What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[accies1874]

41. The Knocking - Digital Rental

Watched this horror about a week ago and don't remember very much about it. Some cool shots in a forest, incredibly generic music and a narrative which places the past and present side-by-side but doesn't make the present interesting or mysterious enough, so I just wanted it all to be set in the past where the bulk of the story was taking place. 

42. A Haunting in Venice - Cinema

I found this quite strange as I'm not sure if some of the biggest issues were intentional or not. If they weren't, then this is an incredibly shoddy film; if they weren't, then Branagh successfully created an unsettling atmosphere but dropped then ball on making a properly compelling whodunnit. 

Usually with a whodunnit (or just any competent film), you expect to be eased into things by setting up your protagonist, supporting cast and the mystery, but I felt like A Haunting in Venice rushed right into things without giving you much time to settle, and this persisted pretty much throughout which made for an uneasy experience. Scenes were often shot in slightly unconventional ways (certainly intentional), dialogue was iffy (intentions debatable) and the characters were so thinly drawn that they almost felt like ghosts within this kinda ghost story (don't think this was intentional). Usually for a whodunnit, I'd think this made the film miles worse, and it didn't work for me as a mystery, but the fact that it's also trying to have horror elements at the same time, I did appreciate its unsettling atmosphere. It's a good pick for people looking for a Halloween-themed film that isn't actually a horror. 

I haven't been able to put my finger on these Poirot films. The first two started out as fun fluff before descending into something very earnest, however A Haunting in Venice maintained a solid tone throughout yet I thought that the previously-mentioned unsettling style didn't lend itself to a whodunnit where the whole fun of it is trying to piece the mystery together alongside the detective, so that's why I think it failed as a mystery - these things can always change upon a rewatch though. I love whodunnits and I love horror, and the two can match up really well, but I didn't feel like that was the case here. 

That said, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't an enjoyable 100 minutes, and it served its purpose of being a daft film to watch the night before an early-morning flight. 

[Salvo Montalbano]

On 14/10/2023 at 12:01, Roger the cabin boy said:

Con Air

 

 

 

On 15/10/2023 at 05:44, RuMoore said:

I know it's nowhere near the best if you're a movie buff but for me it's in my top 5. 

Absolute classic. Some great acting, some great cinematography, some great lines, perfect length of film and a lovely soundtrack. 

"My birthday is on July 14th... I'm gonna see ma daddy for the first time on July 14th"

"Put the bunny back in the box"

It was one of the few videos we had at our halls at uni (that and a substandard European porn film) so we must have watched Con Air on average once a week for 30 weeks. Cheesy greatness. I can probably still recite the dialogue back while I'm watching it. 

18 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

42. A Haunting in Venice - Cinema

 

I'm not a big fan of the cinematic versions (Finney and Ustinov) although they are generally fine films, but once they made the ITV series I have no idea why they make new adaptations of Poirot as they are always going to be compared unfavourably to the one true Hercule Poirot. Suchet can't be beat, ever.

[54_and_counting]

Same as @LIVIFOREVER with John Wick 4, a cracking end to them (so far), great action scenes as expected

Just checked there, John Wick himself kills 439 people across 4 films, that's fucking superb stuff, given the other deaths from other characters across the films you have to imagine it breaks the 500 mark or close to it

[coprolite]

5 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Same as @LIVIFOREVER with John Wick 4, a cracking end to them (so far), great action scenes as expected

Just checked there, John Wick himself kills 439 people across 4 films, that's fucking superb stuff, given the other deaths from other characters across the films you have to imagine it breaks the 500 mark or close to it

Way less than Yosser Hughes in Titanic

[54_and_counting]

40 minutes ago, coprolite said:

Way less than Yosser Hughes in Titanic

Titanic is like getting the airstrike on cod for a killstreak, knock yer pan in ala john wick, get the points then carpet bomb the map and get the same kills ala titanic lol 

[LIVIFOREVER]

53 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Same as @LIVIFOREVER with John Wick 4, a cracking end to them (so far), great action scenes as expected

Just checked there, John Wick himself kills 439 people across 4 films, that's fucking superb stuff, given the other deaths from other characters across the films you have to imagine it breaks the 500 mark or close to it

Must've had hell of an internal bleeding, taking all those hits, would imagine bullets still hurt wearing kevlar, hit by cars, falling onto a van after jumping out of a 3 or 4 storey window, not forgetting how chapter 3 ended, what a guy. 

