What films have you watched recently?

Sassafras

Man Bites Dog.
I must've missed this first time round.
It's fuckin hilarious. A wonderful example of what a great film can be made on not a lot of money. 
Belgians seem to have a reputation for being boring but this film is anything but.

HAL9000

boogieman said:

2001 A space odyssey... ...Dave shutting down Hal was a lot more emotional than I remembered.

Yes, isn’t it. I think because the astronauts are very monosyllabic whilst Hal is more chatty and conversational, the viewer empathises more with the computer than with the humans.

https://youtu.be/UgkyrW2NiwM

HAL9000

Yesterday. A struggling songwriter wakes up in a world where no-one (except him obviously) knows The Beatles or their music. He makes his fame and fortune by ‘writing’ Beatles songs. Entertaining, and the John Lennon bit was particularly poignant.

tony99

HAL9000 said:

Yesterday. A struggling songwriter wakes up in a world where no-one (except him obviously) knows The Beatles or their music. He makes his fame and fortune by ‘writing’ Beatles songs. Entertaining, and the John Lennon bit was particularly poignant.

Meh, it's basically Goodnight Sweetheart.

Rabs

HAL9000 said:

Yesterday. A struggling songwriter wakes up in a world where no-one (except him obviously) knows The Beatles or their music. He makes his fame and fortune by ‘writing’ Beatles songs. Entertaining, and the John Lennon bit was particularly poignant.

Yeah I saw that... Good fun.. I like the reoccurring joke of trying to remember the lyrics to Eleanor Rigby   

earwighoney

Sassafras said:

I've been on a bit of a Japanese film kick recently.
Rashomon: excellent and compelling.
Kagemusha: impressive, wonderful sets.
Yojimbo: the forerunner to A Fistful of Dollars, also excellent.
Seven Samurai: the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven. Excellent.
13 Assassins: bit disappointing. The battle scenes were strangely unconvincing.
Audition: Weird and darkly humorous. Enjoyable.
Battle Royale ll: entertaining but not a patch on the first one.
Onibaba: my favourite of the lot. Who would've thought a field of swaying long grass could be so entertaining? Bloody brilliant and memorable. I watched some of it again straight after because I thought it was so good.
Hollywood could learn a lot from the minimalist approach of Japanese filmmakers instead of churning out their instantly forgettable sludgy romanticised big budget pap.

Japanese films are thought provoking and open to interpretation whereas American films do it all for you, there's no challenge. 

A superb list, I've not seen all the ones there but they are ones I've been meaning to watch. 

Onibaba is one of my all time favourite films.  I think I first saw it when I was 16 or 17 when I was channel surfing and it came on Channel 4.  It pretty much changed my perspectives towards film in one instance.  Truly incredible film. 

boogieman

earwighoney said:

Sassafras said:

I've been on a bit of a Japanese film kick recently.
Rashomon: excellent and compelling.
Kagemusha: impressive, wonderful sets.
Yojimbo: the forerunner to A Fistful of Dollars, also excellent.
Seven Samurai: the inspiration for The Magnificent Seven. Excellent.
13 Assassins: bit disappointing. The battle scenes were strangely unconvincing.
Audition: Weird and darkly humorous. Enjoyable.
Battle Royale ll: entertaining but not a patch on the first one.
Onibaba: my favourite of the lot. Who would've thought a field of swaying long grass could be so entertaining? Bloody brilliant and memorable. I watched some of it again straight after because I thought it was so good.
Hollywood could learn a lot from the minimalist approach of Japanese filmmakers instead of churning out their instantly forgettable sludgy romanticised big budget pap.

Japanese films are thought provoking and open to interpretation whereas American films do it all for you, there's no challenge. 

A superb list, I've not seen all the ones there but they are ones I've been meaning to watch. 

Onibaba is one of my all time favourite films.  I think I first saw it when I was 16 or 17 when I was channel surfing and it came on Channel 4.  It pretty much changed my perspectives towards film in one instance.  Truly incredible film. 

I can remember watching Onibaba on tv when I was a teenager in the 60s. It scared the crap out of me. I must watch it again to see how it’s fared over the years. 

Blaendulais

Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw.

Dont go if you want fields of swaying grass @Sassafras but if you want a laugh definitely go.  Awesome entertainment.  

tony99

view to a kill is on, yes!!

Moominpapa

Just rewatched The Ipcress File (1965). A classic: great script, wonderful cast, with a great central performance by Michael Caine and beautifully stylish direction by Sidney Furie. Very highly recommended!

TTBZ

Baby Driver. Had it on my list for ages but only just got round to watching it. Loved it, Edgar Wright doing what he does best. Great soundtrack too.

tony99

Ok so I watched Doomsday. Now Doomsday is basically a bit of a cross pollenation of 28 days later and Mad Max 2. Everyone in Scotland has gone mental (no, like even more mental) and turned into young cannibals, which is fine. Then this fit woman gets sent in to sort it all out. Which she does with aplomb, and a bomb.

(fun fact: Sean Pertweee gets burned alive then scoffed by rabid jocks.)

7 bowls of piping hot ready-brek out of 10

Philly_Q

tony99 said:

(fun fact: Sean Pertweee gets burned alive then scoffed by rabid jocks.)

Quite a high percentage of Sean Pertwee's films feature him dying horribly.  I wonder if casting directors seek him out for that specific purpose? 

tony99

Philly_Q said:

tony99 said:

(fun fact: Sean Pertweee gets burned alive then scoffed by rabid jocks.)

Quite a high percentage of Sean Pertwee's films feature him dying horribly.  I wonder if casting directors seek him out for that specific purpose? 

Did you ever see him in Operation Good Guys?

Outstanding performance.

Philly_Q

tony99 said:

Philly_Q said:

tony99 said:

(fun fact: Sean Pertweee gets burned alive then scoffed by rabid jocks.)

Quite a high percentage of Sean Pertwee's films feature him dying horribly.  I wonder if casting directors seek him out for that specific purpose? 

Did you ever see him in Operation Good Guys?

Outstanding performance.

I'd forgotten it, but just looking it up I'm sure I saw a few episodes.  Can't remember much about it though.

Blaendulais

Animals

Dismal.  4/10.   Awful attempt to do a female Withnail.   

axisus

Took the family to see Aladdin. We all loved it. You can pretty much guess what it will be like so it's easy to know if you will enjoy it. Will Smith was superb as the Genie. For my money it was way better than the old animated version.

Sassafras

The Favourite.

Wow!
Within the first 5 minutes you know it's going to be a bit special. The acting, script, costumes, sets are all terrific but best of all is the frequent use of wide angle, even fisheye lens, panning shots and the use of natural light. All goes to make it feel as if you're there on set. 
It's also a very funny film.
And a bonus is that none of the 'love scenes' feel overlong and embarrassing like so many other films. Generally I don't like love scenes, they often make me feel like a pervy voyeur.
I've heard it being dismissed as a lesbian chick flick but whoever thinks that is a dick and wasn't paying attention (and probably homophobic).

Moominpapa

House (1977)  A warning to @Sassafras - if you are still on your Japanese film kick and see this one coming up on your 'recommended' list, don't fall for it. It's an egregious piece of stupidity that some people have decided is a "cult" film as a way of excusing the fact that they wasted 88 minutes of their life watching it. I love weird Japanese movies as much as the next person - can you say Tokyo Gore Police or Yakuza Apocalypse? - but this was just awful.

goldtop

Watched Japon. Mexican, bleak, quirky, odd cinematography. Still not quite sure what to make of it, except for one thing: the acting was superb. Awkwardest sex scene in any movie I've seen, too. 7/10 I think.