What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[BFTD]

8 hours ago, coprolite said:

I don’t really remember the film very well but was incensed by the illogical numbering. Should have been Alien III or Aliens II.

see also Rambo III. I mean don’t actually see it, that would be horrible, I meant just as another example of the same thing.

It was Alien³, to be fair. Alien cubed. Not a sequel, but a three-dimensional Alien, ironically not shot in 3D.

If you're familiar with the making of the picture, you'll know that they wouldn't have had the money to shoot in 3D, even if they'd wanted to.

[FifeArab]

The Jackal. Bruce Willis and Richard Gere starred. Watched it on the iPlayer last night.
 

“An imprisoned I.R.A. fighter is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job”

 

Decent action film with some suspense added too, it’s the usual FBI/Bruce Willis/15 kills that will keep you entertained enough anyway.

 

7/10.

[Ewanandmoreagain]

On 07/01/2024 at 01:58, DA Baracus said:

 

 

Here's a top fact for you all; when Ripley takes the elevator down to save Newt and the emergency announcement says that there is 15 minutes to reach the minimum safe distance, the actual scene is indeed 15 minutes!

1/96 hours ?!

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, FifeArab said:

The Jackal. Bruce Willis and Richard Gere starred. Watched it on the iPlayer last night.
 

“An imprisoned I.R.A. fighter is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job”

 

Decent action film with some suspense added too, it’s the usual FBI/Bruce Willis/15 kills that will keep you entertained enough anyway.

 

7/10.

For some reason it's always all over the streaming services. Must be cheap as chips.

Saw it in the cinema and all I remember is that I quite liked the title theme, and Richard Gere's Irish accent is fucking hilarious, so it's a recommendation from me for those reasons alone.

[Scorge]

The Beekeeper - Jason Statham's latest action vehicle. My expectations were fairly low, but good god it is one of those films that's so stupid you can actually feel your brain cells jumping out of your ears as it goes. What turns out to be a revenge mission for a wee bit of fraud ends up being spun ridiculously far with constant tortuous bee analogies rammed in your face, and what on earth is Jeremy Irons thinking being in this?

 

It goes all the way to the president of the US, and the final act sees Statham casually punching out heavily armed secret service agents whilst walking up the stairs in the same manner you'd head to the toilet for a dump. It's a damning indictment on the FBI, SWAT teams even by normal dumb action rules.

Edited January 11 by Scorge

[Mark Connolly]

1 hour ago, BFTD said:

For some reason it's always all over the streaming services. Must be cheap as chips.

Saw it in the cinema and all I remember is that I quite liked the title theme, and Richard Gere's Irish accent is fucking hilarious, so it's a recommendation from me for those reasons alone.

Aye, it seems to be on BBC IPlayer permanently.

IIRC a young Jack Black appears providing some goods for Bruce Willis?

[accies1874]

3. Priscilla - Cinema

Not sure if this counts as a 2024 release here. A few places have it as being released in the UK on January 1st, but I'm pretty certain there were screenings before New Year. I'll go with Google though and put it as 2024. 

I really liked this. The plot kicks off immediately with Priscilla sitting in a diner before some guy asks her if she wants to go to a party at Elvis' gaff. I can sometimes find this a bit off-putting when they don't give you some necessary time getting to know the main character's normal life before it gets turned upside down, however it worked really well for me here as the first chunk of the film feels like a dream - a kind of fictionalised whirlwind romance between a star and a normie. It's clear that Priscilla thinks that being attached to Elvis gives her life value and she becomes lost when that's taken away from her, kind of like a drug. 

When she moves to Graceland with Elvis longer term, it becomes obvious that that whirlwind romance was just that. Life is suddenly much more boring (Coppola's speciality) and there are a bunch of visual things to indicate that she doesn't belong there. Firstly, she looks absolutely tiny compared to Elvis and his posse, who are perfectly empty characters, something that is drawn attention to when the maid comes into the room and is the only one in that scene to meet her at the same eye level. It also uses colour nicely to make Priscilla pop or blend into a frame, giving off the impression that she doesn't really belong there. There's one scene where Elvis destroys an old house in Graceland because it's bringing down the vibe, and Priscilla is, from what I remember, the only one wearing a white and black outfit which is the same colour scheme as the house's exterior, drawing a connection between her and this other thing that Elvis carelessly destroys once he's bored of it. I could be wrong about that but it sticks out in my mind. Finally, the cinematography gives a haziness to a lot of the interior scenes and strong backlighting through the windows, and Graceland itself is a gated place closed off to the world. These things made me think that Priscilla is both letting a world full of life pass her by to live this one with Elvis, and also that she's getting to experience a world that so many dream to experience - and it's really dull. I know those are kind of conflicting ideas, but they're the crux of Priscilla's development as she learns to forge her own path. I watched May December the night before I saw this and that's actually an interesting counterpoint depicting what could've happened to Priscilla if she stayed with Elvis. They're two really different films with completely different qualities, but they also link up well in terms of subject matter. 