[54_and_counting]

58 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Must've had hell of an internal bleeding, taking all those hits, would imagine bullets still hurt wearing kevlar, hit by cars, falling onto a van after jumping out of a 3 or 4 storey window, not forgetting how chapter 3 ended, what a guy. 

All they hurts, and its a shoulder, arm and then left stomach bullet that kills him (or do they) lol

The fall from the window was unreal

[RuMoore]

5 hours ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

 

"My birthday is on July 14th... I'm gonna see ma daddy for the first time on July 14th"

"Put the bunny back in the box"

It was one of the few videos we had at our halls at uni (that and a substandard European porn film) so we must have watched Con Air on average once a week for 30 weeks. Cheesy greatness. I can probably still recite the dialogue back while I'm watching it. 

"You lost your mind?!"

"According to my last psych evaluation, yes."

[Roger the cabin boy]

On 15/10/2023 at 14:11, LIVIFOREVER said:

Brilliant film.

John Wick Chapter 4, exactly what you expect from a John Wick film, an enjoyable finale, topped off by the origin story of the Continental.

I've yet to see John Wick 4... I went to see the 2nd and 3rd in the cinema, and the quality seemed to drop off with each release (which tends to be the way with these kinds of movies). The only reason I haven't seen the 4th is that I've not gone out of my way to watch it.

The first film was lightning in a bottle and it's a great rewatch too.

[Roger the cabin boy]

On 15/10/2023 at 05:44, RuMoore said:

I know it's nowhere near the best if you're a movie buff but for me it's in my top 5. 

Absolute classic. Some great acting, some great cinematography, some great lines, perfect length of film and a lovely soundtrack. 

Who isn't a sucker for a Nic Cage film?

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, Roger the cabin boy said:

I've yet to see John Wick 4... I went to see the 2nd and 3rd in the cinema, and the quality seemed to drop off with each release (which tends to be the way with these kinds of movies). The only reason I haven't seen the 4th is that I've not gone out of my way to watch it.

The first film was lightning in a bottle and it's a great rewatch too.

Yeah i held off till it was on Amazon Prime, and i didn't have to pay extra to watch it. 

Was good the way it worked out for me, watching the Continental first put me in the mood for John Wick Chapter 4, thoroughly enjoyed it.

[54_and_counting]

37 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Yeah i held off till it was on Amazon Prime, and i didn't have to pay extra to watch it. 

Was good the way it worked out for me, watching the Continental first put me in the mood for John Wick Chapter 4, thoroughly enjoyed it.

Thats what i did, unintentionally mind you

Went to watch the finale of the continental, and seen chapter 4 was free viewing now so watched that before the finale

Oh and the continental was tremendous viewing

[scottsdad]

Saw it at the cinema with Scott. 

Great fun but we did laugh (as did everyone else) at the window scene. 

[paranoid android]

Midsommar.

Quite long and slow, which doesn't usually bother me. 

Spoiler: a boy gets high, and rides a lassie. 

Some quite shocking scenes, and it's deliberately unsettling, but I don't think it's as disturbing as it thinks it is. 

Brilliant score.

I totally forgot about the ****!

It's good, but it's not right. 

[JustOneCornetto]

(75) Unbroken (2014) – DVD

Directed by Angelina Jolie this is the true story of Louis Zamperini who competed for US in 1936 Olympics then joined the Air Force as a bombardier and on a search mission during the war his plane was shot down. Along with two of the crew they survived for 47 days in the Pacific before being captured by the Japanese. Zamperini was singled out by the sadistic Camp Commander for special treatment. Some really brutal scenes but you get a real sense of courage and steadfastness from a man who would not be beaten. Pretty good film. 7.5/10

(76) The Fabelmans (2022) – Sky Cinema

I really wanted to like this but found it a bit of a slog. I know it’s supposed to be in some way the story of Spielberg’s own life but I found the family drama all a bit underwhelming and while you do see young Sam becoming interested, even obsessed with making films it starts to mix that in with high school bullying which was pretty predictable and the coming-of-age segment was just done for laughs. I was really looking forward to seeing David Lynch but had to wait till the very end, although he was excellent of course as a legendary film director. Not saying it’s a bad film but rather disappointing. 5.5/10

