What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[MarkoRaj]

Went to see killers of the flower moon today and have to agree that it's a long time to be sat in a cinema seat. I think they should bring back Intermissions for anything longer than 3 odd hours. 

For a start my old bladder has no chance of lasting that long, but even a chance to stretch my legs would have been good

The film itself is fantastic. De Niro is fantastic, as are the 2 leads.

It's a really horrendous story tbh, it's made me want to go read up more about it

[accies1874]

13 hours ago, Miguel Sanchez said:

@accies1874 Superbad or Halloween?

OG Halloween brother

[accies1874]

The Texas Chainsaw (or Chain Saw) Massacre franchise

Last year I went through all 13 films in the Halloween series so I thought that this October it would be "fun" to give the same treatment to the Texas Chain Saw Massacre franchise. I initially planned to give each of nine films individual reviews, but it became clear after the fourth one that that wasn't gonna happen as too many were merging into one in my head. Here goes.

1. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

I don't need to say too much about the original as I've reviewed a couple of times on here before, but every time I watch it, it gets closer and closer to becoming a perfect film in my eyes. By establishing this disgusting yet authentic atmosphere, it makes it all the more horrific when it descends into a complete nightmare. Obviously the audience knows that it's gonna go to shit - it's called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre ffs - but it still packs a gigantic punch when you realise what's bubbling underneath the surface, and the mystery behind it makes it all the freakier imo.

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

I reordered the Halloween run-through so that I wasn't finishing on the best film - but this time I made the mistake of starting with the only good one, although I had heard mixed things about 2 so was quite interested in that - but despite a strong opening half, it makes the cardinal sin of setting the rest of the film in an underground lair which ultimately resembles a 2000s video game adaptation of the original with grander set-pieces, more "cinematic" sets and characters who look like they couldn't afford to license the likenesses of the original family. I will give this bonus points for containing a really excellent jumpscare, though, which was preceded by the tensest scene in the film. 

3 & 4. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III & Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation

This is where things started getting confusing as I thought parts of 3 happened in 4 and vice versa. I don't really remember much about these two other than they seemed to be more a continuation of the silliness of the second one, which was exemplified by 4's beginning and ending. It begins on prom night but only stays there for about five minutes before somewhat inexplicably moving to rural Texas via a crazed car journey from prom. Nothing much else happened until the final act which descended into more craziness, but the kind of craziness that was clearly a case of the creators going "this is gonna be fucking crazy" which made it less enjoyable. The ending really is mental and teases some Leatherface-related illuminati conspiracy similar to whichever of the Halloweens did likewise (5 or 6, or maybe both). It was a stupid idea for Halloween, and it was an even stupider idea for a TCM film. Thankfully they abandoned that and jumped to the edgy mid-2000s remake and its prequel. 

5 & 6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre & The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning

I say thankfully only because of what they left behind rather than what they moved to. I think I would've liked these two a tiny bit more if they were their own thing rather than a remake/reimagining, as these were as if someone looked at the original and thought "I know what this needs: more gore, more plot and a less authentic atmosphere," which resulted in another couple of try-hard, edgelord entries. Its decision to go down the prequel route was strange, too, given that Leatherface had about two seconds before turning into the Leatherface we all kinda know. If anything, it was more a prequel to the fake cop who, tbf, was more interesting in a film like this than Leatherface was. We've got a proper Leatherface prequel coming and it is not a fun watch, so I suppose I preferred the initial scenes of some screwball abusing the powers of being a backwater cop. 

7. Texas Chainsaw

Texas Chainsaw (3D) brought the franchise into the 2010s with a film that felt like the glossy Scream or Final Destination sequels around that time, and if there's one thing you don't want your TCM film to be, it's glossy. There's a grander plot which involves a carnival, a police station, familial beef, more conspiracies etc., which is another unnecessary addition in a long line of ways in which filmmakers have unnecessarily tried to pad out the concept of the original. It got to the point where I couldn't really believe that I was watching a TCM film. 

8. Leatherface

This might actually be the most legitimately weird one out of the lot, mostly because I got the impression that they actually thought they were making something with merit. It's the origin of Leatherface in which a handful of patients in a psychiatric hospital break out during a riot and cause shenanigans upon their escape. It actually goes through long (boring) sections that are more interested in the characters than the gore, and its twist genuinely surprised me. Neither of these were enough to make up for how dull it was, but I'm at least happy that there were a couple of distinguishing traits in one of these films. 

9. Texas Chainsaw Massacre

I reviewed this one last year and really hated it, but in comparison to the rest of this trash, it was actually a wee bit more enjoyable. The bus scene is at the very least the second-best scene in all of the sequels, prequels and remakes, and this film really is just a few decent set-pieces loosely connected by a hapless script. 

