What films have you watched recently?

goldtop

The Human Voice (at the actual cinema!). Almodovar's latest, starring Tilda Swinton. Not his typical camp/fun romp, but another look at a themes he keeps revisiting. Swinton is very watchable as the 'abandoned woman' having a conversation with her ex. It's a bit like those Alan Bennet 'talking heads' pieces, very intense, and will not appeal to a lot of people. 7/10

It's a short - which was a surprise - and was followed by a 3-way Zoom chat between Almodovar, Swinton and Kermode. Which was OK, not very deep, though. On balance, waiting until it was on streaming/DVD would have been better. As a first visit to the cinema in such a long time, it was a downbeat choice.

Moominpapa

Oblivion (2013)   -  Continuing my Tom Cruise sci-fi season I checked this one out.  Strong borrowings from Moon, as wellas a dash of Total Recall. Bit of a hokey screenplay, but terrific special effects. Nothing special, but a decent night's entertainment.

thumpingrug

Nomadland:   Thought i was watching a documentary for most of it.   Scenery was spectacular but as a film it really didn't work and I cant see how it won best actor awards.  

fretmeister

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.

23 MCU films so far.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_films

Philly_Q

fretmeister said:

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.

23 MCU films so far.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Marvel_Cinematic_Universe_films

Yeah, I meant ten films in which RJD's played Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk next, I don't think it's on Disney+ but I'll find it somewhere.

merlin

The Father (2020)

Heartbreaking portrayal of an old man with Alzheimers. Tragic and disturbing and brilliantly directed and written by Florian Zeller. 

Anthony Hopkins as the old man and Olivia Colman as his daughter. Extraordinary film. 

McSwaggerty

NOMADLAND.

It's not often l watch a movie for the second time, but l think l will this one
It's kinda wasted watching it on the telly, needs a big screen for the stunning vistas.. 
It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but l really enjoyed it... 8/10

Moominpapa

Minority Report (2002)

I rounded out my Tom Cruise sci-fi season with this adaptation of a Philip K. Dick story. I had seen it when it first came out but never since. Got to say the film stands up extremely well after nineteen years.. Spielberg is rarely a cynical film maker - his strength (and therefore, often, his weakness) is a life-affirming positivity. Here, apart from a couple of momentary and jarring  lapses of judgment with respect to mood, it's a strength that brings out the best in his cast. Cruise is excellent, Max von Sydow is always superb, and Samantha Morton is great as the female precog Agatha. If you've never seen it before, I definitely recommend it.

   

rze99

Haych said:

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!

The Woman in the Window

Pretty much as @Haych describes above.  More movies references than you can shake a stick at -
especially Hitchcock both in terms of thematic, atmospheric, but also with some specific props and shots. Good suspenseful fun and manages to get a few frights in there. Strong performances all round. Nice sound design and execution. The cinematography is very s despite extremely limited viewpoint options.  

Recommended 7/10. 

Philly_Q

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I didn't remember much about this apart from the standard CGI smash-em-up bit at the end.  It's better than I thought - getting the origin story out of the way in the opening credits is a nice touch, and the early scenes in the Brazilian favela give the film a bit of a Bond/Bourne feel.  Occasional attempts at humour fall very flat, but overall it's really quite good...  I don't know much about the story of Ed Norton's fallout with the producers, but there's nothing wrong with his performance here.

(Although it's an MCU film, it's not on Disney+, but it's on Netflix.)

Haych

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Must be one of the best films ever made, certainly in the top 10 and probably the best of the western genre.  Absolutely love this film and have lost count of how many times I've seen it.

Everything about it is just perfect, the cast, the locations, the scenery, the dialogue, the acting and story telling - it's just brilliant.

Without doubt an 11/10

ICBM

Atonement

Romantic/emotional/war drama with Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, (a very young) Saoirse Ronan and a few other familiar faces, from the book by Ian McEwan (which I haven't read).

Well-made and quite intense. Knightley is a bit irritating as usual, but McAvoy and Ronan are brilliant. The photography is very atmospheric, and some of the set-pieces are very good, especially the evacuation from Dunkirk which I think is better done than Christopher Nolan's film. The ending is unexpected but interesting and thought-provoking. If it has a major weakness, the actress playing Ronan's character as a grown-up woman doesn't fit, and unfortunately jars the whole thing - I'm sure she's a good enough actor, but she just isn't right for that part and it makes it difficult to believe in the story at that point.

8/10

(Netflix)

merlin

ICBM said:

Atonement

Romantic/emotional/war drama with Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, (a very young) Saoirse Ronan and a few other familiar faces, from the book by Ian McEwan (which I haven't read).

The book is quite brilliant. So good that the trailers made the film look shallow and indulgent by comparison. I haven't seen it. 

AlbertC

Dusky Paradise 1/10

Written and directed by a 22 year old. Reading between the (Google) lines I'm guessing he's probably some rich kid who fancies himself as an art-house auteur but doesn't have the talent or ideas.  
Bad acting. Terrible script. Dull unclear story (what there is of it). The one point is for some nice Spanish scenery.
Avoid.

ICBM

merlin said:

The book is quite brilliant. So good that the trailers made the film look shallow and indulgent by comparison. I haven't seen it. 

Thanks - I'll probably give the book a try now, even knowing the ending.

LastMantra

Just binge re-watched "the young ones". 
Lots of fun and nostalgia. Some good music too.

Dopesick

The Long Good Friday

Very late to the party as I hadn’t seen this before but was recommended this movie years ago. Finally gave it a chance and thought it was pretty good. Had to double take when I saw that Charlie from Casualty plays one of the main characters and also lots of other familiar faces from an assortment of other shows (including Terry from Fawlty Towers). Hoskins is a diminutive figure but I thought he was excellent as the boss of the firm. Bit difficult to give a final verdict as many other gangster films have been released since (for better or worse) but I give it a thumbs up.

Greatape

'Army of the Dead'. Schlocky nonsense, but well realised. 

SPECTRUM001

Haych said:

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Must be one of the best films ever made, certainly in the top 10 and probably the best of the western genre.  Absolutely love this film and have lost count of how many times I've seen it.

Everything about it is just perfect, the cast, the locations, the scenery, the dialogue, the acting and story telling - it's just brilliant.

Without doubt an 11/10

Completely agree - if I happen across it on the TV, I have to watch it.

You missed one further piece of brilliance, which is Burt Bacharach’s fabulous score. ‘Raindrops’ and ‘South American Getaway’ are just sublime.

This film gave me a lifelong love of Burt.

Barquentine

Army of the Dead. How many more zombie films do we need? I'd rather watch a zombie version of Coronation Street.