I hadn't seen Jacob Elordi in anything until Saltburn, but I like the confident creepiness he has in both that and Priscilla. Again linking to May December, he gives off a slightly similar vibe to Charles Melton's character in that film; both of their lives have been greatly affected by their environments and that has bred these men who have the veneer of cocksureness but have a real immaturity bubbling underneath. Cailee Spaeny is, as far as I remember, in every single scene of the film, which is no mean feat given that she needs to both hold her own while blending into the superstardom of Elvis Presley. Both performances really worked for me, even if Elordi's accent reminded me a lot of Nic Cage in Raising Arizona. 

[Archie McSquackle]

On 30/12/2023 at 19:01, Ewanandmoreagain said:

The Courier - ( BBC I player )

Very good film    Very well acted 

A testament to brave people doing right

  Reveal hidden contents

I was under the impression that they all got out successfully , but no.

Presumably that was the real man at the end.

( Benedict seemed to go in for the method acting , not just the hair )

 

 

 

Incredible story and I'm amazed he's not more generally known. Considering it was obviously in the media at the time, it seems like a forgotten story. 

Also on iPlayer, I watched My Old School recently and still can't get my head round how it was all able to happen. I can remember it being in the news but couldn't remember the details. It's the story of a 32yo pretending to be school age to go back to school in Bearsden. Told through interviews with classmates and teachers, animation and Alan Cummings voice-syncing the guy's interview. Bonkers. 

[Savage Henry]

Killers of the Flower Moon: 

Yeah it’s at least an hour too long, but it’s Scorsese’s second masterpiece in a row.  
 

Something all over the place with the dialogue levels though - everybody indoors yells and outdoors mumbles.  

[DA Baracus]

Boudica: Queen of War

2/10. Absolute fucking garbage. Olga Kurylenko is abysmally terrible in this as the eponymous character. The real life story/myth could be an excellent film, but this isn't it. It needs a lead who has can actually act and actually have presence. This has neither.

For some reason Boudica has the force in this, but never utilises it other than to summon her Magic sword.

The two is only for a couple of the deaths in the battle scenes (which are woefully short).

 

Everything Everywhere All At Once

10/10. Exceptional film. Think this was my 4th or 5th viewing, although until tonight hadn't seen it in over a year I think. One of my all time favourites. I love everything about it. It's funny, it's moving, it's stupid, it's weird, it's at times disgusting, it's got pro wrestling and kung fu, it has spine chillingly cringey papercuts, it has award statues in arses, it has hot dog fingers, it has muscular pinkies, it had a racoon controlling a chef, it has googly eyes, it has sentient rocks and it has loads of other stuff. It makes me laugh and makes me cry. I fucking love it.

[MONKMAN]

The holdovers.  

Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa and Davine Joy Randolph are all excellent.  Just a thoroughly brilliant film.

[BFTD]

The Beekeeper (cinema) - absolutely bog-standard entry in the never-more-popular 'middle-aged white man seeks violent retribution' genre.

If you like these films, this is absolutely fine - essentially a fast food rip-off of John Wick, but who doesn't like a burger now and then. Jason Statham does lots of nasty things to a bunch of comically evil bad guys, and that's all you need to know. There's a load of abysmal po-faced bee metaphors throughout the running time, but they're easy to ignore once things kick into high-gear and Statham becomes an absolutely untouchable death machine.

There'll no doubt be(e) a sequel in which they try to poorly explain Statham's backstory, but so long as it contains another round of crunchy violence I'll likely watch it; I'm a bit of a sucker for these things. If you're on the fence, you can probably wait for the small screen - it was nice seeing it in the cinema, but I'm sure it'll be entirely acceptable on your telly too.

(I took my mother to this because she loves Death Wish and Jason Statham, and she claims it's the best film she's seen in years, so make of that what you will)

[MSU]

Decided to opt for an easy life this year and just log new movies / movies I saw at the cinema, mostly because I've been off work and watched a ton of shite I can't be bothered going through. So...

