What films have you watched recently?

axisus

Longtallronnie said:

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

The book is amazing, really enjoyed Vince, Tommy and Nikki's books as well. I thought the film was rubbish, gave up after about 20 mins. Read the book! 

axisus

I LOVE time travel stuff, saw 2 films on Netflix recently:

See you tomorrow - two teens find a way to go back in time. It was rolling along at about 5/10 max, but the ending was a total cop out. It was a cop out in that there WAS no ending. Main character jumps back in time 'one last time' to fix stuff that has gone wrong, and that is the end. Pathetic!

The time travellers wife - I always thought that this would be a soppy girlie movie, and in many ways it is, however, I think that it was a pretty interesting take on time travel. I certainly enjoyed it. 7/10

EricTheWeary

boogieman said:

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.  

I watched it for the first time a few years ago and it was hardly the film I was expecting all. I thought it would be something like Grease set in a discotheque and that’s just so wrong. 

Philly_Q

Saturday Night Fever and Grease always get lumped together - for obvious reasons, given the Travolta connection and the hugely successful soundtrack albums.  But they're very different films.

If Grease had come out first, Saturday Night Fever would probably have been drastically rewritten to get a PG rating.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

Saturday Night Fever and Grease always get lumped together - for obvious reasons, given the Travolta connection and the hugely successful soundtrack albums.  But they're very different films.

If Grease had come out first, Saturday Night Fever would probably have been drastically rewritten to get a PG rating.

There was apparently a PG cut of SNF primarily for airline use that included Disco Duck on the soundtrack. 

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

Philly_Q said:

Saturday Night Fever and Grease always get lumped together - for obvious reasons, given the Travolta connection and the hugely successful soundtrack albums.  But they're very different films.

If Grease had come out first, Saturday Night Fever would probably have been drastically rewritten to get a PG rating.

There was apparently a PG cut of SNF primarily for airline use that included Disco Duck on the soundtrack. 

I didn't know about the Disco Duck bit!  I haven't been on a plane for 20 years, do they still have airline versions of films?  Speaking of which, my parents lived in Singapore for a few years and my brother used to go over there during the summer holidays - apparently they only showed airline versions of films in the cinemas.  No adult content whatsoever.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

EricTheWeary said:

Philly_Q said:

Saturday Night Fever and Grease always get lumped together - for obvious reasons, given the Travolta connection and the hugely successful soundtrack albums.  But they're very different films.

If Grease had come out first, Saturday Night Fever would probably have been drastically rewritten to get a PG rating.

There was apparently a PG cut of SNF primarily for airline use that included Disco Duck on the soundtrack. 

I didn't know about the Disco Duck bit!  I haven't been on a plane for 20 years, do they still have airline versions of films?  Speaking of which, my parents lived in Singapore for a few years and my brother used to go over there during the summer holidays - apparently they only showed airline versions of films in the cinemas.  No adult content whatsoever.

There was something about not showing differently rated versions of the same movie in the same territory. So, if a film is reduced to PG for a Singapore airline then it has to be that version shown in Singapore cinemas. Although that's probably out of date now. 

EricTheWeary

The Mule.

On Prime.

I have a few issues with it but rambling crime drama inspired by a real life story. Starring Clint Eastwood as the rambling criminal. Some nice scenic shots of the American countryside, every Latino actor you’ve ever seen in TV and film and a bit of jaaazz as it’s Clint. 

Philly_Q

Wonder Woman 1984

The reviews were bad but that didn't deter me.... It actually starts out quite well, I don't know why they decided to set it in the Eighties but it has a very lightweight, slightly campy feel like the Christopher Reeve Superman films.

Unfortunately about halfway through they introduce the invisible jet, and then it all gets increasingly stupid.  The ending is quite sweet in a sappy sort of way, but the whole thing is just way too bloated.

chillidoggy

Nomadland.

Stunning Nevada scenery. That's about it. How it won all the awards was beyond me.

Haych

Gone in 60 Seconds

One of Mrs Haych’s favourite films. While she was out fetching the takeaway last night she sent a text saying she was on her way back, find something to watch. 

Rather than spend half hour scrolling through stuff I knew she wouldn’t care for I just picked one I knew she’d like. 