Edited October 23, 2023 by accies1874

[scottsdad]

On 21/10/2023 at 23:07, Miguel Sanchez said:

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.

Greenie for knowing who owns Michael Myers' face. 

[2426255]

Road to Perdition

My recent selections left me in bad standing with her, but I knew this film would get me back on an even keel. One of Tom Hanks most undervalued movies - I think he said so himself.

Edited October 23, 2023 by 2426255

[paranoid android]

On 22/10/2023 at 17:57, Miguel Sanchez said:

@accies1874 Superbad or Halloween?

I watched Superbad - quite enjoyed it.

[paranoid android]

On 19/10/2023 at 10:02, paranoid android said:

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. 

Nearly a week on, and there are still bits of this film that refuse to leave my head - maybe more unsettling than I thought..

[Squalor Vic]

Just back from Killers of the Flower Moon. It's long, too long in fact and could easily have 45-60 mins out it, and possibly be a more enjoyable film. 

That said, I'm glad I've seen it at the cinema. I think my mind would wander watching it in the house and it really is beautiful at times. Leo and De Niro both great, but Lily Gladstone does a helluva lot with so little dialogue. It's a powerful film and a very dark and humourless story being told, I'm not sure what other Scorcese film I can compare it too.

I dunno where it'll end up in the Scorcese rankings when the dust settles on it, but between this and Oppenheimer this year ,in the battle of the 3+hr cinema experiences, I preferred Oppenheimer I think

[BFTD]

Five Nights at Freddys - the wean wanted to see this. I was impressed by how many teenagers came out to see it and were quite animated, presumably because they'd played the games when they were younger (I remember them being a hot topic of conversation at my son's primary school maybe five or ten years back).

It feels like it was aimed at young kids, despite the 15 certificate. The high concept story's pretty threadbare and what little plot elements exist aren't supposed to be examined too closely. I'd imagine 8 to 12 year olds might enjoy it, and my son seemed to get some kind of kick out of it being made into a film, but if you're unfamiliar with the games there isn't a lot of meat to chew on here, and you might find yourself annoyed by the lack of effort in the script.

If you ever wondered why Matthew Lillard never kicked on to become a regular face in Hollywood after his run in Aughts horror and comedies, this will likely give you some kind of answer.

[scottsdad]

11 hours ago, BFTD said:

Five Nights at Freddys - the wean wanted to see this. I was impressed by how many teenagers came out to see it and were quite animated, presumably because they'd played the games when they were younger (I remember them being a hot topic of conversation at my son's primary school maybe five or ten years back).

It feels like it was aimed at young kids, despite the 15 certificate. The high concept story's pretty threadbare and what little plot elements exist aren't supposed to be examined too closely. I'd imagine 8 to 12 year olds might enjoy it, and my son seemed to get some kind of kick out of it being made into a film, but if you're unfamiliar with the games there isn't a lot of meat to chew on here, and you might find yourself annoyed by the lack of effort in the script.

If you ever wondered why Matthew Lillard never kicked on to become a regular face in Hollywood after his run in Aughts horror and comedies, this will likely give you some kind of answer.

Scott took his girlfriend to see this yesterday. He was not impressed one bit. 

Not only that, but the stingy bugger took his girl to Tesco for cinema snacks rather than shelling out on the cola/popcorn from Cineworld. 

[BFTD]

8 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Scott took his girlfriend to see this yesterday. He was not impressed one bit. 

Not only that, but the stingy bugger took his girl to Tesco for cinema snacks rather than shelling out on the cola/popcorn from Cineworld. 

Ah, you raised your boy right, I see!

[Ewanandmoreagain]

On 15/10/2023 at 16:49, Gibby82 said:

The Long Good Friday.

Very dated and some really dodgy racist dialogue but good fun and Bob Hoskins is excellent as per. Bonus points for Helen Mirren being Helen Mirren, a cameo from the guy off Brush Strokes and silent IRA assassin/pretend homosexual Pierce Brosnan.

7/10

and the guy off " Casualty " !?

[Scotty Tunbridge]

On 25/10/2023 at 23:07, BFTD said:

Five Nights at Freddys - the wean wanted to see this. I was impressed by how many teenagers came out to see it and were quite animated, presumably because they'd played the games when they were younger (I remember them being a hot topic of conversation at my son's primary school maybe five or ten years back).

It feels like it was aimed at young kids, despite the 15 certificate. The high concept story's pretty threadbare and what little plot elements exist aren't supposed to be examined too closely. I'd imagine 8 to 12 year olds might enjoy it, and my son seemed to get some kind of kick out of it being made into a film, but if you're unfamiliar with the games there isn't a lot of meat to chew on here, and you might find yourself annoyed by the lack of effort in the script.