The Beekeeper -- I saw a review on Letterboxd where the reviewer said that if they'd woken up from a years-long coma and someone had shown them The Beekeeper right after they'd woken up, they might not be able to tell exactly what year it was, but they'd know within five minutes that it was the second week in January. As such, as a January movie, I think this compares pretty well with January movies of old. This time last year I was watching The 355 and this is much better than that. Generally, I thought this was an awful lot of stupid fun that wasted no time in explaining much to anyone, just got in, got the job done, and fucked off, and that's pretty much what I'm looking for in tower attack style action movies. The CGI is ropey, swathes of it make little sense, it affords scammers with far too much sophistication, but it made me laugh, made me punch the air a couple of times, and you can't say fairer than that. Ready for the inevitable sequel in the second week of January 2025. 7/10

Role Play -- Haven't we done this already, where the beautiful woman is secretly an assassin? In fact, hasn't Kaley Cuoco done this already? Either way, when Chat GPT is asked to write a romantic comedy script from now on, it should really be programmed to stay away from this trope otherwise five years from now, every single movie released is going to be about a beautiful woman who is secretly an assassin. 2/10

Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire -- I don't think it's as bad as a lot of reviews would have you believe, but holy shit does Zack Snyder -- let's be generous and say "riffs" rather than "steals" -- from pretty much every IP you can name. Aside from the very obvious -- again, let's be generous -- "tip of the hat" to Star Wars, there are -- generously -- "homages" to Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, Gladiator, Dune, District 9, The Matrix, and others. I spent a decent amount of the runtime waiting for a depressed robot to appear and claim his brain was the size of a planet. And of course, from borrowing from so many other things, it ends up not being as good as any of them and makes about as much sense as any jumbled mess can. It is, though, fairly pretty and I guess it's ambitious, and it gets an extra half point by being 15 minutes shorter than I was expecting thanks to a lengthy end credits sequence. 4/10

[JustOneCornetto]

18 minutes ago, MSU said:

Decided to opt for an easy life this year and just log new movies / movies I saw at the cinema, mostly because I've been off work and watched a ton of shite I can't be bothered going through. So...

This is exactly what I intend to do with reviews on here. Only thing is I'm not nearly as prolific as your good self at heading along to the cinema so I'll probably only manage 20 or so for the full year.

[accies1874]

21 hours ago, MONKMAN said:

The holdovers.  

Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa and Davine Joy Randolph are all excellent.  Just a thoroughly brilliant film.

I'm gonna be patient/stupid and wait 11 months to watch this as it seems like a proper family Christmas film. 

[Musketeer Gripweed]

On 13/01/2024 at 17:34, Savage Henry said:

Killers of the Flower Moon: 

Yeah it’s at least an hour too long, but it’s Scorsese’s second masterpiece in a row.  
 

Something all over the place with the dialogue levels though - everybody indoors yells and outdoors mumbles.  

I was going to go and see it in New York in November as I had an evening to kill on my own (I wasn't going to Pink as MSG, no fucking way). Googled it to see how long it was and didn't bother. Did an open top bus tour instead.

Anyway, back on topic, I watched Saltburn at the weekend. It was interesting to say the least. Especially the scene that reminded me of Equus, all those years ago. Barry Keoghan's accent was all over the place though.

[accies1874]

4. Poor Things - Cinema

I saw this in 35mm at the Glasgow Film Theatre and I can't really imagine seeing it any other way now as it made an incredibly striking film look even better, especially in those early scenes (the first 40 minutes, I think) which are devoid of colour but full of atmosphere similar to classic talkies and in particular some of the Universal Classic Monster films. Willem Dafoe's a mad scientist who has a Scottish accent, a patchwork face, burps out bubbles and creates weird hybrid animals, but the film focuses on his newest 'creation' - Bella Baxter, played by Emma Stone. She's an adult woman with the brain of a baby, and her performance charts the growth of her character in, for the most part, a really interesting way. It's reminiscent of a lot of sci-fi about learning to become human as she absorbs information at a rapid rate and often channels that information unconventionally - just as someone who's at once an infant and a genius would. She sells the growth of her character as she's exposed to so much of this fantastical take on real-world locations (London, Paris, Lisbon, Egypt, the sea but, importantly, not Glasgow which was where the source material was based). I really loved its sort of skewed sense of reality both in terms of its locations - which form a blend of Gothicism, fantasy and steampunk - and its language through how Bella interprets the world, kind of taking normal phrases and twisting them to make something unconventional yet also understandable. The score seems to grow with her in terms of being quite jerky with stabbing strings before becoming the really whimsical music heard in the trailer. There did seem to be an issue with the print I saw, though, as the audio levels would drop considerably for fairly long spells. 

