What films have you watched recently?

ICBM

Haych said:

The story isn’t happy at all and it has a strange ending, or at least Mrs Haych and I thought so in any case. I also thought that Dixon going from complete a-hole to being the good guy in the end was a bit fake.

I don't think he becomes 'the good guy', I think they just realise that they have more in common than they thought - her motives at the end are a bit questionable as well if you think about it. To me that's what makes it so brilliant, and why the ending is best as it is.

(Hopefully avoiding spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it - you should.)

ennspek

Dredd 2012. Gave up, bag of the proverbial.

Haych

The Bourne Legacy

The lad wanted to see it as he’s working his way through the series. This is the one that doesn’t have Bourne as a character in it. 

Instead Jeremy Renner takes the lead as another bod in the Treadstone/Blackbriar secret army. 

It takes place at the same time as the third Bourne film with events from Ultimatum scattered here and there in an attempt to bear a resemblance to some kind of story. 

But that’s the problem, there isn’t a natural story - it’s entirely a construct for the purposes of milking the Bourne franchise for every penny possible. 

Therefore the plot, if you can call it that, is so thin, tenuous and implausible that it borders on the realms of science fiction. 

Even the almost non-stop action sequences aren’t enough to distract the viewer and prevent boredom setting in. 

3/10

fretmeister

ennspek said:

Dredd 2012. Gave up, bag of the proverbial.

Wrongest post of 2021 already! 

SPECTRUM001

Haych said:

Over the last couple of days the lad an I have watched the three Bourne films. Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum. 

I know they divide opinion but I really like them. I’ve seen them all so many times now but can still watch them and not be bored. 

Identity is good all on its own, it didn’t need the second and third film. The latter two take on a different mood but are still good for all that, in many ways better than Identity but neither is complete without the other. 

Hard to give them a score but overall I’d give the trilogy (I know there are two more films) 8/10

The Bourne Identity is right up there - a flawless mystery/action flick with that great European road trip vibe. I could watch it time and time again, and agreed it is much better than the sequels.

I have a DVD with Doug Liman’s Director’s commentary. It is surprisingly easy to watch the entire film with his excellent talk-over, 

Watched North by Northwest today. Haven’t seen it for around ten years, and it is still amazing. For 1959, way ahead of its time, and very stylish with all its modernist architecture and furniture.

I also noticed a little piece of Bernard Herman’s score that sounded like the Bond theme (but obviously predates Bond).

skullfunkerry

I watched Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it; if you're into Spider Man and/or superhero films then I highly recommend it

axisus

Haych said:

Last night we all watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl together as a family. 

Jonny Depp is excellent and it doesn’t really matter whether anybody else is any good as he and Geoffrey Rush carry the film all by themselves. 

Also doesn’t hurt that Kiera Knightly has a major role in the film  

Agreed. Depp and Rush are both superb, and Kiera very beautiful at that age (no clue what she looks like now!). Personally I think that is the best 'Family' adventure film ever, although maybe a bit scary for the very young.

axisus

We rewatched Brave at the weekend. Serious contender for best CGI animated film in my opinion. Great animation, great characters, great story.

Haych

axisus said:

Haych said:

Last night we all watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl together as a family. 

Jonny Depp is excellent and it doesn’t really matter whether anybody else is any good as he and Geoffrey Rush carry the film all by themselves. 

Also doesn’t hurt that Kiera Knightly has a major role in the film  

Agreed. Depp and Rush are both superb, and Kiera very beautiful at that age (no clue what she looks like now!). Personally I think that is the best 'Family' adventure film ever, although maybe a bit scary for the very young.

It's a hoot for sure, although my daughter brought to my attention that Kiera Knightly was only seventeen when the film was made, which now makes me feel a bit of an old creep!

UnclePsychosis

skullfunkerry said:

I watched Spider Man: Into the Spiderverse last night. Thoroughly enjoyed it; if you're into Spider Man and/or superhero films then I highly recommend it

Objectively, I think it might be the best Marvel film. (I say that as someone who likes Marvel films).

Its seriously good. Glad I saw it on the big screen, the animation deserves it. 

Snap

Inception - still great after many watches, awesome OST
Jojo Rabbit - not bad. Nearly turned it off after the first scene, which is not funny at all (and is like a bad Comic Strip Presents), but it built into a good solid film, and THAT scene made me well up. 7/10

Dunkirk - second watch, good film

Maleficent 2 - really enojyed it, good family film.

Haych

Speaking of Pirates of the Caribbean, the lassie wanted to watch the second instalment so we buckled in and watched Dead Man's Chest a couple of days ago.

