What films have you watched recently?

sinbaadi

Glass.

Not a huge fan of M Night but it has become cool to bash his movies, somewhat unfairly in my opinion.  I've always liked Unbreakable, and I thought Split was good.  The two didn't need to be tied together but that's what Glass is doing, and it does feel like it was unnecessary, a lot of the time.

The movie really grinds to a halt once it arrives at the location of the finale, something that happens quite early on, it felt.

Kind of enjoyed it in the sense that I was curious about what this movie could be like, but it's not great and definitely not worth watching unless you have some interest after watching the "prequels".

Probably a 5 out of ten.  Not even a great twist with this one.

DrJazzTap

Army of the dead. 

Don't just don't.  Terrible film. Kermodes sigh review tells you everything you need to know. 

SRich

DrJazzTap said:

Army of the dead. 

Don't just don't.  Terrible film. Kermodes sigh review tells you everything you need to know. 

I did, just did.

Despite being an assiduous listener to the Church of Wittertainment, I sometimes think "it can't be THAT bad, surely?"

boogieman

Dopesick said:

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.

Not forgetting it features Helen Mirren at the peak of her hotness too. 

Blueingreen

Page Eight.

Sometimes you think things are good but don't like them, this was a bit the other way round for me, I didn't think it was very good but I enjoyed it.

The bad: very derivative sub Le Carre.   Written by David Hare, originally a playwright, but the dialogue was stagey and unnatural - I couldn't suspend disbelief and think these words were coming out of a real person's mouth.  Bill Nighy did his Bill Nighy thing.  Plot was a bit silly and the ending unstatisfactory.

The good:  it may have been cliched but still very much my sort of thing; very pleasingly cast (Nighy is always watchable however lacking in range and the supporting cast was mainly excellent), looked pretty good, nicely low key a lot of the time, didn't try to pack in the plot twists and melodrama the way so many thrillers do and which I often hate.

As quality cinema - 6.5.  As an enjoyable couple of hours of watchable tv, 8.

Philly_Q

This Page Eight and its sequels have developed a mini cult following in this thread!  I'd never heard of them until a few weeks ago.  I feel I should watch them, but not sure they sound like something I'd enjoy.

SPECTRUM001

Philly_Q said:

This Page Eight and its sequels have developed a mini cult following in this thread!  I'd never heard of them until a few weeks ago.  I feel I should watch them, but not sure they sound like something I'd enjoy.

As one of the devotees, you should definitely give the first one (of the trilogy) a go.

Worth it even just for Saskia Reeves’ Home Secretary steal.

rogd

Not watched it recently but Doctor Strangelove is the most scary film I have ever seen.
It still has an ominously relevance today. 

phil_b

brexit the uncivil war

Benedict Cumberbatch Plays Dominic Cummings and is the storey of the vote leave campaign running up to the referendum

I did not even realise this film existed but it is a fasinating watch.

BigBearKris

"Free Solo". 

Again. My partner has never seen it. 
Equally amazing and disturbing- every single time.

Haych

Jaws

The lad wanted to watch it so we both stayed up late, on a school night too, and watched it together.

It's been quite a few years since I last saw it but even after the best part of half a century it stands up remarkably well.

The special effects are really quite good considering the era when it was made, as a consequence of that time period nothing is overdone and it's quite refreshing to see something not dripping in CGI, and for that it felt a bit more 'real'.

The shark is the star, even though we don't get to see it properly until well into the film.  The rest of the cast play their parts adequately, I wouldn't say any of the performances were outstanding but neither were they mediocre.  

Spielberg's direction is really good though and makes the film a classic.  So many things could have been overdone, or not done enough, but he manages to find the perfect balance of a good beastie movie without going overboard - pardon the pun.

I'd never noticed before but there are a couple of glaring inconsistencies, especially towards the end, but they're forgivable and don't detract from the story.

Even though I'm ancient and as a consequence of that I've seen it many, many times, I still really enjoyed it.  It's a classic after all.  It would be churlish of me to give it anything less than a 10/10. It certainly outshines any other shark film done in the last few decades, compared to the likes of Deep Blue Sea and The Meg it wins hands down every single time.

It's on Netflix, by the way.

ICBM

Haych said:

Jaws

The special effects are really quite good considering the era when it was made, as a consequence of that time period nothing is overdone and it's quite refreshing to see something not dripping in CGI, and for that it felt a bit more 'real'.

The shark is the star, even though we don't get to see it properly until well into the film.

Spielberg's direction is really good though and makes the film a classic.  So many things could have been overdone, or not done enough, but he manages to find the perfect balance of a good beastie movie without going overboard

Don’t underestimate the impact of John Williams’ score either - utter genius, it’s probably the most effective scary music ever written, and yet so simple.