Despite really appreciating the growth depicted in Emma Stone's performance, I didn't like her starting point. As she was portraying an adult with the brain of a child, she - and Margaret Qualley once she appears - interprets that as going for a stereotypical impression of an adult with mental disabilities which I tend to find quite uncomfortable as it always strikes me as an impression and those impressions are invariably a form of mockery. I don't think that Emma Stone was going for mockery whatsoever, and no one else does either given that she's got a great chance of winning Best Actress for this (I'd still much prefer Lily Gladstone to win), but it's not like she hasn't previously taken a role that would unwittingly cause controversy (Aloha!). Her character's comedic lines didn't vibe with me either, as I felt that they were the kinds of lazy jokes you'd find in a Marvel movie (particularly from James Gunn or Taika Waititi) where the joke is a character being hyper-literal. There are a lot of laughs elsewhere in this, though, not least from Mark Ruffalo who absolutely steals it as a vile, pompous oaf whose peak of masculinity is just as funny as its downfall. 

While I've still not seen Alps or Kinetta, I really, really like Yorgos Lanthimos' films. They thrive in being surreal, either twisting our own world to being surreal like in The Favourite, The Lobster or Killing of a Sacred Deer, or finding a corner of absurdity in a very authentic world as in Dogtooth. That's true in how these latest ones are shot, too, with The Favourite and Poor Things both utilising so many damn fisheye lens shots which I actually quite like as they sort of make you feel like you're spying on something you have no business of seeing, but I think it might turn others off. All of them also create intriguing scenarios for the film to explore ideas in, which is still true in Poor Things with its sexual empowerment/enlightenment, social norms and creation, though the issues I mentioned, while minor, are probably the biggest reservations I've had about one of his films.

[CraigFowler]

On 12/01/2024 at 10:29, accies1874 said:

3. Priscilla - Cinema

Not sure if this counts as a 2024 release here. A few places have it as being released in the UK on January 1st, but I'm pretty certain there were screenings before New Year. I'll go with Google though and put it as 2024. 

I really liked this. The plot kicks off immediately with Priscilla sitting in a diner before some guy asks her if she wants to go to a party at Elvis' gaff. I can sometimes find this a bit off-putting when they don't give you some necessary time getting to know the main character's normal life before it gets turned upside down, however it worked really well for me here as the first chunk of the film feels like a dream - a kind of fictionalised whirlwind romance between a star and a normie. It's clear that Priscilla thinks that being attached to Elvis gives her life value and she becomes lost when that's taken away from her, kind of like a drug. 

When she moves to Graceland with Elvis longer term, it becomes obvious that that whirlwind romance was just that. Life is suddenly much more boring (Coppola's speciality) and there are a bunch of visual things to indicate that she doesn't belong there. Firstly, she looks absolutely tiny compared to Elvis and his posse, who are perfectly empty characters, something that is drawn attention to when the maid comes into the room and is the only one in that scene to meet her at the same eye level. It also uses colour nicely to make Priscilla pop or blend into a frame, giving off the impression that she doesn't really belong there. There's one scene where Elvis destroys an old house in Graceland because it's bringing down the vibe, and Priscilla is, from what I remember, the only one wearing a white and black outfit which is the same colour scheme as the house's exterior, drawing a connection between her and this other thing that Elvis carelessly destroys once he's bored of it. I could be wrong about that but it sticks out in my mind. Finally, the cinematography gives a haziness to a lot of the interior scenes and strong backlighting through the windows, and Graceland itself is a gated place closed off to the world. These things made me think that Priscilla is both letting a world full of life pass her by to live this one with Elvis, and also that she's getting to experience a world that so many dream to experience - and it's really dull. I know those are kind of conflicting ideas, but they're the crux of Priscilla's development as she learns to forge her own path. I watched May December the night before I saw this and that's actually an interesting counterpoint depicting what could've happened to Priscilla if she stayed with Elvis. They're two really different films with completely different qualities, but they also link up well in terms of subject matter. 

