What films have you watched recently?

Moominpapa

@Philly_Q - first time watching them. I hadn't been aware of him before,  but I'm enjoying the discovery now!

Philly_Q

@Moominpapa I've been a fan since Violent Cop in 1989, and I've seen all his films (as director) except the most recent one, Outrage Coda.  At first they only released his hard-boiled crime films in the West, so I had to get some of the gentler early films, like Kids Return or A Scene at the Sea on import DVD.

From Dolls (2002) he got a lot more arty and experimental - with mixed results, I didn't enjoy all of them.  Then he returned to crime films with the Outrage trilogy.

Haych

Collateral

2004 action thriller staring Tom Cruise who is looking more like Richard Gere in this movie, and failing. 

The plot essentially is just Tom Cruise in hijacked taxi, using it and its driver (Jamie Fox) to run around LA and kill people. 

Watchable but only just. 

4.5/10

boogieman

Haych said:

Collateral

2004 action thriller staring Tom Cruise who is looking more like Richard Gere in this movie, and failing. 

The plot essentially is just Tom Cruise in hijacked taxi, using it and its driver (Jamie Fox) to run around LA and kill people. 

Watchable but only just. 

4.5/10

I always struggle with Tom Cruise as a hard ass action hero or villain. He’s just about bearable in the Mission Impossible flicks because they’re mostly played for laughs, but the serious stuff? Meh, forget it. Don’t get me started on him playing the 6 foot 5 inch Jack Reacher. 

AlbertC

Border

2018 Swedish dark fantasy film but set in the present day - a long way from Lord of the Rings or anything of that ilk. One of the strangest films I've seen. Grotesquely engaging, but I can't say I found it particularly enjoyable. Not seen anything quite like it - very odd.

4/10

ICBM

Bridge Of Spies

Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks Cold War drama. Unsurprisingly given these two - very competent and well-made, thoughtful, but not amazingly tense, nothing very unexpected, with some minor historical inaccuracies and embellishments in some of the set-pieces but nothing that you'd spot as being wildly improbable if you didn't know... pretty good overall, but it lacks something somehow. Hanks does his usual 'Tom Hanks playing a historical person' thing perfectly but without ever being completely convincing, if that makes sense. The rest of the cast are well-chosen but slightly stereotyped (sharp-faced ruthless CIA man, handsome but slightly dull pilot, almost Bond-villain-like East German spy chief etc), and there's a nice cameo from Alan Alda... well worth a watch but don't expect anything especially memorable.

7/10

(Netflix)

Moominpapa

The Drop (2014) Decent crime drama with Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, and (in his last film role) James Gandolfini. It shouldn't come as any surprise to say that Hardy is really good in this. He manages to keep the character portrayal consistent while at the same time allowing the film to slowly reveal a different aspect to the character. It's top class stuff and of course he has great support from Gandolfini & Rapace. It's not a film I would watch again - I feel like I got everything out of it I needed to - but if you haven't seen it I would definitely recommend it.

Brio

Bridge Of Spies

Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks Cold War drama. Unsurprisingly given these two - very competent and well-made, thoughtful, but not amazingly tense, nothing very unexpected, with some minor historical inaccuracies and embellishments in some of the set-pieces but nothing that you'd spot as being wildly improbable if you didn't know... pretty good overall, but it lacks something somehow. Hanks does his usual 'Tom Hanks playing a historical person' thing perfectly but without ever being completely convincing, if that makes sense. The rest of the cast are well-chosen but slightly stereotyped (sharp-faced ruthless CIA man, handsome but slightly dull pilot, almost Bond-villain-like East German spy chief etc), and there's a nice cameo from Alan Alda... well worth a watch but don't expect anything especially memorable.

if you liked that (I certainly did) then check out The Courier with Benedict Cucumberpatch. Another true Cold War drama.

Haych

Gran Turino

Don't know why it's taken me so long to watch this one, I've wanted to see it for some years.  I like Clint Eastwood as both an actor and a director and he didn't disappoint.

Clint plays a Korean War veteran, Walt, who holds a decent amount of racist prejudice and general bigotry and intolerance all round, who is left on his own after the death of his wife (the movie starts with her funeral) and is surrounded by south east asians in his neighbourhood.  He is not a happy man and is made even less happy when one of the young asian lads living next door attempts to steal his 1972 Gran Turino as part of a gang initiation.

You know it's going to happen, it's no big plot twist, but slowly throughout the movie Walt's perception of his neighbours change and his attitude softens until he ends up becoming very fond of them and takes the young kid who tried to steal his car under his wing, so to speak.

It's a bit slow starting as all the pieces of the backstory are played out and characters introduced but it sets the rest of the film up for a very touching story which is quite funny in places.

I really enjoyed this one.  It's freely available on Prime for the next few days before it goes back to being a rental.  If you've not watched it then take the opportunity, it's very good.  It's one I could watch again and still enjoy.

sinbaadi

Seaspiracy.

Another Netflix documentary, this time about the state of the oceans which develops into a look behind the curtain at the fishing industry and its impact on the ecosystem.

Some mind blowing statistics and it feels like an assassination of an entire industry, which can make you skeptical, but even if it's only half-right it's still a ticking bomb.  Just so sad, too.

