What films have you watched recently?

AllthegearNoidea

The Gentlemen. Brit gangster by Guy Ritchie. Loved it and Hugh Grant was a revelation. 

ICBM

Shirley Valentine

80s mid-life-crisis comedy with Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Bernard Hill and briefly Joanna Lumley. I last saw it about twenty years ago or more. Old now, somewhat clichéd and a bit dated, but not too bad - if anything it seemed even more well-observed... although I am now older than the characters rather than younger, which may explain that . Collins is brilliant, although most of the other characters are largely there as foils for her. (It was originally a solo stage play.)

Nostalgia score - 8/10

EricTheWeary

ICBM said:

Shirley Valentine

80s mid-life-crisis comedy with Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Bernard Hill and briefly Joanna Lumley. I last saw it about twenty years ago or more. Old now, somewhat clichéd and a bit dated, but not too bad - if anything it seemed even more well-observed... although I am now older than the characters rather than younger, which may explain that . Collins is brilliant, although most of the other characters are largely there as foils for her. (It was originally a solo stage play.)

Nostalgia score - 8/10

I remember seeing it at the cinema with my mate Chris who is a Scouser and he gave me a running commentary on the various historical buildings of Liverpool. 

TTBZ

Philly_Q said:

I'm a little intrigued by Eurovision Song Contest just to see if they manage to capture any of the feel of the real thing, or if they're completely clueless.  I suspect the latter.

It's shit, really really shit. Will Ferrell annoying as ever and it's as predictable as you'd expect. I thought Pierce Brosnan sounded more Scottish in this film.

Blueingreen

The Disaster Artist. 

This could be a bit marmite I suspect.  Based on the publicity around the time it came out I might have tipped myself to be in the "hate it" camp - pretentious sounding vanity project for James Franco, not a man with a conspicuously low opinion of his own talents, based on a real-life story of people making a notorious "so bad it's hilarious" movie.  But it got enough positive reviews for me to think it was worth a try when it popped up on Netflix.

In the event I really enjoyed it.  Beautifully acted, sometimes hilarious/sometimes moving and always sympathetic portrait of a couple of misfits. Unlike many self-consciously arty projects, never forgets to entertain.  The sequence with the end credits where they compare scenes from the "movie within a movie" to the original film are pure gold, so don't switch off and miss them.  8/10

boogieman

I spit on your grave. The recent-ish remake. I saw the original video nasty and wondered why they’d bothered doing a remake. After watching it I’m still wondering. 

I‘m guessing that because it was shown on a mainstream tv channel (Horror) that it’s been heavily censored. Whatever, it was crap, with none of the shock value or empathy for the female lead character that the original film generated. 

Danny1969

Blueingreen said:

The Disaster Artist. 

This could be a bit marmite I suspect.  Based on the publicity around the time it came out I might have tipped myself to be in the "hate it" camp - pretentious sounding vanity project for James Franco, not a man with a conspicuously low opinion of his own talents, based on a real-life story of people making a notorious "so bad it's hilarious" movie.  But it got enough positive reviews for me to think it was worth a try when it popped up on Netflix.

In the event I really enjoyed it.  Beautifully acted, sometimes hilarious/sometimes moving and always sympathetic portrait of a couple of misfits. Unlike many self-consciously arty projects, never forgets to entertain.  The sequence with the end credits where they compare scenes from the "movie within a movie" to the original film are pure gold, so don't switch off and miss them.  8/10

I loved that film, great account of a strange but fascinating man, funny as f#ck in places too !

notanon

The hangover.

Hilarious and a solid 9/10 comedy there are 3 in the series of films.

Not sure if anyone has recommended these, lol material.

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

I spit on your grave. The recent-ish remake. I saw the original video nasty and wondered why they’d bothered doing a remake. After watching it I’m still wondering. 

I‘m guessing that because it was shown on a mainstream tv channel (Horror) that it’s been heavily censored. Whatever, it was crap, with none of the shock value or empathy for the female lead character that the original film generated. 

No, it wasn't censored.  As far as I know, nothing on Horror is censored, although I couldn't say so with absolute certainty.

EricTheWeary

The Rise of Skywalker

I’m not much of a Star Wars fan but I don’t mind a bit of flying around in space and a few bad puns. But jeepers this is a dull film. Patchwork quilt of nonsense. 

Fishboy7

Rambo Last Blood 

Fell short of my very low expectations. 

Definitely one to avoid

Philly_Q

TTBZ said:

Philly_Q said:

I'm a little intrigued by Eurovision Song Contest just to see if they manage to capture any of the feel of the real thing, or if they're completely clueless.  I suspect the latter.

It's shit, really really shit. Will Ferrell annoying as ever and it's as predictable as you'd expect. I thought Pierce Brosnan sounded more Scottish in this film.

OK, so I watched it.  Eurovision Song Contest.  I've spent the last ten days watching all five series of Inside No. 9 and I wanted to ease back into films with something unchallenging.

It's really not very funny, apart from a couple of moments.  The plot is pretty dull (and predictable, but that's fair enough, there were never going to be surprises).  But... the Icelandic locations are beautiful, it's nice to see Edinburgh, Dan Stevens is great as Lemtov, Brosnan is cool despite the accent, Ferrell has a really good wig, the Eurovision bits are actually remarkably authentic and... I really liked the songs.

