What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Trackdaybob]

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.

Broadbent is absolute class. 

It may have got a little dusty in the room. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Indiana Jones 5, better than expected. I wouldn't put in a par with the first three which will always be all-time classics, but it's way better than the last one. Not as action-packed as the earlier installments but, to be fair, he must be eighty-odd. Worth a watch.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Bully Wee Villa

[LIVIFOREVER]

Watched the new Equaliser film with Denzel Washington, don't blink or you could miss someone's grizzly ending, my wife popped out to make a cuppa and she missed 4 bad guys being sent to meet their maker before the kettle had boiled, don't mess with the equalizer.

Edited December 16, 2023 by LIVIFOREVER

[LIVIFOREVER]

12 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Indiana Jones 5, better than expected. I wouldn't put in a par with the first three which will always be all-time classics, but it's way better than the last one. Not as action-packed as the earlier installments but, to be fair, he must be eighty-odd. Worth a watch.

Aye noticed it was on one of my apps being released on Friday, think it was Disney+, will be giving it a watch over the weekend.

[BFTD]

On 11/12/2023 at 23:11, Arch Stanton said:

"They" say when your mood is low to watch one of your favourite films.

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

Bollocks to that; Cannibal Holocaust and A Serbian Film would likely push me over the edge if I was on a downer anyway.

Godzilla Minus One (cinema) - mysterious stranger takes a trip to Tokyo and finds himself attacked by the locals.

Unsurprisingly, this is a cinema film, and it's a wee cracker. Takes the big lizard back to his roots as a terrifying agent of chaos, with none of the later 'protector of nature' stuff - he's just a big scary beast that's doing what comes naturally. The storyline for the human characters is interesting and there are a few that I'd be happy to see return in a sequel, but it's obviously the big lad you've come to see, and he doesn't disappoint. I never knew that I wanted to see Jaws with a stupidly large knobbly dinosaur, but we get a bit of that and it's pretty tremendous...just go see it if you're into big monster films, because it definitely won't be the same experience on the small screen.

Napoleon (cinema) - mysterious stranger takes a trip to Moscow and finds himself unexpectedly not attacked by the locals.

This was fine; unlike the above, I think you could wait for streaming and not lose much. Joaquim is as good as you'd expect, but I think part of the problem is that the film skips through the big events of Boney's reign and doesn't give much of a sense of how he ended up in the position, nor what he did with it other than go to war. Maybe more of a problem with format; one of the rare occasions where the length of a TV series would've been appropriate rather than a film, instead of vice versa. It's OK though, but a bit unsatisfying.

[DA Baracus]

The Marvels

Saw that this was slaughtered in reviews. I now know why.

Not because the film was bad. I really enjoyed it actually. Main criticism was that it was a bit short and too 'straightforward' with the story, with little peril (the baddie was utterly inconsequential and one of the weakest seen in the MCU, both literally and in terms of a fleshed out character), but thought it was entertaining with quite a lot of funny moments. The interplay between the three leads was really fun I thought.

No shock to see that they're building a Young Avengers. That's been building for a while now across the MCU. Can think of at least four members right away, including the two in this film. 

When Monic went to another dimension I was expecting some Kang stuff, but pleasantly surprised to see some X-Men stuff instead (was that Kelsey Grammer?!)! Will this be a sort of spin off universe, separate from thr current continuity (for now!), or will it somehow be integrated? Kamala is a mutant remember.

[DA Baracus]

Saw the new Indiana Jones film earlier.

Really liked it. Felt much more like the original trilogy than the dogshit fourth. The lack of Shia Le Beouf was a positive. Lack of Short Round was disappointing.

Time travel nonsense > "it was aliens!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

[Savage Henry]

On 15/12/2023 at 22:16, Bully Wee Villa said:

Indiana Jones 5, better than expected. I wouldn't put in a par with the first three which will always be all-time classics, but it's way better than the last one. Not as action-packed as the earlier installments but, to be fair, he must be eighty-odd. Worth a watch.

It’s at least an hour too long and goes completely off the rails towards the end, but I got through it, which is more than I can say about Indiana Jones and the Indestructible Fridge, which sent me off to sleep twice.  A solid 5.8/10.  Better than expected.  Much better. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Savage Henry

[RuMoore]

On 13/12/2023 at 09:12, accies1874 said:

59. Napoleon - Cinema

There’s a really tight comedy here that picks apart Napoleon’s ego, but I think that got lost in amongst all of the other stuff. The war scenes are impressive, especially the sound, but we’ve seen plenty of  impressive war scenes these past few years, so they aren’t really enough for me anymore. That’s why I was interested in Napoleon’s absurdity more than anything, but I ended up confused by the whole thing.

Saw this last night, going in with almost zero knowledge of Napoloean i was hoping to learn something but pretty much ended up more bemused than educated.

