What films have you watched recently?

EricTheWeary

zepp76 said:

EricTheWeary said:

zepp76 said:

Ma Rainey’s Black bottom

Pretty much the whole thing is shot in just two small rooms but boy it smacks you in the gut.

9/10 

That was mentioned on Mark Kermode's Secret's of Cinema. Where did you find that? 

It’s on Netflix

Ahh think I might be mixing that up with something else. Still, looks interesting I shall have a look, thank you. 

chillidoggy

"Knowing" with Nichols Cage. I'll save you the bother. It's total bollocks. Like most of his films.

zepp76

Brio said:

Couldn't find anything newish to watch so re-watched the last 4 episodes of Queens Gambit, Anya Taylor Joy is remarkable with her ability to phisically stop and let things happen around her. The sets, props and music is pretty excellent oo.
This evening's boredom demands a choice between Where Eagles Dare and Kelly's Heroes.

I’ve sat here and binged the whole of the Queens Gambit today, bloomin brilliant TV series.

ICBM

Black Narcissus

The 1947 original film version, not the new mini-series - which we had been thinking of watching, so thought we would try the old film first.

Powell & Pressburger classic, supposedly... hmmm. Very much 'of its time', I think - but I've seen much better older films so I'm not really sure. It seems very forced and unrealistic, the plot climax can been predicted right from the start just from seeing one part of the slightly implausible set, and the characters aren't either believable or interesting - with the sole exception of David Farrar's sleazy Mr. Dean, who is by far the best thing in it. Too many blacked-up white actors (with the exception of Sabu as the young Indian prince) for comfort as well, although that was normal in its day. Apparently the most remarkable thing about it for original audiences was the Technicolor photography of the pink Himalayan flowers.

In historical context - 7/10
By modern standards - 4/10

Philly_Q

ICBM said:

Black Narcissus

The 1947 original film version, not the new mini-series - which we had been thinking of watching, so thought we would try the old film first.

Powell & Pressburger classic, supposedly... hmmm. Very much 'of its time', I think - but I've seen much better older films so I'm not really sure. It seems very forced and unrealistic, the plot climax can been predicted right from the start just from seeing one part of the slightly implausible set, and the characters aren't either believable or interesting - with the sole exception of David Farrar's sleazy Mr. Dean, who is by far the best thing in it. Too many blacked-up white actors (with the exception of Sabu as the young Indian prince) for comfort as well, although that was normal in its day. Apparently the most remarkable thing about it for original audiences was the Technicolor photography of the pink Himalayan flowers.

In historical context - 7/10
By modern standards - 4/10

Got to disagree with you this time, @ICBM, I think it's astonishing and holds up amazingly well despite - even maybe because of - the things which should make it feel dated.

Brio

I’m about to settle down with Cleopatra Jones and The Casino of Gold. What can possibly go wrong?

Moominpapa

Brio said:

I’m about to settle down with Cleopatra Jones and The Casino of Gold. What can possibly go wrong?

Cool Blaxploitation deep cut - let us know how it was. I didn't see this one but I saw the first Cleopatra Jones film in the cinema when it came out. Not exactly high art, but Tamara Dobson was fun.

ICBM

Mrs Lowry & Son

Drama about the artist and his domineering and snobbish mother. Another one I totally disagree with the critics about - I read a couple of reviews and wonder if they know as much about films as some of Lowry's contemporary critics seemed to know about his art. Review scores of 6/10 and 42%, WTF? Wrong - Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave are both amazingly good, the detail is faultless, the script is wryly funny but quite dark and intense, and the care with which the whole thing was made really shows. It seems to have been criticised for being a bit dour and repetitive - well duh, that's partly the point! The sometimes quite uncomfortable emotion really makes the characters seem real, but there are moments of uplifting humour as well. If there's a flaw it's that Redgrave occasionally seems a little too sprightly for the part (remarkable given that she was over 80 when it was filmed), but it's a very small criticism.

9/10

(Netflix)

merlin

Philly_Q said:

ICBM said:

Black Narcissus

The 1947 original film version, not the new mini-series - which we had been thinking of watching, so thought we would try the old film first.

Powell & Pressburger classic, supposedly... 

Got to disagree with you this time, @ICBM, I think it's astonishing and holds up amazingly well despite - even maybe because of - the things which should make it feel dated.

