What films have you watched recently?

tony99

Blaendulais said:

Extraction

Dismal unbelievably bad action movie with rotten script.  Chris Hemsworth has given up the juice and paid for it.  

agree, was terrible. I know those who recommended it didn't put it forward as the next Citizen Kane, rather you could just switch off and let the action film take over...

I preferred to just switch off

Snap

Midsommar. I enjoyed it a lot. Freaked the kids out. 
Apparently Hereditary is alright too. That's on the list.

stickyfiddle

boogieman said:

tony99 said:

Haych said:

Hunt for the Wilderpeople

A touching and funny feel good movie set in New Zealand. 

Ricky is a troubled young teenager who’s been in, and failed by, the system all his life. He’s fostered by an old couple, Bella and Hector, who live in the middle of the bush. Hector doesn’t really want the kid and makes it quite apparent but Bella dotes on him. 

Bella dies and after the funeral Ricky runs away into the bush to escape being sucked back into the system again. Hector goes looking for him and after finding him breaks his ankle so they spend the next few weeks living wild while his ankle heals. 

While they’re off grid a manhunt begins for Hector who they assume has gone mad after the death of his wife and has abducted the kid. 

They spend the next few months hiding and running from authority in the New Zealand outback and they finally forge the relationship both of them have clearly been craving. 

Most of the cast is unknown and apart from Sam Neill as Hector the only other face I recognised was Rhys Darby who plays a crazy hermit towards the end of the film. 

It’s easy watching, sometimes a bit slow but still quite delightful. The scenery, being set in New Zealand, is stunning and Sam Neill is excellent as the weathered, old, illiterate bushman. 

7/10

Sam Neill is unbelievably good in that, watched it the other day

Just as a side point, Sam Neill has his own winery called Two Paddocks. We tried a bottle of the Pinot Noir when we were in NZ a few months back, delicious stuff. Amazon sell it here but charge £40 a bottle. 

That reminds me of Dan Ackroyd's wine, except that's bloody awful! 

Philly_Q

In the Shadow of the Moon

Another Netflix film, directed by Jim Mickle whose previous films I've enjoyed.  It starts out really well but gets smaller in scope and less interesting as it goes on.  There's a time travel angle (that's not too much of a spoiler) but it's used very unimaginatively.  Disappointing. 

I couldn't help thinking that if it was intended for cinema release, rather than a watch-anything Netflix audience, they'd have been forced to do some editing and re-writing to get it off the ground.

The Plagues of Breslau

A police detective investigates a series of bizarre murders based on (real?) historical events in this Polish attempt at a Se7en-style horror-thriller.  To begin with it seemed like everyone was trying to out-overact everyone else, but the film has some good moments and a twist which surprised me, although it comes quite early in the film.  Not bad.

Haych

The Glass House

Made for TV thriller from about 20 years ago with Stellan Skarsgard. Pretty slow and pedestrian. 

Stellan and his Mrs take on a couple of kids as their parents are killed in a car accident and knew their parents. Turns out they are in massive debt and bad men are coming for them so they only wanted the kids for the trust fund. 

Dull and not very well made. Plot is pretty run of the mill but could have been a lot better. Stellan is the only cast member who knows how to act and he seemed to be over acting to compensate for everyone else. 

3/10

zepp76

I watched Jo Jo Rabbit today, it’s a great film and very funny. I wasn’t sure what I was getting into watching it but I’m glad I did.

ICBM

The Elephant Man

David Lynch’s classic with Anthony Hopkins and John Hurt. Still quite shocking, emotive and very well made - the use of black and white makes it much more powerful than it would have been in colour, I think. Hopkins is more understated than he can often be, and Hurt’s performance is astonishing given that he’s really barely visible. The supporting cast are all brilliant too, especially Michael Elphick.

Unfortunately, there’s one thing that stops it being perfect. Although the story is reasonably accurate, Merrick’s name was actually Joseph, not John - it does grate slightly throughout the film when you know that. The mistake goes back to Treves’ book originally, but that was known when the film was made.