Maybe the last few months have finally driven me mad, but to be honest I kind of loved it.  

Yearofthegoat

My son (and I) realised that the 'last' film in the Marvel set (EDIT: 'Infinity Saga', apparently) is actually Spider-Man Far From Home, not Endgame.

So, we got hold of that and watched it the other night. He's 9 and he thought it was bloody fantastic.

I'm way over 9 and I thought it was, well, actually pretty good. Some very good Spider-Man action and some fairly good plot twists and turns along the way. Better than I expected and it does kind of add something to the wider story, post-Thanos/Endgame events.

Well worth it if you're a fan of Marvel and/or the Friendly Neighborhood webslinger and while not the best in the set it's far from the worst.

9/10 (him)   7.5/10 (me)

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

TTBZ said:

Philly_Q said:

I'm a little intrigued by Eurovision Song Contest just to see if they manage to capture any of the feel of the real thing, or if they're completely clueless.  I suspect the latter.

It's shit, really really shit. Will Ferrell annoying as ever and it's as predictable as you'd expect. I thought Pierce Brosnan sounded more Scottish in this film.

OK, so I watched it.  Eurovision Song Contest.  I've spent the last ten days watching all five series of Inside No. 9 and I wanted to ease back into films with something unchallenging.

It's really not very funny, apart from a couple of moments.  The plot is pretty dull (and predictable, but that's fair enough, there were never going to be surprises).  But... the Icelandic locations are beautiful, it's nice to see Edinburgh, Dan Stevens is great as Lemtov, Brosnan is cool despite the accent, Ferrell has a really good wig, the Eurovision bits are actually remarkably authentic and... I really liked the songs.

Maybe the last few months have finally driven me mad, but to be honest I kind of loved it.  

I watched Ferrell being interviewed by Conan O’Brien about it recently. He does have this love of the contest and has been to it a couple of times. I think that’s what comes through. 

I think it boils down to if you like Eurovision you will find things about the film to like. If you don’t like Eurovision don’t bother watching it, there’s very little virtue in it as a film. 

ICBM

Philomena

Judi Dench and Steve Coogan in a true story of a mother looking for her son who was forcibly adopted in Ireland in the 1950s because she was unmarried. A powerful and emotive story, based on the book by former BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith - although I watched it because Judi Dench is always pretty good... except that this time she isn't, at least by her standards. Her Irish accent varies from unconvincing to not really there, and she seemed to be just going through the motions. Coogan is massively annoying, but I couldn't tell if that's just because I almost always find him so, or because the real Sixsmith was that much of a self-absorbed prick, and hence it was actually a decent performance.

6/10

Philly_Q

Fruit of Paradise

After all this Netflix stuff I've been watching the last few months it seemed like high time I took in some 1960s Czech New Wave cinema...  

This is about a young couple who go on holiday(?) at a hotel (or stately home?) somewhere in the countryside.  The woman gets involved with a mysterious man named Robert - who looks a bit like Shaggy (minus Scooby), as played by David Tennant, and, I guess, represents the serpent, or the devil, because it's based on the story of Adam and Eve. 

As I thought with Vera Chytilova's previous film, Daisies, it might make more sense if I knew more about life in Czechoslovakia in the late 1960s, but it's quite interesting anyway.

ICBM

Rush

Dramatised story of the James Hunt/Niki Lauda rivalry in the mid 1970s. Remarkably, MrsICBM recommended this, and I didn't think she was a fan of motorsport at all... until I twigged that she might have had a bit of a thing for James back when she was young .

It's pretty good, actually - her initial comment was that Chris Hemsworth wasn't accurate enough as Hunt, which rather gave the game away , but in fact I thought he was close enough and did very well. Daniel Brühl is stunningly good as Lauda. Some slight historical liberties appear to have been taken, but overall I thought it was a decent telling of the story, helped by some original footage being used - Lauda's accident is still horrifying to watch. The supporting cast are also faultless and there's never a jarring moment - at least for me as a casual motor racing fan - just a great bit of nostalgia if you remember that time.

9/10

BigBearKris

@ICBM ; - what your wife managed to keep in the shadows is that she really wanted to see Chris Hemsworth in that movie - and rightly so - he was pretty OK in the role. ;-)

Good pic. Fully agree with your review...

boogieman

Frankenstein. The Kenneth Branagh version. Much closer to the original book than the Boris Karloff bolt-through-the-neck-monster versions. Decent performances from Branagh himself, Helena Bonham Carter and Robert deNiro, who gives a realistic tortured angst to the Creation, even though his accent is all over the place. The only fly in the ointment is the soundtrack music, which is far too melodramatic, strident and overly dominant. 

EricTheWeary

Deadpool and Deadpool 2.

I have seen them before, Deadpool at least twice before. I think it works well if not especially benefitting from repeated viewing ( although nice to spot the shock trooper from The Mandalorian). Deadpool 2 ups the super heroism at the cost of the plot. Given the delay that will be caused by Covid19 to the production of 3 maybe they can use the extra time to work on the script for that.