Difficult viewing, and you'll never look at sushi, tuna, cod or salmon in the same way.  

Logie

Stowaway. Low key but engrossing watch.

Shazam. Really entertaining superhero caper. Even my wife stayed awake for it

Springywheel

King of New York on Prime. Meh, not that great. Generic early 90s gangster flick. 

Longtallronnie

The Dirt on Netflix. Never paid much attention to Motley Crue so no idea how accurate it was but enjoyable nonetheless. 

Philly_Q

Longtallronnie said:

The Dirt on Netflix. Never paid much attention to Motley Crue so no idea how accurate it was but enjoyable nonetheless. 

I never realised it was on Netflix, so thanks for mentioning it, just watched it. 

My knowledge of Motley Crue is sketchy enough that it seemed quite accurate to me, but I dare say there were errors in the details - like leaving out several marriages and a couple of drummers.  Anyway, not a triumph of filmmaking but much better than I expected, I enjoyed it.

not_the_dj

There’s more in their book The Dirt, a few usual biopic historical inaccuracies like the song they play at the audition, plus fair bit more sex and drugs. 

The film also stops before the whole Tommy Lee/Pamela Anderson saga (including Tommy going to jail). That actually adds a lot to his character, and Nikki cleaning up. 

Still not sure I feel particularly sympathetic to any of them (except maybe Mick Mars). 

Haych

The Mule

A very old Eastwood plays a struggling elderly horticulturist with a broken family after years of neglect and putting work ahead of his wife and kids.  His business and property is foreclosed after he's put out of work by the internet.

With no money, no work, his family not talking to him and a spotless driving record, a friend of his granddaughter mentions he knows some guys who will pay him just to drive.  A little on the too trusting and naive side he accepts the work and starts delivering drugs across the country for a Mexican cartel.

It's not until about his third trip that he looks in the bag and finds several kilos of cocaine.  Rather than quit while he's ahead he gets addicted to the money and carries on regardless and becomes quite respected as the cartel's best and most successful mule.

It's not a fast paced action movie by any stretch of the imagination.  It has a great cast and Eastwood is very different from the wisened, laconic characters he usually plays, he is quite sublime and in his element.

Bradley Cooper is also quite good, usually I can't stand him, and he takes the role of the frustrated DEA agent who knows Eastwood's movements but who fails to identify or apprehend him.

The ending is a bit sudden and not what I was expecting and the only disappointment in what is a charming film about where one places one's highest priorities in life.  There are no car chases, shoot outs, foul language or punch ups, it's just a really well made film with quite an engaging and thought provoking story.

On Prime.

AlbertC

Sound of Metal 

In a nutshell - Drummer loses hearing but after a bit of a journey of discovery eventually realises it's not the devastating handicap that he initially thought.
Took a little while to warm to this but I really liked it and found it quite moving by the end. Riz Ahmed's performance is good (plus he wears some cool t-shirts    ) and is worthy of his Oscar nomination.

7.5/10

Moominpapa

Election (2005)  Hong Kong Triad drama directed by Johnnie To. There's an election for who will be the Chairman of a powerful Triad society for the next two years. One guy is elected but - ruh roh! the loser isn't happy. Hilarity ensues. Well, this being a Triad movie it's not really hilarity so much as violence, bloodshed, and mayhem. The way the narrative is structured and paced is a little odd at times, but it kept my interest and was reasonably entertaining. I wouldn't go out of your way to see it, though.

ICBM

Saturday Night Fever

John Travolta dance movie... we all know it, especially from the soundtrack, but I'd never seen it.

Not quite what I was expecting - there's a lot less dancing and a lot more fairly gritty social realism than I expected, the plot isn't as clichéd as I thought it would be, and it's not a feelgood film at all, in fact it's really quite dark. Travolta is mesmerising - not just (or even especially) for his dancing, apart from the iconic solo scene about halfway through - but portrays his frustrated, directionless teenager to perfection. The supporting cast - many of who were unknowns - are also excellent, and the whole thing is entirely believable and perfectly captures the run-down New York of the 1970s and the (at the time) still fairly underground disco scene. The soundtrack is of course a timeless classic, although if I have a slight criticism it's the repetition of a few of the songs.

8/10

boogieman

ICBM said:

Saturday Night Fever

John Travolta dance movie... we all know it, especially from the soundtrack, but I'd never seen it.

Not quite what I was expecting - there's a lot less dancing and a lot more fairly gritty social realism than I expected, the plot isn't as clichéd as I thought it would be, and it's not a feelgood film at all, in fact it's really quite dark. Travolta is mesmerising - not just (or even especially) for his dancing, apart from the iconic solo scene about halfway through - but portrays his frustrated, directionless teenager to perfection. The supporting cast - many of who were unknowns - are also excellent, and the whole thing is entirely believable and perfectly captures the run-down New York of the 1970s and the (at the time) still fairly underground disco scene. The soundtrack is of course a timeless classic, although if I have a slight criticism it's the repetition of a few of the songs.

8/10

Rewatched it a little while ago and it surprised me how aggressive and non PC it was. I remembered it as a far more fun film, largely because of the soundtrack and that scene I think. Good film though.