9/10

Haych

The Wrong Missy

David Spade is an ageing singleton who finds himself on a first blind date with quirky Lauren Lapkus as Missy who is a few sandwiches short of a full picnic. 

He’s certainly not bothered about her but she’s well into him. Fast forward ten minutes and he bumps into another Missy by accident at the airport who he really does like. They exchange numbers and start texting but unknown to David’s character he’s actually texting the crazy lady. 

He’s then required to go on a corporate retreat and thinks he’s invited the girl from the airport along when in fact he’s invited the mad cow and all hell breaks loose. 

A reasonable idea for a story and has some quality comic actors in its cast so should be a decent comedy. It fails miserably on all counts and is just an excuse for cringe worthy sexual innuendo and bad language. 

Watch if you must but it has none of the comedy it promises and is just vulgar and unfunny. 

3/10 at best. 

Philly_Q

Haych said:

The Wrong Missy

I saw the trailer, which felt like it was about 10 minutes long and isn't funny at all.  And it clearly gives away about 95% of the key plot points, which is always a bad sign.

Haych

Philly_Q said:

Haych said:

The Wrong Missy

I saw the trailer, which felt like it was about 10 minutes long and isn't funny at all.  And it clearly gives away about 95% of the key plot points, which is always a bad sign.

Yeah, all the best bits were in the trailer and “best” is a very loose use of the word in this case. 

Haych

The American

George Clooney plays some kind of assassin who, after a failed hit on his life at the beginning of the film, goes to Italy for a new job and ends up falling for a call girl.

It's a very weird film.  Nothing really happens, it's very slow and there's no action or tension to speak off.  The photography is pretty good and it seems quite artfully shot.  Despite it not being particularly exciting and having little dialogue I found it quite likeable.

Can't really give it a score cos it was boring as but still quite alright.

not_the_dj

Contrasting movies at Castle DJ this week.

I've so far managed to avoid most of the MCU but as we now have Disney + I thought I'd give 'em a go. Watching in MCU Chronological order...so I've got through Captain America - Captain Marvel - Iron Man - (no Hulk on Disney) - Iron Man 2. Thor planned for tonight.

I'm liking the growing connections between them all, thought long and hard about the watch order but this seems to be working OK. Long road ahead though, and they all seem to basically end up with a big CGI fight, which may become tiresome. Still a fun way to pass an evening on the sofa.

In a complete U-turn last night we watched Ladybird on Netflix. Coming of age drama set in the early 2000s. Mark Kermode showed clips from it in his "Secrets of Cinema" series and it looked interesting. Standard story of high school life, teenage first love, battling with parents etc, but it's done really well and avoids a lot of the cliches that this tale usually falls right into. Great performances, some brilliant quick one liners, and overall really captivating. Recommended for sure.

andyp

Watched Ex Machina last night. I’d never seen it before but have wanted to watch it for ages. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. There is a fantastic atmosphere about it, brilliant acting too.

dhj

Border - scandi fantasy from 2018. Excellent makeup, the lead actress looks absolutely nothing like her real self. Weird, dark and very difficult subject matter, couldn't stop watching. At least 9/10

Also watched "I remember you" an icelandic murder mystery. Very disturbing and another 9/10

Gassage

The Wildest Dream

Watched last night. Saw it 9 yrs ago.

Docufilm on Everest.

Basically, it's Conrad Anker, one of the great HA mountaineers and the chap who found Mallory's body trying to re-enact the Mallory route. (North Col via North Ridge, other side to Hillary)

The original plan was to do it in period kit, but (and this tells you a lot) they couldn't take the cold and weather. They did, however, scale the Second Step without a ladder which was pretty impressive, despite Anker almost dying in the process.

Leo Houlding's (Brit World Class Rock Climber) first 8k ascent and considering he smokes like a chimney, incredible effort.