I hadn't seen Jacob Elordi in anything until Saltburn, but I like the confident creepiness he has in both that and Priscilla. Again linking to May December, he gives off a slightly similar vibe to Charles Melton's character in that film; both of their lives have been greatly affected by their environments and that has bred these men who have the veneer of cocksureness but have a real immaturity bubbling underneath. Cailee Spaeny is, as far as I remember, in every single scene of the film, which is no mean feat given that she needs to both hold her own while blending into the superstardom of Elvis Presley. Both performances really worked for me, even if Elordi's accent reminded me a lot of Nic Cage in Raising Arizona. 

 

This is an excellent review and gave me a better appreciation of the film than I initially got out of it.

To be fair, I did respect it as a work of art and was impressed by how it was put together and the leading performances. But for me it was one of those films that you sit and quietly respect rather than be entertained by.

Sophia Coppola did a terrific job in bringing the story to the screen in the most true-to-life way possible and still making it entertaining enough across 110 minutes, but purely as a means of entertainment I was a little underwhelmed. But I concede that's down to my own preference when it comes to movies.

[CraigFowler]

Had no idea this thread existed until now, but having looked back over the last couple of pages at the lengthy, knowledgeable and excellent reviews, I'm going to dive right in.

1 - Priscilla

As outlined in my above post, there was a lot to like about this film. It drew you in very quickly and kept hold of your attention for 2/3rds of the running time. But I felt the pacing was a bit off. The last act, in particular, felt very rushed and it's rare that I complain a movie should be 10-15 minutes longer, but I felt it needed a bit of time to let us care a bit more about the conclusion. I also don't know if it felt a little out of time with the reality and the message competing against each other. Through a 2024 lens, it's easy to see the patters of emotional abuse, the alienation, the fact that it just isn't worth it to be married to the most famous man in the world if he's going to treat you that way. But the film did a great job of pulling you into the time it was set, with perhaps the exception of exactly why Priscilla felt the way she did other than the initial infatuation. I also felt it just didn't quite fully work as a piece of drama, as it was light on the drama.

2 - The Squid and the Whale

Eventually got around to watching this after it felt like it was on my Netflix list forever. Again, similar to Priscilla, it was a film I looked at and appreciated for what it was but didn't feel the emotional connection that I wanted to from this type of story, and as a child of divorce I was surprised at how disconnected I was from it all. I guess, at the end of the day, I just didn't enjoy spending time with the characters, which I know is part of the point. They're all so completely wrapped up in their own shit after the break down of the marriage, which is exactly what happens in the midst of a traumatic life event like this, but they were all so awful to each other in their own way, with little redeeming qualities otherwise, that again I just didn't really care about any character arc. What I did appreciate, however, was how every line out of Jeff Daniels' mouth reminded me of Gene Hackman in The Royal Tenenbaums. Though it did just make me wish I was watching that movie instead, at times.

3 - Book of Love

Catch this on Sky Movies as I was flicking through. Truth be told, I only ended up watching it as my partner said "this is shite!" about five minutes in and I kept it on out of stubbornness as I felt it was too early to judge. (Funnily enough, despite saying she was heading for a shower five minutes later, she stayed and watched the rest of the film with me.) This is, almost objectively, a rubbish movie. If I see something so predictable the rest of this year I'll be surprised. I was even able to predict, beat by beat, exactly how it would end before we'd even reached halfway. But having said all that, I appreciated for what it was. It was a romcom that was purely about comfort. A decent amount of laughs, nothing in the way of distressing drama and characters who, although admittedly one-dimensional, didn't make me want to climb through the screen and punch them. The definition of a hangover movie for me.

I've got a review for Godzilla Minus One coming, but it's too good to type away about at 2.30am while I'm half-pished, so I'll leave that till next time. (Spoiler: I think it's f****ng brilliant)

[CraigFowler]

4 - Godzilla Minus One

How to Have Sex was my favourite movie released in 2023, but this might eclipse it. I'm a sucker for blockbuster movies done well and this fits that to a tee. Not only does it nail the action set-pieces, with every scene featuring Godzilla being just brilliant, including one right off the bat, but it also gets the emotional element just right. It's as much a war film as it is a disaster movie, with themes of PTSD, nationalism and family dynamics woven into the fabric of the story. The side characters were distinct and added their own charm. I was never bored when the giant dinosaur-like creature wasn't destroying cities or smashing through boats and I really cared about the fate of the protagonists as the movie reached its climax. If I see a more entertaining film in 2024 I'll be surprised.