What films have you watched recently?

Moominpapa

tony99 said:

Moominpapa said:

Jamon Jamon - a 1992 Spanish film starring a young Penelope Cruz (in her first film) and a young Javier Bardem (this is years before these two became an item).  A funny, offbeat black comedy: recommended. 7/10

la viste en espanol?

No, subtitles. (But son #2 who is home at the moment was using his A-level Spanish to fill in some bits that were untranslated )

breakstuff

The House That Jack Built. 

On the one hand hilariously dark, but on the other one of the nastiest films I've ever seen. 

Don't really know how I feel about it really. Enjoyed is the wrong word given the subject matter and content, but I was certainly engrossed. 

Blaendulais

The Gentlemen

Amazingly Ritchie turns out quality

Jalapeno

Another plus for The Gentlemen.

Worth it for Hugh Grant's oily repoter performance alone !

Haych

Downsizing on Netflix. 

Quite an absurd concept where a scientific/medical procedure can reduce people to five inches tall in an attempt to save the planet’s resources. 

Matt Damon takes the lead and is ok in his role as a downsizer who goes to live in a newly built complex for little people but whose wife leaves him in the process. 

Like I say, an absurd plot but still watchable for all that and has some touching moments and obviously is a vehicle for a much more obvious social message. 

Moominpapa

Jeune Femme - 2017 French film about a 31 year old woman trying to get her life back on track after a traumatic breakup with her boyfriend. Tricky to recommend this because the central character is not easy to empathize with. But the actress, Lætitia Dosch, does a brilliant job with this really difficult role and there is a lot of humour in the film - it's not a relentless downer. I'll give it a 6/10. I'm glad I watched it - I probably won't ever watch it again.

tony99

Moominpapa said:

Jeune Femme - 2017 French film about a 31 year old woman trying to get her life back on track after a traumatic breakup with her boyfriend. Tricky to recommend this because the central character is not easy to empathize with. But the actress, Lætitia Dosch, does a brilliant job with this really difficult role and there is a lot of humour in the film - it's not a relentless downer. I'll give it a 6/10. I'm glad I watched it - I probably won't ever watch it again.

did you watch in french? I don't parlyvoo fransay

Moominpapa

I'm pretty bad at languages - took French at O-level but that was many, many years ago. I also managed to do so badly at German that I got a 'U' ( = "unclassified', ie. score was too low to even break the lowest grade boundary ). But I do prefer to watch foreign films in the original language with English subtitles. This is partly because I hate the disconnect between actor & soundtrack that dubbing introduces, and partly because it just seems right that if I'm watching a film about (for example) a French woman living in Paris I should be hearing French.

EricTheWeary

Moominpapa said:

I'm pretty bad at languages - took French at O-level but that was many, many years ago. I also managed to do so badly at German that I got a 'U' ( = "unclassified', ie. score was too low to even break the lowest grade boundary ). But I do prefer to watch foreign films in the original language with English subtitles. This is partly because I hate the disconnect between actor & soundtrack that dubbing introduces, and partly because it just seems right that if I'm watching a film about (for example) a French woman living in Paris I should be hearing French.

I got a U for Latin, quite rare to find someone else familiar with that.
Wiz given for comments about subtitles, if anything it makes me focus more on a film and enjoy it more. 

TTBZ

Don’t Fuck With Cats on Netflix. Not really a film (3 part documentary) but wow what a crazy story and well told. Had to binge the whole lot last night and stay up late! There are just 2 unanswered questions in it for me (won’t put anything here yet because spoilers). Didn’t like the smug and hypocritical ending though, kind of ruined it for me.

boogieman

EricTheWeary said:

Moominpapa said:

I'm pretty bad at languages - took French at O-level but that was many, many years ago. I also managed to do so badly at German that I got a 'U' ( = "unclassified', ie. score was too low to even break the lowest grade boundary ). But I do prefer to watch foreign films in the original language with English subtitles. This is partly because I hate the disconnect between actor & soundtrack that dubbing introduces, and partly because it just seems right that if I'm watching a film about (for example) a French woman living in Paris I should be hearing French.

I got a U for Latin, quite rare to find someone else familiar with that.
Wiz given for comments about subtitles, if anything it makes me focus more on a film and enjoy it more. 

