What films have you watched recently?

EricTheWeary

Grosse Pointe Blank.

On Disney Star.

Soundtrack is mostly late 70s to early 90s - The Clash, Motorhead, The Pixies, The Cure, The Specials, Guns and Roses,etc ( Joe Strummer made the incidental music). An ambling pace, it is quite silly in places, I don't know if Dan Akroyd is trying to be serious or not and Minnie Driver's accent is all over the shop but one of my favourite fillums with many lovely ( if occasionally violent) moments. 

Haych

Nomadland

Well, 90% of it. The wife and stepson didn’t seem to appreciate it and started goofing off in the last 20 minutes utterly ruining it for me. 

Up to that point it was a well made and moving picture about the effects of economic hardship and life choices some have made. 

It’s certainly a contrast to the romantic notion of selling up, buying and converting a van and going travelling. 

rze99

Not a movie, sorry, wrong thread. But. 

Mare of Easttown. - a tv series. I’m watching it on Sky with my wife and we both think it is excellent. 

Battered detective with a complicated and troubled home life tries to solve a murder of a young mother in her local small town while dealing with domestic meltdown and trying to get a love life back. 

Sounds routine. And on paper the synopsis is. But it’s rich, immersive and at times powerful, with a superb central performance and some frankly terrific women to women no holds barred dialogue. Forget who the actors are and enjoy the story and performances. 

Recommended. 

BigBearKris

rze99 said:

Not a movie, sorry, wrong thread. But. 

Mare of Easttown. - a tv series. I’m watching it on Sky with my wife and we both think it is excellent. 

Battered detective with a complicated and troubled home life tries to solve a murder of a young mother in her local small town while dealing with domestic meltdown and trying to get a love life back. 

Sounds routine. And on paper the synopsis is. But it’s rich, immersive and at times powerful, with a superb central performance and some frankly terrific women to women no holds barred dialogue. Forget who the actors are and enjoy the story and performances. 

Recommended. 

Agreed. Really good HBO comeback. 

Winslet and Jean Smart are very good in it.

Moominpapa

Forrest Gump (1994)  Although I had caught segments on tv over the years I hadn't watched the whole movie since seeing it in the cinema when it first came out. On the whole I think it has stood the test of time quite well. Obviously the main credit has to go to Tom Hanks who is just outstanding in the title role. Gary Sinise is wonderful, and I'd forgotten how great Michael T. Williamson is as Bubba. I think Robin Wright does what she can with the role of Jenny, but it's a real bitch to play because while Forrest's encounters with the most important people and cultural movements of his time are the main shared joke of the whole film, Jenny's life always risks coming off as a bad pastiche of a troubled individual's journey through the 60s, 70s, and 80s.  But it is still a really good film to watch, and still laugh out loud in many parts. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend it - if only for the tour de force of Hanks' performance.

phil_b

based on the true story of the hunt for Bonnie and Clyde. not as good as the untuchables but very enjoyable

Haych

Shazam

I have to admit that when I saw the trailers on Prime I was a bit skeptical but then a few here wrote reviews so decided to give it a whirl.

On the whole I don't/can't do the whole fantasy genre because it has no anchor to reality to make it seem remotely plausible even if one does suspend their disbelief, which I clearly seem to have difficulty doing.

This worked really well, though, since it doesn't even attempt to take itself seriously.  It has its tongue firmly in cheek from the off so I can forgive it for being in the fantasy genre.

It did take a while to get going, that's about my only criticism - oh and that it's meant to be a family film but I reckon there are some scenes that would make smaller kids feel quite frightened, maybe that's just because I'm old and my benchmark for what is and isn't scary is well out of date.

Zachary Levi does a great job of playing a kid in an adult superhero's body, the part could have been written for him and I can see why some made parallels with Big.  The rest of the cast seem well suited for their respective roles too. 

It's very entertaining and quite funny in places and, while it isn't a masterpiece or anything, it's really well put together and once it gets going it ticks over at a decent pace.

Overall I'm glad I gave it a viewing, a solid 7/10

boogieman

The Mule on Prime. Clint is superb, playing an ageing guy who does drug runs to make some much-needed money. Definitely not an action movie but very watchable with some decent characters and gentle humour. Excellent. 

Philly_Q

Iron Man and Iron Man 2

Continuing my chronological trawl through the Marvel movies... the second film, in particular, is just a lot of showing-off and smart-aleck dialogue desperately in search of a plot, but Robert Downey Jr, Sam Rockwell and the rest are very good at what they do.  I'd completely forgotten Black Widow was in Iron Man 2, she has one terrific fight scene. 

I thought these films might be starting to show their age, but in fact the 10-year-old CGI still looks great.

Edit:  One thing I take for granted after all this time and ten(?) films is just how inspired the casting of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man really was.  He completely carries that first film, which launched the entire MCU phenomenon.

Danny1969

@rze99 ;;
Yeah Mare of East town is very good, probably the best thing I'm watching at the mo. 