If you ever wondered why Matthew Lillard never kicked on to become a regular face in Hollywood after his run in Aughts horror and comedies, this will likely give you some kind of answer.

Meh, I didn’t come out of this thinking I had just watched an objectively terrible movie but yeah it wasn’t great especially the part with the fort.

I did however like the use of The romantics Talking in your sleep.

[paranoid android]

Titane.

Blimey.

[MSU]

217 No One Will Save You -- Kaitlin Dever plays Brynn, a young woman who lives on her own on the outskirts of town and who finds herself on the outskirts of society thanks to a mysterious incident in her past. She spends her days mourning the deaths of her mother and her best friend and constructs a miniature version of her hometown in her front room. She is ignored by the other townsfolk and she avoids their apathy wherever possible until one night, her home is invaded by an extraterrestrial. So a home invasion horror flick then? Well, sort of. Brynn is a resourceful soul and she's determined. She accidentally kills her unwanted visitor and at this point, the scope of the movie broadens into something bigger and wider and what was already interesting becomes compelling. It took me at least five minutes to notice that no one had spoken and then that was all I could notice. And it's a lovely little detail that goes a long way to let us into Brynn's world and it says a lot that director and writer Brian Duffield is able to tell his story so convincingly and a high anxiety Kaitlin Dever is able to convey it with no dialogue or internal monologue. The themes on play are maybe a little obvious and it takes inspiration from some well-known sources, but it ends up being one of those streaming gems that I'd really wished I'd got a chance to see on the big screen. 8/10

218 The Exorcist III -- I hate to keep going on about how shit Exorcist: Believer is, but this really cements it. Here's an Exorcist sequel that has comedic elements, a frankly insane performance from George C Scott, and for long spells has more in common with a police procedural than an exorcism, and yet it's still far superior. I saw this on VHS when it came out in 1990 and just couldn't tune in to the tone. Watching it again, I can see where poor 17-year-old me became confused by it, and I'm not sure some of the effects or performances have aged all that well, but it's impossibly compelling for a whole variety of reasons and didn't need to desecrate the memory of Chris MacNeil to do so. Bonus point for THAT jumpscare, ooft tae f**k. 7/10

219 The Omen -- Along with Halloween, The Omen was the horror movie of my youth where the score was enough to terrify me. It’s still a pretty spooky watch as the son of the devil manages to become adopted by a diplomat and his wife but I couldn’t help think that so much of the movie depends on characters in the know being really bad at explaining stuff. I mean, there’s a time for biblical quotes and a time for just spitting it out, Patrick Troughton. Aspects of the script let it down but don't prevent it creating a really troubling mood. 6/10

220 Rocky -- I don’t think Sylvester Stallone has been better or has written better than here. Before Rocky became a sporting franchise, it was a carefully observed character study, a story about an underclass of characters too jaded to have faith that their opportunity would come. It’s still surprising how little the actual title fight takes up of the runtime and how quickly it’s wrapped up. Talia Shire, Burt Young, Burgess Meredith, and Carl Weathers all contribute perfectly to this lightning in a bottle. A worthy Best Picture. 9/10

[accies1874]

I watched the first three Exorcist films last week (2 & 3 for the first time) and boy is there is some variance there. They're pretty much three different genres, and tbh I'm not sure any of them are horrors first and foremost. Definitely agree with your thoughts on the third - a bizarre police procedural, but a pretty good one at that. 

[MSU]

1 hour ago, accies1874 said:

I watched the first three Exorcist films last week (2 & 3 for the first time) and boy is there is some variance there. They're pretty much three different genres, and tbh I'm not sure any of them are horrors first and foremost. Definitely agree with your thoughts on the third - a bizarre police procedural, but a pretty good one at that. 

I still haven't seen Exorcist II all the way through and the only reason I'm going to do anything about remedying that is to see if it's worse than Believer.

[JustOneCornetto]

(79) Jour de Fete (1949) – DVD

Jacques Tati directs and stars in this madcap film about a village postman played by Tati. It’s all very visual with lots of slapstick initially when Tati is delivering post as the travelling fair arrives in the village. He tries to help but the locals all treat him as a target for playing tricks on with various amusing scenes but after Tati sees a film about the US postal service he decides to prove that he can be just as efficient and the second half of the film is a series of hilarious sketches with Tati on his bike. 6.5/10

(80) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) – Vue

Yes it’s a long film but tbh I’ve watched much shorter films which have felt longer. It’s a big story to tell and Scorcese uses his trusted actors DiCaprio and De Niro to play out the events in an absorbing fashion. Both are brilliant and Lily Gladstone as Mollie really has made a name for herself with her performance plus lots of supporting actors all doing their part well. You get a real sense of the time period and the themes of greed and manipulation are clear and unambiguous. Couldn’t make up my mind if I liked the Lucky Strike part for summation but I’ve since read that the FBi suggested the story be told on that show which was obviously very popular at the time. I did like the cameo at the end, thought it was a great way for Scorcese to sign off on what must have been a massive project. 8.5/10