I'm a bit of a Mallory nerd (yes, he 100% made it IMO) and this was a quality take on events with real dignity and accuracy.

It has by far the best filming ever done on at hig altiutude and incredible pics of the less favoured North Ridge route.

Brilliant effort from all involved. Really worth watching.

10/10 - all things considered, I don't know how they could improve upon it.

Haych

Blended

Light hearted rom-com from Adam Sandler and once again featuring Drew Barrymore.  

Both play single parents struggling to raise kids on their own as well as holding down jobs etc.  They go on a blind date but both conclude there's nothing there.  Sandler's boss was due to go on a blended family African safari with the work colleague of Barrymore (unknown to both of them at the time) but when it falls through they both persuade their work colleagues to let them take their place on the holiday.

Once at the hotel in Africa they both meet again and are, predictably so, not exactly pleased to see one another.  Equally as predictable, as the movie unfolds they become more and more fond of each other's company until the inevitable happens towards the end, but not without the standard hiccup which throws doubt into the mix in the last 15 minutes.

The charm was still there but not in the same way as 50 First Dates, which seems to be a natural comparison, although Drew Barrymore seems to have got better with age. I think Adam Sandler is a bit burned out with this kind of thing now - he's done it all and while it's not as ridiculous or crass as some of his other films it just seems to have all the hallmarks of doing it because it can be done rather than that it's a good concept in it's own right.

It was a bit slow starting - setting the story up for them both being on safari in Africa was convoluted and took a bit of effort to watch so the first part was by far the most painful part of the movie where the viewer is left wondering where all the chemistry has gone and why the story feels a bit strained.

After about 1/3 of the way in it loosens up a bit and does capture a bit of the spark of some of Sandler's older movies.

It's not rubbish but I felt a little disappointed all the same.

6.5/10

Philly_Q

dhj said:

Border - scandi fantasy from 2018. Excellent makeup, the lead actress looks absolutely nothing like her real self. Weird, dark and very difficult subject matter, couldn't stop watching. At least 9/10

Also watched "I remember you" an icelandic murder mystery. Very disturbing and another 9/10

Border was fascinating, perhaps hard to "like" but very good.  And I never thought to find out what Eva Melander really looks like - totally different!

I Remember You sounds interesting, I'll try to find it somewhere.

not_the_dj

Gassage said:

The Wildest Dream

Watched last night. Saw it 9 yrs ago.

Docufilm on Everest.

Basically, it's Conrad Anker, one of the great HA mountaineers and the chap who found Mallory's body trying to re-enact the Mallory route. (North Col via North Ridge, other side to Hillary)

The original plan was to do it in period kit, but (and this tells you a lot) they couldn't take the cold and weather. They did, however, scale the Second Step without a ladder which was pretty impressive, despite Anker almost dying in the process.

Leo Houlding's (Brit World Class Rock Climber) first 8k ascent and considering he smokes like a chimney, incredible effort.

I'm a bit of a Mallory nerd (yes, he 100% made it IMO) and this was a quality take on events with real dignity and accuracy.

It has by far the best filming ever done on at hig altiutude and incredible pics of the less favoured North Ridge route.

Brilliant effort from all involved. Really worth watching.

10/10 - all things considered, I don't know how they could improve upon it.

Based on this post we sat down to watch it. Thanks so much for the recommendation @Gassage

boogieman

The Snowman. Not the animated Xmas film, this is a crime thriller based on the Jo Nesbo book with Michael Fassbender as Harry Hole. Quite intriguing, decent plot, well acted but I guessed the twist way before the end. 7/10. 

Lodious

andyp said:

Watched Ex Machina last night. I’d never seen it before but have wanted to watch it for ages. I thought it was absolutely brilliant. There is a fantastic atmosphere about it, brilliant acting too.

Conicidentally, I watched it last night, Oscar Isaac was brilliant in it. A solid 7/10 from me