(77) Us (2019) – BBC2

I liked this horror film by Jordan Peele. You get a sense of foreboding before the scary stuff starts when a family of mum, dad and 2 kids head to Santa Cruz for a beach holiday. Their doppelgangers turn up and it all gets scary from then on with some sort of connection to years ago when the mother went missing for a short time at the funfair. There is a big twist which I didn’t guess and thought it was all done very well with just the right amount of mystery & horror and the odd laughable moment. 7/10

(78) Summer of Soul (2021) – Channel4

Really good documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival which took place over 6 weekends in 1969. Somewhat overshadowed by Woodstock in the same summer, footage of the festival lay hidden away for 50 years until Questlove decided to make a film about it. Some good commentary about the occasion and great footage of the singers and groups with the likes of Stevie Wonder, BB King, Gladys Knight and a standout performance by Nina Simone. Very much an important event in the history of Black Rights movement. 8/10

[Pocketman]

On 16/10/2023 at 20:50, Roger the cabin boy said:

I've yet to see John Wick 4... I went to see the 2nd and 3rd in the cinema, and the quality seemed to drop off with each release (which tends to be the way with these kinds of movies). The only reason I haven't seen the 4th is that I've not gone out of my way to watch it.

The first film was lightning in a bottle and it's a great rewatch too.

agreed. simple premise based on a plot line that has been done a hundred times before (man with shady past reluctantly brought out of contented/quiet etc retirement) and delivered with an innovative, fresh, exciting and fun take. Similar to how Bourne re-booted tired spy movies. 

I still enjoy the John Wick movies but with exploring the expanded universe, moves further and further away from what made the first one so special.

But hey ho - 4 movies, likely a 5th, and a TV show all because of a dog - "it wasn't just a dog...."

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Superbad (2007) I was 15 when this released. A film about 17 year olds trying to get drunk and get laid is made for 15 year olds. This is the first I've seen it, and it was even more annoying than I thought it could have been. It was longer too, and I'm not sure it warranted its length. Is it possible for a film like this to be entertaining or relatable when something like The Inbetweeners exists? I don't think so. I started off really hating it when the younger, fatter Seth Rogen was just talking about porn but by the end I was just bored.

Halloween (1978) How does horror exist as a genre when its most famous and influential films are things like this - bad man has knife. Bad man stabby stabby. Bad man stabby stabby because man bad. Good soundtrack. Some good camerawork too, but ultimately I just sit bored by the fact that nobody acts like an actual human would.

Halloween (2018) The thought of the intervening nine Halloween films is more terrifying than opening a wardrobe and finding a heavy breather in a Captain Kirk mask inside. I liked this better than the first one. Marginally. It would have done better for me if it hadn't fallen into the same traps as the original (and from what I gather, its sequels) and made Michael Myers indestructible while making everyone else unable to just empty a submachine gun into his head when they get the chance. I did enjoy the podcasters getting brutally slaughtered though.

[MSU]

209 Saw X -- I wish I could remember which Saw movies I've seen. I've definitely seen the first two, then I've seen at least another one at the movies and maybe one more after that. I enjoyed the first Saw quite a bit and nothing I've seen after that has come close. I've heard good things about this one so I was quite optimistic and out of the sequels I've seen, I think I'd agree that this is the best one. The first twenty minutes to half hour are really quite excellent as John Kramer is slowly conned into parting with his savings to receive some cancer-busting treatment on the down low in Mexico. When he uncovers the scam -- and let's ignore how long it takes him -- he tracks down those responsible and puts them through his notorious games. The initial traps are quite inventive -- while we're ignoring things, can we also ignore where he got the time or effort to construct them, and can we also ignore that the movie doesn't try to de-age Amanda -- but nothing really that got me squirming too much in my seat. The reverse bear-trap still has a visceral effect on me and while these traps sound horrible, there's just something lacking for me. As the movie progresses, so my interest wanes, and the traps become far less interesting, and the amount of variables that have to line up to allow them to happen tests the limits of acceptability. If you haven't seen any Saw movies at all, this might be a brutal and shocking experience, but for me my hand just kept on reaching for the popcorn. Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith are excellent and I'm not speaking from a position of authority but they may just get more screen time here than they do in any other movie in the franchise. I guess, my main issue is I didn't like any of the characters, despite the performances. The movie is full of bad guys so if one of them is forced to dig out his brains with an ice cream scoop, have at it, and the finale felt like they'd totally run out of ideas and the inclination to wait for some better ones to arrive. 6/10