I failed Latin twice. My school always made everyone do it up to O level grade, there was a theory that it would help to get you into Uni. I retook it when I did A levels and failed it again. All I can remember is amo, amas, amat and something about a farmer is in the field. All highly useful. 

Back on topic I watched Jean de Florette the other day. (In French with English subtitles)  Much sadder than I remembered, but still a very good watch. I need to rewatch Manon de Source now to remember how it all pans out. 

ICBM

boogieman said:

Back on topic I watched Jean de Florette the other day. (In French with English subtitles)  Much sadder than I remembered, but still a very good watch. I need to rewatch Manon de Source now to remember how it all pans out. 

You must, even if you can remember roughly how it ends. A truly great pair of films.

fretmeister

Haych said:

Downsizing on Netflix. 

Quite an absurd concept where a scientific/medical procedure can reduce people to five inches tall in an attempt to save the planet’s resources. 

Matt Damon takes the lead and is ok in his role as a downsizer who goes to live in a newly built complex for little people but whose wife leaves him in the process. 

Like I say, an absurd plot but still watchable for all that and has some touching moments and obviously is a vehicle for a much more obvious social message. 

I watched that this morning. Really enjoyed it. Bit odd how it went from gentle comedy to social commentary but still thought it was ace.

Trailers give a very misleading impression of the film though.

failed_astronaut

We've watched quite a few films over the holidays, here's the good, the bad and the ugly...

A Simple Favour. Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) tries to do psychological thriller. Fails. Anna Kendrick is quite good for the most part but the films is far too long and spirals out of control as plot threads are thrown at the wall to see what sticks.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Excellent. It's a love letter to film in the late 60s and a "what if" scenario kind of like Inglorious Basterds. The soundtrack is tremendous as are Pitt and DiCaprio. Margot Robbie gets criminally underused though.

Late Night. Emma Thompson is an ageing late night talk show host in the US. Hires Mindy Kaling to refresh the writing room. Some #MeToo stuff happens and the film loses its way towards the end but Thompson is excellent.

Angel Has Fallen. But thankfully Gerard Butler's girdle holds it together. Total tosh.

EricTheWeary

Flicking through the channels I’ve got That’ll Be The Day on. Bloody hell its a lot darker in places than I remembered. 

Ringo Starr plays a Ringo Starr type character but David Essex is genuinely great, shame he didn’t go on to do much more on screen acting. So handsome as well. 

bobblehat

Bad Times at the El Royale -  Thriller/Black Comedy ,Loved it  - Very Tarantinoesque but in a good way.

John Wick 3  - Completely stupid but brilliant fun. Not quite as good as the previous outings and the some of the fight scenes are overly long. Looking forward to John Wick 4!

Philly_Q

bobblehat said:

Bad Times at the El Royale -  Thriller/Black Comedy ,Loved it  - Very Tarantinoesque but in a good way.

John Wick 3  - Completely stupid but brilliant fun. Not quite as good as the previous outings and the some of the fight scenes are overly long. Looking forward to John Wick 4!

@bobblehat That's a weird - very weird - coincidence, I watched those same two films this weekend and I'd just come here to post...!

I thought John Wick Chapter 3 started well, with a bit more variety in the action scenes than usual (unless I'm just forgetting the previous two films).  But I got bored with all the shooting and CGI blood-spatter.  As always, I don't find Wick any "better" or more sympathetic than his adversaries, so I find it hard to really care what happens to him.

Bad Times at the El Royale was much better.  It's slow, very slow at times, but the strong performances keep it going and the occasional bursts of violence make it quite tense.  It's all very well put together.

chromatuna

The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind  - excellent. A window onto a life much harder than mine and something of a reality check

tony99

EricTheWeary said:

Flicking through the channels I’ve got That’ll Be The Day on. Bloody hell its a lot darker in places than I remembered. 

Ringo Starr plays a Ringo Starr type character but David Essex is genuinely great, shame he didn’t go on to do much more on screen acting. So handsome as well. 

I've watched that fairlly recently too, keith moon has a little cameo in it, which is nice because I think it's a lovely complementary piece to Quadrophenia the movie too

Sassafras

Accident Man.
A sort of English John Wick but a hundred times better and with more laughs.
John Wick took itself far too seriously.
Films with 20 minute long fight scenes should offer a few laughs along the way.