The war scenes were very well done and worth seeing on the big screen, lots of really cool cinematography throughout but aside from that it wasn't up to much. I'd presume his letters to his wife are historically significant but I didn't really get the point in any of the relationship aspect. It was quite a strange vibe at times as I definitely felt like it was far more comedic than I would have expected, threw me off a bit, I think I clocked half way through it was a take on his complex and insecurities but just felt out of place. Also funny how everyone has posh English accents aside from Napoloen who sounded like some twitter yank tech bro. 

Understandably they weren't going to go through all the battles but it was a bit weird after only seeing him win one victory we had them talking about him as this battle hardened master technician yet we didn't really see anything to show it. I would have actually preferred some lazy exposition explaining how he cleverly won some of the battles rather than just taking their word for it. 

I did enjoy it overall but won't be rushing to rewatch. 

6/10 but a 7/10 if I'm feeling generous. 

[BFTD]

5 hours ago, Savage Henry said:

It’s at least an hour too long and goes completely off the rails towards the end, but I got through it, which is more than I can say about Indiana Jones and the Indestructible Fridge, which sent me off to sleep twice.  A solid 5.8/10.  Better than expected.  Much better. 

It's funny how everyone remembers the ridiculous nuclear fridge scene, yet it's still probably the best part of the film  

[Mark Connolly]

9 hours ago, Savage Henry said:

It’s at least an hour too long and goes completely off the rails towards the end, but I got through it, which is more than I can say about Indiana Jones and the Indestructible Fridge, which sent me off to sleep twice.  A solid 5.8/10.  Better than expected.  Much better. 

I had a theory at the time that Lucas and Spielberg got so fed up with being asked when they were making a fourth Indy film that they deliberately made it shite so people would never ask for a fifth.

I stand by that belief, but I also feel now that they realised they went too far, and the recent one went some way towards making up for it.

[BFTD]

54 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

I had a theory at the time that Lucas and Spielberg got so fed up with being asked when they were making a fourth Indy film that they deliberately made it shite so people would never ask for a fifth.

I stand by that belief, but I also feel now that they realised they went too far, and the recent one went some way towards making up for it.

Did Spielberg and Lucas even have anything to do with Indiana Jones and the Dial-a-Journey?

Ah, I see they exec-produced, so they put some money in. Probably a good thing; the wheels came off for the pair of them a long time ago.

[MSU]

253 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 -- As much as this is style over substance, and as much as it's overblown and long, I don't think Uma Thurman has been as cool as this and the last half-hour or so in the House of Blue Leaves up there with the most impressive scenes in martial arts movies. Sonny Chiba is excellent, the anime scene beautifully bloody, but the Kill Bill project suffers from being filmed as one movie and then split in two which allowed a laissez-faire approach to editing. It's still a great watch, full of quotable moments, and a soundtrack as sharp as any Hattori Hanzo steel. 8/10

254 Leave the World Behind -- I typically enjoy movies that serve up a broad concept in intimate surroundings; Coherence would be a great example. Here, we're looking at the end of the world from the perspective of a beach house in Long Island, which is where Amanda, Julia Roberts, decides to take her husband Clay, Ethan Hawke, and kids on a whimsical vacation. Once there, they enjoy their plush surroundings until an incident at the beach leaves them unsettled, and they return to the house to find the power out and the wi-fi and cell service down, which upsets their daughter who was looking forward to seeing the series finale of Friends. This is a plot point that comes up way too often. When the owner of the house, GH, Mahershala Ali, shows up in the middle of the night with his daughter seeking shelter, Amanda is very suspicious and quite racist, as this wider ensemble discovers more and more about what is causing this sudden outage. First up, at 140 minutes, it's at least half an hour too long, and one character holds on to more information for much longer than they really should if they were concerned about anything other than serving the plot, and oh for the love of God, can the camera maybe stop swinging about the place for just one second, but there really is quite a bit to enjoy while the mystery slowly unravels. As it finally approaches the big reveal, though, less of it makes sense or seems credible, and it feels more like a David Copperfield special that ends with him pulling a dead rabbit out of a hat, and the very end of it is so astonishingly misplaced it made me a little angry. 6/10

255 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 -- As a whole, mostly everything is a little less satisfying than the first one, with the trademark dialogue being oddly clunky in places. The fight in the trailer is awesome and still worth a rewatch. I dunno, I just don't really care for David Carradine in the role of Bill -- at all -- and some of the sequences are a bit tougher to watch knowing Uma Thurman's experience on set. Out of the two Bills, I definitely have seen this one less, and now I remember why. 7/10