Nomadland  - didn't really enjoy it, found it boring and unrealistic. I've driven through some of the parts she was in and there are many people who do live off grid in little settlements .. literally in the middle of nowhere. But you need to do more than put a tank of water and a toilet in a van. You will literally cook in the Arizona desert inside a tin van, and there's a lot more danger to that life than the film conveyed. 

Tallulah  - this is one of those little gems on Netflix. Young girl living a nomad lifestyle makes a decision and then has to roll with it. Really enjoyable film.  

ICBM

Burton & Taylor

BBC TV movie with Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter as twice-married and divorced famous/infamous celebrity couple Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, towards the end of Burton’s life.

Not bad. Neither of them are totally convincing, but close enough that it’s possible to watch without it being jarring. No great revelations, but it’s interesting enough.

On the other hand you could just watch Cleopatra and see the real thing…

7/10

(iPlayer)

axisus

Toy Story 4

The daughters put it on again last night. I did see it a long time ago, but I didn't remember all the details.  

Bloody good script! I really felt rather emotional 2 or 3 times. It's amazing what they convey considering that it is just CGI based on toys. 

Some great story threads - the reinvention of Bo Peep into an excellent character and female role model, the story arc for the 'bad' doll, and once again - Woody's character although having his flaws being someone with a heart of gold. 

Duke Caboom was an excellent addition. We see less of the original cast, but this was a good thing, it gave more space for the storytelling concentrating on the main characters.

Toy Story 5? Why not, they haven't put a foot wrong so far ....

Haych

Rumor Has it

Quite a decent RomCom made about 15 years ago.

Good cast, Jennifer Aniston, Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Costner and Shirley MacLaine in the leading roles.

The story basically centres on Aniston being part of a family where she feels she doesn't fit.  At her sister's wedding she finds out her mother had an affair days before she got married to her father so she assumes she's not her father's daughter and seeks out a successful businessman who she believes to be her biological father.

It's not laugh out loud funny but it moves along at a decent pace, is light hearted and ticks all the rom-com boxes.  Y'know, boy and girl in love, something goes wrong, you think it's all over and then boy and girl get back together again leaving the viewer with a warm fuzzy feeling and all that.

I liked it, was alright for its genre - 7/10

A Good Day to Die Hard

The fifth, and last, instalment of the Die Hard franchise.  It's been some years since I last saw this, will probably be some years before I see it again too.

As a Die Hard movie it's ok.  Nothing spectacular but it's the same old tried and tested format only this time Bruce Willis gets to blow sh!t up in Russia.  On that part it's not terrible but neither is it amazing.

Some other parts of the movie are unforgivable though.  First of all the plot - later in the film John McLain's son, who is CIA, reveals that the Chernobyl disaster was caused by corrupt politicians syphoning refined uranium from the reactor and causing the melt-down.  Was this honestly the best plot they could come up with?

Then there's the movie being set in Moscow for the first half.  Nothing wrong with that except for Willis stealing a car to end the movie in Chernobyl, on the same day, despite it being about 15 hours away from Moscow, and it's already dark when he nicks the car.

Then there's the magic chemical the bad guys use to neutralise all that harmful radiation at Chernobyl so they can steal the remaining U235 which has been secretly stashed away in an underground vault at the power station for about three decades.  I don't know what's least credible, that there's a magic potion for making radioactivity safe or that anyone would leave U235 lying around for 30+ years.

And to top it all the end stunt with the helicopter is so unbelievable as to be ridiculous. Not to mention the daft dialogue between the dolly-bird pilot and the co-pilot.  Watch my tail, like the guy sitting three feet away from you has a better view of the tail rotor than you do?

Overall it gets only 4/10 from me.

Blueingreen

Meet Me In St Louis.  This is a personal favourite but it will be Marmite.  It's the ideal feel-good Christmas film but it was broadcast within the past few weeks and I was in need of something cheering at the weekend so watched it for maybe the fourth time.

Typical sisters-meet-boys Judy Garland musical against the background of a very idealised American upper middle class family in which pretty much nobody has an unpleasant thought about anyone else.  The plot is inconsequential and many will find the film much too cosy and sentimental.  The tunes also tend to the cosy and sentimental but the melodies are fabulous (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is the stand out).

Oddly (and I say this as someone who normally has no more interest in women's fashion than the average bloke) the thing I like least is the women's clothes and elaborately artificial hairstyles.  I imagine they must be based on the fashions of the period (it's set around 1900) but to the modern eye they are unflattering and slightly ridiculous and make it harder to empathise with (or fancy) the heroines.

And yet what really makes the film special is Vincente Minnelli's visuals.  The cinematography, especially the use of colour, is mind-blowingly good scene after scene.  There are some great set pieces, especially the Halloween one, one of my favourite sequences in any movie.  Once you get past the outfits  Garland is brilliant.  The performance by 6 year old Margaret O'Brien is among the all-time most effective performances by a child actor - in fact I can't think of anything to rival it:  she manages to be charming without ever being cloying and arguably makes the film.