Haych

ICBM said:

Haych said:

Jaws

The special effects are really quite good considering the era when it was made, as a consequence of that time period nothing is overdone and it's quite refreshing to see something not dripping in CGI, and for that it felt a bit more 'real'.

The shark is the star, even though we don't get to see it properly until well into the film.

Spielberg's direction is really good though and makes the film a classic.  So many things could have been overdone, or not done enough, but he manages to find the perfect balance of a good beastie movie without going overboard

Don’t underestimate the impact of John Williams’ score either - utter genius, it’s probably the most effective scary music ever written, and yet so simple.

Yes, this is very true, I never intend to but often overlook the score when thinking about why I like a film, unless it's wrong, and then it's just very noticeable but not in a good way.

The fact that it's blends in and works so well is testament to how well it works.

SPECTRUM001

Haych said:

ICBM said:

Haych said:

Jaws

The special effects are really quite good considering the era when it was made, as a consequence of that time period nothing is overdone and it's quite refreshing to see something not dripping in CGI, and for that it felt a bit more 'real'.

The shark is the star, even though we don't get to see it properly until well into the film.

Spielberg's direction is really good though and makes the film a classic.  So many things could have been overdone, or not done enough, but he manages to find the perfect balance of a good beastie movie without going overboard

Don’t underestimate the impact of John Williams’ score either - utter genius, it’s probably the most effective scary music ever written, and yet so simple.

Yes, this is very true, I never intend to but often overlook the score when thinking about why I like a film, unless it's wrong, and then it's just very noticeable but not in a good way.

The fact that it's blends in and works so well is testament to how well it works.

Another winner @Haych !!

I also watched it again recently, and was knocked out just how great it still views. As mentioned, the shark, the actors and the score are brilliant - but as with Butch Cassidy, great storytelling is just...great storytelling.

If you haven’t read the book or watched the film, Easy Riders Raging Bulls is an excellent account of US filmmaking’s move away from studio control via Coppola, Spielberg, Scorsese, Lucas  and Friedkin.

Stratavarious

Strictly Ballroom...  a perfect movie.

phil_b

american assassin

A guy is on a beach when terrorists start shooting people at random and kill his girlfrend. He the joins a MMA club and a gun club and trains himself to become a super special forces operator and manages to infiltrate the terrorists group and impress the CIA. The CIA recruit him for a very important mission to save the entire US Navy from nuclear attack.

absolute pile of unbelievable crap

boogieman

Haych said:

Jaws

The lad wanted to watch it so we both stayed up late, on a school night too, and watched it together.

It's been quite a few years since I last saw it but even after the best part of half a century it stands up remarkably well.

The special effects are really quite good considering the era when it was made, as a consequence of that time period nothing is overdone and it's quite refreshing to see something not dripping in CGI, and for that it felt a bit more 'real'.

The shark is the star, even though we don't get to see it properly until well into the film.  The rest of the cast play their parts adequately, I wouldn't say any of the performances were outstanding but neither were they mediocre.  

Spielberg's direction is really good though and makes the film a classic.  So many things could have been overdone, or not done enough, but he manages to find the perfect balance of a good beastie movie without going overboard - pardon the pun.

I'd never noticed before but there are a couple of glaring inconsistencies, especially towards the end, but they're forgivable and don't detract from the story.

Even though I'm ancient and as a consequence of that I've seen it many, many times, I still really enjoyed it.  It's a classic after all.  It would be churlish of me to give it anything less than a 10/10. It certainly outshines any other shark film done in the last few decades, compared to the likes of Deep Blue Sea and The Meg it wins hands down every single time.

It's on Netflix, by the way.

I watched it again fairly recently but I disagree on a couple of things.

 “Good special effects”. The shark is really clunky and very obviously fake, especially when it’s biting. But it’s good to see a “real” animal and way better than some of the CGI bollocks out there I guess. 

“No outstanding performances”. Whaaaat? Robert Shaw is bloody amazing in it. His monologue about being on the Indianapolis is one of the great pieces of cinema acting. He deserved an Oscar just for that bit alone. 

It’s a great film, scared the bejaysus out of me when I saw it at the cinema on release and it still stands up very well even though I’ve seen it many times since. ICBM is right about the score too, it really adds that extra dimension to the film. 

not_the_dj

Jaws is a masterpiece. 

Watch that scene again where Brody and Hooper are pleading to the Major (when you see the big billboard that's been grafittied). 

It's all one sequence (about 3mins), they move to about 5 differently framed static shots within the sequence, as the discussion turns into an argument and they keep changing places almost in sync with how the conversation is going. 

It's a masterclass in direction.

goldtop

Yes, the shark FX are cheesy, but by the time you see it properly, you are primed, so it's very effective, and your fear doesn't dwindle until the end. Fantastic build up, and proper actors.

Stratavarious

Starship Troopers

Our wonderful fascist future...  great, scary satire.