256 Maestro -- Bradley Cooper may be a better director than he is an actor, but unfortunately I don’t know that he’s all that good a director. His chain-smoking, cold-ridden performance in this Leonard Bernstein biopic leaves a lot to be desired, like a  generous dab of some Vick's VapoRub, as the movie skims over aspects of Bernstein’s life while remaining oddly obsessed with others. Alright, Bradley. He liked men too. We get it. The one thing that Cooper does with his director hat on is get a brilliant performance out of Carey Mulligan who is always the most interesting thing on screen. Choices between color and black and white, and aspect ratio were confusing, and there’s a clear exit point around ten minutes before the end that, had they taken it, would’ve spared us pointless clips from REM and Tears for Fears’ back catalogue. The Oscars love biopics so maybe this will get some love from them next year, hopefully exclusively in the direction of Ms Mulligan. 4/10

[BFTD]

Not David Carradine's fault, but I thought Bill was a massive let-down. Tarantino's ego had exploded by then, and pretty much everything after Thurman arrives at her destination is embarrassing cringe. Monologues about Superman and showing Shogun Assassin to young kids are the kind of thing teenage incels think is cool, and the dialogue's appalling.

Kill Bill's maybe the point where Tarantino's trademark became spank material of famous women's feet rather than cool chat.

[velo army]

Edge of Tomorrow

 

I had put off watching this for some reason but it's excellent. A tale of alien invasion and time travel that manages to keep the story very tight and compact. Time travel ordinarily creates plot holes and flabbiness in the storytelling but they do a great job here. The arc of Cruise's character is very satisfying as is his on screen connection with Emily Blunt.

A thoroughly enjoyable movie.

 

[Fullerene]

2 hours ago, velo army said:

Edge of Tomorrow

 

I had put off watching this for some reason but it's excellent. A tale of alien invasion and time travel that manages to keep the story very tight and compact. Time travel ordinarily creates plot holes and flabbiness in the storytelling but they do a great job here. The arc of Cruise's character is very satisfying as is his on screen connection with Emily Blunt.

A thoroughly enjoyable movie.

 

Also known as "Live, Die,Repeat".  Similar to Top Gun Maverick, the enemy is not a today enemy that might seem dated in decades to come.

[velo army]

6 hours ago, Fullerene said:

Also known as "Live, Die,Repeat".  Similar to Top Gun Maverick, the enemy is not a today enemy that might seem dated in decades to come.

Source Code was essentially the same movie and was one I also loved for many of the same reasons.

The enemy in EoT was great. Scary and virtually invincible. It was also cleverly conceived without seeming convoluted. 

 

[accies1874]

23 hours ago, RuMoore said:

Saw this last night, going in with almost zero knowledge of Napoloean i was hoping to learn something but pretty much ended up more bemused than educated.

The war scenes were very well done and worth seeing on the big screen, lots of really cool cinematography throughout but aside from that it wasn't up to much. I'd presume his letters to his wife are historically significant but I didn't really get the point in any of the relationship aspect. It was quite a strange vibe at times as I definitely felt like it was far more comedic than I would have expected, threw me off a bit, I think I clocked half way through it was a take on his complex and insecurities but just felt out of place. Also funny how everyone has posh English accents aside from Napoloen who sounded like some twitter yank tech bro. 

Understandably they weren't going to go through all the battles but it was a bit weird after only seeing him win one victory we had them talking about him as this battle hardened master technician yet we didn't really see anything to show it. I would have actually preferred some lazy exposition explaining how he cleverly won some of the battles rather than just taking their word for it. 

I did enjoy it overall but won't be rushing to rewatch. 

6/10 but a 7/10 if I'm feeling generous. 

I think that he deliberately wasn't shown as a master strategist in order to feed into the misplaced hubris, but I agree with everything else. I went with my dad who knows a hell of a lot more about Napoleon than I do (I just know he's a wee guy with a hat) and he enjoyed it a lot more than me. 

[Fullerene]

3 hours ago, accies1874 said:

I think that he deliberately wasn't shown as a master strategist in order to feed into the misplaced hubris, but I agree with everything else. I went with my dad who knows a hell of a lot more about Napoleon than I do (I just know he's a wee guy with a hat) and he enjoyed it a lot more than me. 

Actually "wee man" is also a myth.  His height was fairly typical for that time.

[scottsdad]

29 minutes ago, Fullerene said:

Actually "wee man" is also a myth.  His height was fairly typical for that time.

PG Wodehouse covered this in his poem about Napoleon.

Napoleon was a little guy:
They used to call him Shorty.
He only stood about so high.
His chest was under forty
But when folks started talking mean.,
His pride it didn't injure :
'My queen,' he'd say to Josephine,
'The thing that counts is ginger.'

He got too fat. We all know that
From portraits in the galleries.
He never seemed to learn the knack
Of laying off the calories.
But though his waist was large, he faced
And overcame all foemen.
He knew quite well it's brains that tell
And not a guy's abdomen.