While accepting that this is very much not for everybody, I'd rate it 10/10.

Moominpapa

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - Tom Cruise & Emily Blunt in Groundhog  Day meets Starship Troopers. I have to confess, I knew nothing about this film going in and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The trope of learning through repetition of a time loop is not original - it has been done before in Xena, Warrior Princess and (brilliantly) in The X-Files as well as movies like Groundhog Day. but it is done well here.As much as I loathe and detest Scientology, I just have a soft spot for Tom Cruise. Hie performances in files like The Colour of Money, Magnolia, & Tropic Thunder mean I just can't dislike him, and here he is as good as ever. Emily Blunt is also good, and the supporting cast are teriffic.  This is not a great film, but it is a decent watch, and if you pick this for your Saturday-night-in entertainment, you won't be disappointed.

Brio

One of my favourite time loop films. Try Boss Level for another great one.

I’ve just watched Army of the Dead. A team of experienced mercs head into a barricaded Las Vegas for a heist.
only problem is the barricade is because it’s been over run by zombies. A few great twists and very enjoyable if you like violence, zombies and some dark humour. On Netflix.

rze99

Bottle Shock 2008. 

An enjoyable light romp through the true story of the  Napa Valley wine that beat the Frenchies in a blind taste competition near Paris in 1976 exploding the snobbery of the assumed superiority of the elite French vineyards and Chateau marks and opened the market to new world wines. 

Alan Rickman is always magnetic and wonderful to watch as the Paris based English vintner and blind competition instigator, so full marks there. 

There’s a “who will get the blonde in tight shorts hot young babe?”  thing in the movie that is just a movie invention and is pretty to look, dated, and a rubbish and predictable pile of poo plot diversion but serves as eye candy. 

The inevitable and endlessly repeating Hollywood theme of father and son separation and reconciliation is fully and tediously exploited and is dull and predictable. Father and son boxing, four times in a movie is four times too much for me. 

Worth a lightweight Friday night look. With a glass of wine or three. 

6/10

phil_b

Molly's Game

Fasinating true story of Molly Bloom running high steaks poker games for the super ritch untill the russian mafia try to take over

Haych

The Woman in the Window

Really enjoyed this one, I could tell from the start it was going to be a twisted tale but couldn't work out how it was all going to play out.

It centres on Anna (Amy Adams) who is agoraphobic and doesn't go outside.  She exists entirely in a massive townhouse by herself but seems comfortable receiving the odd guest and has a lodger living in her basement.

She's clearly strung up and stressed and lives on a cocktail of prescription drugs and alcohol, the latter her shrink isn't entirely happy about.

She keenly observes her neighbourhood from her front windows and seems to know all the goings on.  Then a new family moves in the house over the street and she becomes obsessed with them after the 15 year old son in the family brings her a gift from his mother.

The father of the new family (Gary Oldman) seems abusive and controlling but she bonds with the mother (Julianne Moore) after she drops in to see her.  It really gets going when she witnesses the mother being murdered through the windows, she involves the police but then her own life begins to unravel and when everyone finds out her own truth her credibility is destroyed and, of course, nobody believes her - especially when Gary Oldman turns up with another woman who claims she is his wife.

It's really well made, the characters are well written and well performed by all.  Adams and Oldman in particular are very good.

Would recommend.

We followed this rather good film with The Sweeney which remained on for about 20 minutes before it got switched off for being absolute rubbish.  Honestly, nobody could act, the story seemed to be thin and based on a bunch of London coppers trying way too hard to be way too hard.  Ray Winstone was laughable.

Utter bollocks!

skullfunkerry

Philly_Q said:

Iron Man and Iron Man 2

Continuing my chronological trawl through the Marvel movies... the second film, in particular, is just a lot of showing-off and smart-aleck dialogue desperately in search of a plot, but Robert Downey Jr, Sam Rockwell and the rest are very good at what they do.  I'd completely forgotten Black Widow was in Iron Man 2, she has one terrific fight scene. 

I thought these films might be starting to show their age, but in fact the 10-year-old CGI still looks great.

Edit:  One thing I take for granted after all this time and ten(?) films is just how inspired the casting of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man really was.  He completely carries that first film, which launched the entire MCU phenomenon.

I agree with all this. I’m rewatching the MCU films in order too, and we’ve just done Iron Man 3, which I really enjoyed, despite it getting slated when it came out (if memory serves). Iron Man 2 is definitely my least favourite of the three, but I still enjoyed it as a piece of shiny explody fun.

We watched Army of the Dead last night. Thought the trailer looked excellent*, and I enjoyed the film although it definitely wasn’t Zack Snyder’s best work. My wife guessed every plot device before it happened, too.

*there are a few reviews on imdb saying that the trailer is better than the film - both in that it makes the film look like it’s going to be better than it is, and also that it works as a piece of entertainment better than the film does. That’s slightly harsh, but I can see where they’re coming from.