What films have you watched recently?

rze99

Arrival (2016)

Sci-Fi movie. A lady linguist professor is drawn into International efforts to communicate with extraterrestials who have landed 12 craft across the globe and who use a type of circular semiotics to communicate. The Professor experiences flashbacks and premonitions that eventually inform her ability to understand the basics of the alien messages.

Mrs rze had to watch Line of Duty which I had not wanted to get into this season (thank God!) so I watched this alone which helped draw me into the narrative. Really enjoyed it. Wonderful central performance, thoughtful script and a semi-spiritual atmosphere helped elevate this form hokum to a more memorable experience.

Recommended.

8/10

ICBM

rze99 said:

Arrival (2016)

It's worth watching again, even though you know what's going to happen - or probably *because*. (Hopefully that isn't a spoiler for anyone who hasn't yet.)

In my opinion it's one of the best sci-fi films ever made, and extremely thought-provoking, especially when you see it more than once and pick up on some things you might have missed the first time.

rze99

ICBM said:

rze99 said:

Arrival (2016)

It's worth watching again, even though you know what's going to happen - or probably *because*. (Hopefully that isn't a spoiler for anyone who hasn't yet.)

In my opinion it's one of the best sci-fi films ever made, and extremely thought-provoking, especially when you see it more than once and pick up on some things you might have missed the first time.

I'm sure you're right and I'd happily see this again.

fretmeister

Without Remorse.

Amazon Prime attempt at bringing another Tom Clancy character to life. I was looking forward to this as I like the books.

So naturally they threw away the entertaining book story and turned it into a terrible film. Very dull, very predictable and other than 3 of the actors, terribly cast.

it’s shit.

EricTheWeary

ICBM 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.

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.

One of the things that passed me by originally but seems very obvious now is that the scene with Hopelessly Devoted To You wasn’t part of the original shoot. To do with Newton-John not being happy  with the solo song she was given so this song was written and  filmed later on. It’s not a part of the original stage version and often omitted from revivals. 

So, it’s Newton-John stood on a porch singing something that stylistically is a poor fit for the soundtrack. 

I like how you’re concerned about the authenticity of the spandex outfit but not the flying car. 

ICBM

EricTheWeary said:

I like how you’re concerned about the authenticity of the spandex outfit but not the flying car. 

I never said the flying car wasn't ludicrous as well . In fact the front end of it falls apart when it lands, and then miraculously it's back in one piece a few seconds later...

EricTheWeary

ICBM said:

EricTheWeary said:

I like how you’re concerned about the authenticity of the spandex outfit but not the flying car. 

I never said the flying car wasn't ludicrous as well . In fact the front end of it falls apart when it lands, and then miraculously it's back in one piece a few seconds later...

My only other pointless fact I have about the film is that Marie Osmond was supposedly cast as Sandy but she withdrew due to the amount of obscenities in the script. All of which were lost later on anyway as it was turned into a more family friendly film. 
Marie would have been about the right age to play a high school student unlike most of the rest of the cast ( Travolta was 23 and ONJ was 29). 
I saw it at the cinema and I kinda like it but it doesn't stand up well to scrutiny. 

Haych

EricTheWeary said:

ICBM said:

EricTheWeary said:

I like how you’re concerned about the authenticity of the spandex outfit but not the flying car. 

I never said the flying car wasn't ludicrous as well . In fact the front end of it falls apart when it lands, and then miraculously it's back in one piece a few seconds later...

My only other pointless fact I have about the film is that Marie Osmond was supposedly cast as Sandy but she withdrew due to the amount of obscenities in the script. All of which were lost later on anyway as it was turned into a more family friendly film. 
Marie would have been about the right age to play a high school student unlike most of the rest of the cast ( Travolta was 23 and ONJ was 29). 
I saw it at the cinema and I kinda like it but it doesn't stand up well to scrutiny. 

You aaaaaaaaaall missed the biggest clanger of all. 

The scene of the dance competition. The band were using Fender silver face amps. The movie was set in the blackface era!

ICBM

Haych said:

You aaaaaaaaaall missed the biggest clanger of all. 