On the subject of Powell & Pressburger, we watched The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp recently, bloody excellent, tragic, comic superb performances all round. A very, very British film. Highly recommended. 

I've got Joe Strummer; The Future is Unwritten ready to roll. 

Brio

Cool Blaxploitation deep cut - let us know how it was.

100% what you'd expect. White guys cashing in on the cool black folk and negatively stereotyping asian folk on the way. But guilty fun.
An entertaining watch with the brain off and a beer in hand but crikey the film world pre SteadiCam is a crappy place. Add in the improvements in fight scenes and you hardly even notice the crap acting or so many stupid things going on.

I enjoyed it. Will I ever watch it again? No. But for last nights entertainment its gets a 6 out of 10 because I was in the right mood. Its no Our Man Flint or Dr Goldfoot and the Girl Bombs but very much of its time.

zepp76

News of the world

 Predictable, uninspiring and basically just made up of Hollywood cliches. But it has Tom Hanks in it so I’ll give it:

4/10

Blueingreen

Philly_Q said:

ICBM said:

Black Narcissus

The 1947 original film version, not the new mini-series - which we had been thinking of watching, so thought we would try the old film first.

Powell & Pressburger classic, supposedly... hmmm. Very much 'of its time', I think - but I've seen much better older films so I'm not really sure. It seems very forced and unrealistic, the plot climax can been predicted right from the start just from seeing one part of the slightly implausible set, and the characters aren't either believable or interesting - with the sole exception of David Farrar's sleazy Mr. Dean, who is by far the best thing in it. Too many blacked-up white actors (with the exception of Sabu as the young Indian prince) for comfort as well, although that was normal in its day. Apparently the most remarkable thing about it for original audiences was the Technicolor photography of the pink Himalayan flowers.

In historical context - 7/10
By modern standards - 4/10

Got to disagree with you this time, @ICBM, I think it's astonishing and holds up amazingly well despite - even maybe because of - the things which should make it feel dated.

Got to go with Philly Q on this. 

Few film-makers are less interested in being realistic than Powell & Pressburger, they're all about artifice and fantasy.  For fans that's a huge part of the appeal.

zepp76

12 years a slave

 What can I say about this film? Just beyond belief.

Feels strange giving it 10/10 for what goes on in it, but it shows just how disgusting human nature can be.

chillidoggy

"Summer of Rockets" on Netflix.

Downton Abbey meets Russian conspiracy. Keeley Hawes plays a good part, but Timothy Spall is at his best, as a totally menacing upper-class mandarin. Worth watching for his performance.

rlw

In reverse order...

The Dig

Paddington 2

The Monument Men

Paddington

Mama Mia

Blame the local cinema and holidays in Wadebridge for the last four and The Dig was on the TV.

SPECTRUM001

chillidoggy said:

"Summer of Rockets" on Netflix.

Downton Abbey meets Russian conspiracy. Keeley Hawes plays a good part, but Timothy Spall is at his best, as a totally menacing upper-class mandarin. Worth watching for his performance.

Good shout, thought it was very watchable.

SPECTRUM001

The Graduate

Another film I haven’t seen for around 30 years - and it is still really good.

That stylised image of airy and light America, just took me back to when I fell in love with the place. The Simon & Garfunkel songs help to underpin the vibe, which has such an innocence as Hoffman searches for answers.

The cinematography is outstanding too.

No wonder it is so famous.

9/10

Haych

Gambit (Prime). The 2012 remake.

A film that I remember being released and that I've wanted to see ever since but for some reason never did.

Not at all what I expected.  When it started and the plot of the con on which the film is based is rapidly unveiled I immediately thought it was going to be one of those con the conman type endings, kinda like Matchstick Men.

But, no.  It's bit cleverererererer than that.

Very enjoyable, easy to watch and delightfully entertaining.

Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz and Alan Rickman put on a great show, and where have I heard the voice of Tom Courtenay before? That's going to bug me - I didn't recognise his face but his voice is incredibly familiar!

8/10

EricTheWeary

Bill and Ted Face the Music

I think on Play Movies. Fun, probably not essential viewing but fun. 

Brio

Haych said:

Gambit (Prime). The 2012 remake.

Worth it just for CammyD



And Tm Courtenay? You might find some of his work familiar..  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0183822/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t2