(81) Missing (2023) – Sky Cinema

One of these films which uses the now popular trope of solving a mystery via digital methods. A teenage girl’s mother goes on holiday to Columbia with her new boyfriend but when she fails to return home the girl reports her missing but does her own investigating using various digital tools like live cams and hacking into her mother’s and boyfriend’s accounts. As she finds out more and more the backstory becomes extremely convoluted with a few twists and a major reveal near the end. Decent enough thriller to keep you interested. 7/10

 

[accies1874]

Part 1 out of 2 of my 2023 horror catchup:

43. Totally Killer - Prime

A gimmicky suburban teen slasher movie set during Halloween is absolutely my kind of thing, but this felt off to me. The early scenes were often telling rather than showing, which was frustrating as it gave off the impression that I’d missed a bunch of scenes leading into the opening act. The whole televisual aesthetic is almost always off-putting for me too. 

44. Sick - Sky Cinema

I’d been looking forward to this all year, so I was a wee bit disappointed when I was flicking through Sky to see that it had just suddenly dropped on there, and that disappointment was present throughout – despite me thinking it was absolutely brilliant – as it would’ve been a terrific cinema experience.

Sometimes the way a film starts just immediately lets you know that you’re in capable hands; creeping camerawork, setup of the setting (start of Covid) and ideas, then a really thrilling altercation between the opening character and the killer. Right from the off I thought there was something incredibly scary about the antagonist. They’re masked up as you’d expect, but the mask and costume are clearly of a homemade nature with an opening at the eyes, and the way they behave is quite rudimentary for a horror movie villain. This shoddiness elicited a different kind of fear, as it felt so much more real than the otherworldliness of someone like Michael Myers or even Ghostface in some Scream entries.

Once that opening scene is out of the way, we pretty quickly get the two leads out to a big-ass cabin in the woods during lockdown where no one can get near them. One quick negative I had was that I initially thought that the pandemic was just window dressing rather than playing into the story like Dumb Money did, as setting a COVID-era film in an isolated cabin in the woods seemed to me like they were just trying to make a pandemic-centric film without doing anything interesting with that, but those fears were eventually allayed.

I reckon think that the next 50 minutes or so in the cabin was the most I’ve been thrilled by a 2023 film. That entire time had me dreading every single cut or camera movement as I never knew what was gonna be waiting on the other side – this is one of the best things that a horror or thriller can do for me, and it makes me want to go out and find John Hyam’s other work in this genre. To maintain that tension by balancing out the background creepiness and occasional pay-off for such a long period of time is brilliant. I honestly just started smiling during one tense scene simply due to how much of a hold it had of my emotions. There’s a resourcefulness to the altercations, too, which also kept it fresh for most of that time, as does the mystery behind the killer, which was borne out of that real-life nature of them. Towards the end, just as I was thinking it might have been getting a bit stale, it took one final left turn which opened up another talking point regarding the film’s messaging.

Pure cinema, which is why it was such a shame that it was straight-to-digital.

45. Evil Dead Rise - Netflix

I watched this about 20 minutes after watching Sick, so I didn’t have high hopes that I’d get a similar experience, despite liking the original Evil Dead trilogy. This was delightful, though, and just a really fun 90 minutes. It’s kinda stupid, kinda goofy, gory to a comical extent while still retaining some creepy imagery. This all means that it marries up with the original in a lot of respects, especially tonally, which is no mean feat for sequels/remakes of a horror released decades ago with such a distinct tone that blended humour and horror in interesting ways, completely committing to each of them. Other than its setting and family dynamic, I don’t think it did anything particularly new compared to the original, but it was still well worth watching as sheer entertainment.

I enjoyed it so much that I decided to watch the 2013 film as I couldn’t comprehend that a horror franchise has a 100% hit-rate for good films, and while I liked it less than the rest, I can confirm that all five Evil Dead movies are good!

46. M3GAN - Sky Cinema

The very definition of ‘meh’ imo. Felt very inauthentic to me, as it was much more interested in its satire than its characters, story or even horror, and while that satire was quite funny, it wasn’t enough to keep me engaged, especially as its desperation for a PG-13 rating minimised a lot of the more brutal parts. I’m beginning to get the impression that Alisson Williams is a pretty lousy actor, but she and the kid both put in such sleepy performances that it was either intentional or poor direction.

[scottsdad]

The wife and I have tickets for the cinema tonight. No idea what the movie is - it's a "secret screening". Taking a gamble that it's something good.