The scene of the dance competition. The band were using Fender silver face amps. The movie was set in the blackface era!

Tweed actually. The bass player's strap was about twice as long as would have been available in the 50s as well.

Haych

ICBM said:

Haych said:

You aaaaaaaaaall missed the biggest clanger of all. 

The scene of the dance competition. The band were using Fender silver face amps. The movie was set in the blackface era!

Tweed actually. The bass player's strap was about twice as long as would have been available in the 50s as well.

Yeah, just looked it up and was about to add an edit but you beat me to it. I was sure it was set before silverface amps came out but wasn’t sure the exact year it was meant to be. 1959 apparently which would predate blackface so yup, you’re right. 

boogieman

I can remember enormous queues at the cinema to see Grease. No idea why as it’s really not that great a film, I guess it was one of those times where everyone got caught up in the hype, plus Travolta being flavour of the day. You can see it’s just a stage musical uncomfortably shovelled into a film format. 

Haych

Speaking of rubbish films……..

I’ve just sat through Baby Driver. 

Let’s just say I thought it looked a lot better in the trailers. 

2/10

Sassafras

Haych said:

Speaking of rubbish films……..

I’ve just sat through Baby Driver. 

Let’s just say I thought it looked a lot better in the trailers. 

2/10

God yes!
Wasn't the main guy annoying?
Couldn't understand the hype around this film.

goldtop

^ Agreed. A bit clever, but overall 'meh' but a lot of people loved it. 

skullfunkerry

Currently watching "Cosmic Sin" on Now. It's really not very good (and that's being kind)

Philly_Q

Captain America: The First Avenger

Now that I have Disney+, I've decided to re-watch all the MCU films, in chronological order.  This one is pretty much as I remembered it from first viewing - I really enjoyed the first hour which is all 1940s origin story, then for the second half it goes into standard CGI action-movie mode and feels aimless and disjointed.

equalsql

Badlands (1973)   Amazon Prime rental

 Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen in a film about a young girl bewitched by a cool but murderous binman. A chase movie set in the Badlands of Montana directed by Terence Malick.

Beautifully filmed, stunning cinematography and a relaxed dreamy vibe. Spacek  is brilliant as the young besotted teenager who is detached from the reality of the situation she has gotten herself into whilst Sheen manages to play a character who is not only incredibly cool, but is magnetic and likeable but a completely cold blooded killer.

An amazing, slow burn hypnotic masterpiece.

10/10

chillidoggy

equalsql said:

Badlands (1973)   Amazon Prime rental

 Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen in a film about a young girl bewitched by a cool but murderous binman. A chase movie set in the Badlands of Montana directed by Terence Malick.

Beautifully filmed, stunning cinematography and a relaxed dreamy vibe. Spacek  is brilliant as the young besotted teenager who is detached from the reality of the situation she has gotten herself into whilst Sheen manages to play a character who is not only incredibly cool, but is magnetic and likeable but a completely cold blooded killer.

An amazing, slow burn hypnotic masterpiece.

10/10

Absolutely agree 100%. 

Haych

Salting the Battlefield

Part three of the Johnny Worricker trilogy.  Better than Turks & Caicos (Pt2) but still not on a par with the first of the three instalments, Page Eight.

The movie has Johnny and his girlfriend on the run and moving around with the help a journalist who seems to know the next move MI5 is about to make - I didn't quite make the connection how.

Johnny seems to have an agenda of toppling the government with his knowledge of the PMs dirty dealings in illegal detention camps.  The ending is a bit of a damp squib, though.

I suppose the ending was more real to life than what I was hoping for and for that reason I shouldn't complain.

Bill Nighy is still great to watch, though.  I don't think I've ever seen him in a serious role and I can only recall ever seeing him in Love Actually but I really enjoyed watching him in this series of films.

goldtop

Haych said:

Salting the Battlefield

Part three of the Johnny Worricker trilogy.  Better than Turks & Caicos (Pt2) but still not on a par with the first of the three instalments, Page Eight.

(Penny drops) I didn't realise Page Eight was the first of a trilogy when I wrote the stuff above. This probably explains the plot device that was strangely dropped. I'll watch the others...