Not really a patch on the first film.  It's rather long, over complicated and has some unnecessary parts that just add to the length and do nothing for the story.

The absence of Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbosa is notable although Bill Nighy does a good Davey Jones, but it just feels rather forced as a film rather than a natural follow on from the first film.

Also not pleased that after sitting through two and a half hours the story still isn't finished and it needs a third film to finally end this part of the saga.

All that said, though, it isn't awful.  Jonny Depp is still excellent and Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightly carry their parts well.

I think 6/10 is fair.  The only trouble is she wants to see At World's End next.  I'm sure I've seen it before but again recall it being rather long.

Next up was the final Bourne film, Jason Bourne.  This concluded the lad's movie streak for a while I reckon.

While this is far better than the awful Bourne Legacy it still lacks the same mood as the first three films and is a lot slower in pace.  Again, a film that was undoubtedly made because studio executives saw dollar signs in front of their eyes rather than the fans wanting it.

The plot is therefore much weaker and feels like a bolt-on rather than a natural progression of the Treadstone thread that was quite cleverly woven throughout the main three films.  I thought Tommy Lee Jones was remarkably dull and was probably a wrong choice for the part of CIA director Dewey.

As good as I think Alicia Vikander is I also thought she wasn't quite right for her part in the film, she just wasn't quite convincing enough despite laying on the ice cold demeanour.  Matt Damon resurrected Bourne quite well, though.

Overall, while wanting to love it, it's hard to give it a higher score than 6/10.  It's watchable but it's a reminder that sometimes the story should have ended before the opening credits roll.

Blueingreen

Parasite 

I kept oscillating between thinking this was the masterpiece I’d been hearing about or a rather random piece of self-indulgence by a brutally overconfident director, technically brilliant but with nothing new to say. I’d need to see it at least once more to start clarifying my thoughts. It did keep me reasonably entertained throughout. I’m going to give a provisional 8/10, but that could change markedly after a second viewing l

guitars4you

Watched 'Kill The Messenger' via Netflix on Saturday night - Then by coincidence noticed 'American Made' was on last night - So that is now on the planner to watch later - Both about the Contra Rebels, Cocaine for arms, etc and you see why the CIA acquired the nick name 'cocaine import agency'

VimFuego

First Man, it's a dramatised account of how NASA faked the 1st moon landing. Very procedural, and I assume very accurate as to how the various steps were achieved. Gosling plays the actor Neil Armstrong and he gives a very solid performance, probably a hard role to play as Armstrong doesn't seem very personable. Digressing here, but he seems an odd person to have chosen in real life as he's not at all televisual. In fact, if you were going to chose someone to actually command the mission and land on the moon (not that the moon is real, it's all deep fake, state actor, you're being controlled etc) as he's exactly the right kind of calm, steady, make good decisions under pressure, able to take the initiative when required, personality to do that. 

Brio

25 years late to the party I got to watch Species. Far better than I expected. Nice work although I can understand why Giger was a bit miffed with it.

@VimF I do prefer your concept for First Man.
I'm going to stick with Apollo 11 for my Lunar shenanigans.

VimFuego

Brio said:

25 years late to the party I got to watch Species. Far better than I expected. Nice work although I can understand why Giger was a bit miffed with it.

@VimF I do prefer your concept for First Man.
I'm going to stick with Apollo 11 for my Lunar shenanigans.

was that the series that Tom Hanks produced? I recall thinking that was excellent, been looking out for it on netflix etc, but never see anywhere. Really like to see it again.

UnclePsychosis

VimFuego said:

First Man, it's a dramatised account of how NASA faked the 1st moon landing. Very procedural, and I assume very accurate as to how the various steps were achieved. Gosling plays the actor Neil Armstrong and he gives a very solid performance, probably a hard role to play as Armstrong doesn't seem very personable. Digressing here, but he seems an odd person to have chosen in real life as he's not at all televisual. In fact, if you were going to chose someone to actually command the mission and land on the moon (not that the moon is real, it's all deep fake, state actor, you're being controlled etc) as he's exactly the right kind of calm, steady, make good decisions under pressure, able to take the initiative when required, personality to do that. 

I thought First Man was a bloody brilliant piece of film. I'll let a space geek decide whether the portrayal of the man / events was accurate.

(accurate to the official cover story of the deep fake hoax landings of course) 

Brio

was that the series that Tom Hanks produced?

Nope, it was the most excellent documentary fillum using loads of 70mm footage from the launch plus recorded dialogue from the time, no voice overs.

VimFuego

ooooh that does look good, I shall keep an eye out.