210 Halloween (2018) -- I had a sickie last week so watched the new Halloween trilogy in one day to see if my original opinion of them held up. I thought the first one was decent and by and large, it is. It's still flawed and it's nowhere near as good as the original, but it has some decent ideas that give the illusion of freshness. I love the podcast element in the introduction, the three generations of the Strode women and their attitudes toward one another are great, and the whole thing is paced pretty well, which isn't nothing for a David Gordon Green movie. There's still plenty that doesn't work so well. Who allowed Michael Myers to work out for the forty years he was locked up? How did they ferry him between his cell and the chessboard yard at the mental facility? Why on earth did they decide to transfer him on the 40th anniversary of his rampage? Dr Sartain, the new Loomis, and his motives are bonkers and quite a letdown on reflection. Quite a lot of the dialogue is just awful, maybe topped by the peanut butter on the penis line. But the nods to the original aren't too over the top, Laurie's paranoia is excellent, and for spells, it's quite chilling, particularly the set-piece during the shortcut. Most of all, though, I believed that David Gordon Green and Danny McBride understood what they doing, and had respect for the original, neither of which can be said for Exorcist: Believer. Maybe having John Carpenter on the credits made a difference. 7/10

211 Halloween Kills -- Stupid dies tonight. Actually, not as bad as I remembered it. The mob justice part of it, on paper at least, is pretty interesting although it does lead to unwanted consequences. For a start, it means Jamie Lee Curtis isn’t in it nearly enough. And then it gives us a few hundred Simpsons townsfolk mistaking a five-foot-four fat bald man for Michael Myers. This whole “yes, I can see what you’re trying to do” theme continues with the Big John, Little John stuff, and the oddly confusing denouement with Karen, and the dispatch of the world’s least efficient mob. I still prefer the first one, but this is okay and that’s better than I was expecting. The reboot really should’ve died tonight. 5/10

212 Halloween Ends -- The pre-credit sequence is still an effective rug-pulling exercise but then we’re left with the rest of the movie. The end of Halloween Kills had a knife-wielding Laurie Strode march out of the hospital, promising that she was coming to get Michael for killing her daughter. Yeah, turns out she didn’t do that. Instead, it’s eventually four years later and the Laurie Strode who spent 1978-2018 in a state of constant preparation for the night HE would return, then watched that happen, saw her daughter and son-in-law be killed along with dozens of her fellow townsfolk, who then let Michael slip back into the shadows, has started putting her life back together, is writing a book, and is ready to celebrate Halloween 2022. EXCUSE ME? You can’t tell me this was planned this way, or that the close of this trilogy was designed to have so little of Michael vs Laurie. But that’s what we’ve got. A Halloween movie that barely qualifies as a Halloween movie and instead feels like one of those Friday the 13th sequels where they forgot to put in Jason. It does have some things going for it as it focuses on two characters destroyed by their pasts and who find themselves as outcasts on the fringes of society and it actually does a decent job of depicting their descent once they find each other, but in the end that's more like something to start a new trilogy, not complete one and so this still feels insipid, lackluster, and a waste of everyone’s time. 3/10

213 Quantum of Solace -- After all that, I remembered that I hadn't finished off my 007 watch. This is a bit of a crash from the heights of Casino Royale. There's lots in it I don't mind, such as the beats of the storyline are okay, and the setting in Bolivia worked well, I don't even mind it's about water, and the cast is superb. It's just that the story is told in the most confusing way possible and the attempts by Marc Foster to emulate Paul Greengrass's treatment of Bourne does not make it more accessible. Not as bad as some reviews had me believe but deserved better. 5/10