It’s just OK if you ignore everything about it and that Christopher Ecclestone plays the worst bad guy ever in movie history. 

It’s a film full of never could happen ever. Oh and don’t get me started on the last scene with Eleanor. 

5/10 

stonevibe

The Pedal Movie, watched it last night and was pretty good

phil_b

stonevibe said:

The Pedal Movie, watched it last night and was pretty good






what's this and where can I watch it

Moominpapa

Inspired by @Brio's mention above I watched The Courier (2020) This was right up my street given my fascination with Cold War espionage and John Le Carre's work. I thought it was great. Granted, I am slightly biased by my interest in the topic, but I found it profoundly moving - the courage displayed by the main protagonists puts all our day to day concerns to shame. Benedict Cumberbatch was very good (as one would expect) but acting honours have to go to Mirab Ninidze who turns in a stellar performance as Oleg Penkovsky. And a deserved nod to Jessie Buckley and Keir Hills as Wynne's family.Highly recommended film.

rze99

blackKKKlansman

Spike Lee 2018

Excellent true life tale of a Black undercover cop paring up with a white cop to infiltrate the KKK. If it wasn’t true you’d think it to be far fetched. Wry and well observed it’s well played and keenly funny on the preposterous nature of the KKK and the banality of their creed. Also includes shocking and disgusting news reel footage from Charlote from Some cool music

8.5/10

rze99

Moominpapa said:

Inspired by @Brio's mention above I watched The Courier (2020) This was right up my street given my fascination with Cold War espionage and John Le Carre's work. I thought it was great. Granted, I am slightly biased by my interest in the topic, but I found it profoundly moving - the courage displayed by the main protagonists puts all our day to day concerns to shame. Benedict Cumberbatch was very good (as one would expect) but acting honours have to go to Mirab Ninidze who turns in a stellar performance as Oleg Penkovsky. And a deserved nod to Jessie Buckley and Keir Hills as Wynne's family.Highly recommended film.

My cup of tea. Which provider @Moominpapa?

Moominpapa

rze99 said:

My cup of tea. Which provider @Moominpapa?

My provider was of a buccaneering nature    It was released in US in March - apparently it will be available in UK from Monday 17th May (cinema, I think)

Haych

Murder on the Homefront

Recent made for TV whodunit set in wartime London during the blitz. 

Well made enough and all the period fashion and music is pretty much spot on. Actors I’d never heard of before but they all did a decent job. 

Story wasn’t that engaging though, there was no real intrigue or suspense and when the true killer was revealed it wasn’t really the surprising twist they tried to pull off. 

Mediocre at best. 5/10

On Netflix. 

goldtop

Page Eight (Netflix) has Bill Nighy being Bill Nighy - he's exactly the same character as he was in Best Exotic, etc. Anyway, it's internal MI5 intrigue in a Tony Blair era of complicity in USA's extraordinary rendition and black sites, etc. It's OK but a bit dull. Plus there's either a very odd red herring in it, or they decided to change the ending. 4/10

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

Saturday Night Fever and Grease always get lumped together - for obvious reasons, given the Travolta connection and the hugely successful soundtrack albums.  But they're very different films.

If Grease had come out first, Saturday Night Fever would probably have been drastically rewritten to get a PG rating.

So to complete the set we watched...

Grease

Also never seen it properly before, although I'm familiar with all the songs and I've seen a few of the other bits. I should first say that I'm *generally* not a fan of musicals, although there are exceptions.

However - it's not the musical numbers which are the problem here, they're actually excellent. It's the rest of the film... it's really awful. Horrible clichéd characters (even given that it was made over forty years ago), dreadful script, terrible acting, and as for the plot - there barely is one. It seemed excruciatingly long at only just over an hour and a half, and quite an effort to sit through just to finally see Olivia Newton-John in her skin-tight lycra for You're The One That I Want... which is easily the highlight both visually and musically, despite there being no explanation as to why she would need to have such a radical makeover given that she was already dancing with Travolta in the previous scene, or how such an outfit existed in the 1950s.

Oh, and all the actors are about double the age of the characters they're playing. Travolta is actually not too bad though.

Sorry, but -

Music - 8/10
Overall - at best 5/10

I'll stick with the soundtrack album I think.