welsh valleys, who accidentally invents a robot called Charles Petrescu and a friendship is born. There's a plot about Brian trying to hide Charles from the village bully, Charles quickly descends into adolescence and develops a desire to visit Honolulu, and there's an eventual love interest for Brian in the form of Hazel, a beautifully simple performance from Louise Brealey, and these elements work and add to the movie as intended, but really, what we came here for, and what we'll come back for no doubt, is the wonderfully absurdist relationship between one man and his robot. 8/10

 

Loved that film last year. Quirky, offbeat and really engaging. The stroppy teenage phase was hilarious.   

[underdogunderdog underdog]

Watched The Strays on Netflix at the weekend. I'd advise you all to avoid it like the plague.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

The Imitation Game - the partly true                                                   story of Alan Turing and the breaking of the German armed forces codes during World War 2

Takes liberties with the actual facts but very well done