214 Totally Killer -- The quiet town of Verner suffered from a spate of teen murders in 1987 that remained unsolved. When teenager Jamie's mom is killed in a copycat slaying in 2022, she winds up back at the time of the original killings which she has to solve to save her mother. I was reminded a lot of Happy Death Day watching this, a feeling only cemented as lead girl Kiernan Shipka bears a passing resemblance to Jessica Roth, but where that put the slasher movie into Groundhog Day, this puts it into Back to the Future, and it's a remarkably joyous fit. Fish out-of-water comedies aren't exactly thin on the ground but Shipka's portrayal of Jamie trying to fit in with 1980s Mean Girls, one of whom is her horny mother, is brilliantly done. At times the mystery of the masked killer plays second fiddle to the high school comedy aspects and, as is mandatory, Jamie's relationship with her mother, but Nahnatchka Khan's film balances it all out quite well. The horror aspects are surprisingly brutal for a film like this. In one kill, the victim is stabbed a bunch of times and then rolled onto her side to be stabbed a bunch of times more, which I really didn't expect. But it's the little details, it's the cops talking about their top three worst types of people, the supposed life-saving qualities of a blow job, Jamie's desperate attempts to keep her mom and dad from getting too horny with each other, that really tickled me and will, I suspect, demand a second watch fairly soon. 8/10

215 Killers of the Flower Moon -- Some three-hour movies don't feel like three-hour movies, but I've yet to see a three-and-a-half-hour movie that didn't feel exactly that, in the same way I've never said, "Well, that was a quick Super Bowl." When oil is discovered on Osage Nation land in 1920s Oklahoma, it pumped lots of money into the direction of the Native Americans, albeit which has by law to be overseen by white folks. Thoroughly nasty piece of work, William Hale (de Niro), sees an opportunity for a long-game con by getting his dim nephew, Ernest Buckhart (Di Caprio), to marry into an Osage family, then pay hitmen to dispose of the family and gain control of their rights through inheritence. The acting talent is incredible and the performances of Leonardo Di Caprio and Jessie Plemons as the FBI agent sent to investigate the murders are stand-outs. Scorsese's direction is incredible, and in places, transcendent, but an already indulgent experience is made to feel that little bit more extreme in the closing few scenes. Robbie Robertson's score is also very good but would've been better if it didn't last for 210 minutes. I enjoyed it a lot in the same way as I would have if I'd binge-watched a four-part drama on Apple TV with outstanding production values over an afternoon. I can't really remember the last time Bobby De Niro was as good as this, and he really is great here. But it's more than a little frustrating that people *this* dumb, *this* opportunistic, *this* entitled could get away with so much for so long. I've seen some commentary around the focus of the piece perhaps being better suited to shine more on the Osage Nation, and particularly in Molly, and I have to agree. Lily Gladstone soaks up every scene she's in, and I'd like to have seen her more, and a bit better used as well. It feels like this is Apple's push for Oscar bling in a few month's time, and maybe it'll threaten some of the acting categories, but for my money there are better movies this year, although maybe not many that have such a compelling story that brings this shameful part of America's history to life, something of which Mr Scorsese has some experience. 8/10

216 Buffaloed -- Zoey Deutch, like a younger Anna Kendrick, is probably the best thing in this hit-and-miss comedy set in the world of debt collectors. Her character, Peg, has always been a bit of a grifter, and gets prison time for selling forged Buffalo Bills tickets. Upon release, she discovers she owes $50,000 in assorted fees, uses her gift of the gab to get the debt canceled, gets a gig with the debt collection agency, and then applies her talents to squeeze as much as she can from the poor people who end up on her call list. A scuzzy manager and a lawyer love interest compel her to see the error of her ways and set up her own, ethical, debt collection agency, which her previous employer does not take kindly to. Buffaloed does manage to be amusing in places, again, mostly down to Deutch and her mom, played by Judy Greer, but the jokes are way too far apart, and Peg's love interest with the lawyer who prosecuted her over the tickets thing just isn't believable. It kept me engaged and I was keen to see how it all turned out but the final reveal is probably the worst bit of the movie, like the writers' sympathy for these characters just couldn't hold out for the whole hour and a half. I kinda know how they feel. 5/10

[Miguel Sanchez]

@accies1874 Superbad or Halloween?

[JustOneCornetto]

Planning on seeing Killers of the Flower Moon at some point so thanks for that review @MSU. Glad you mentioned Lily Gladstone because I've heard she really is superb in the film.