What films have you watched recently?

rze99

Calibre

2018. Netflix 

Scottish thriller. Two professional types and old schools friends go on a deer hunting trip in the middle of nowhere off-season. Things don’t quite go to plan and they find themselves immersed in moral dilemmas. 

Excellent stuff. Gripping and harrowing. Well acted great to see a strong British made gripper. 

8/10

ICBM

Dangerous Liasons

Stephen Frears’ 1988 historical sex/power (it’s not romantic really) drama with Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer, Uma Thurman and Keanu Reeves. And Peter Capaldi, which I’d forgotten.

I’ve seen it before a couple of times, although a long time ago - I’m pretty sure at the cinema when it first came out. I hadn’t actually realized that the original novel it’s based on was written in 1782 - I assumed it was more modern - so it’s actually ‘contemporary fiction’ really, which makes me think it’s probably quite accurate in depicting the attitudes of the time. Still absolutely brilliant - Close in particular is stunning, and Malkovich is excellent. Pfeiffer doesn’t seem quite as good as I remember, but Reeves (despite being heavily slated at time) really isn’t that bad. Capaldi is amusing, but stays just the right side of comic relief...

9/10

Haych

The Edge

1997 thriller with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin in the lead roles - which, to be fair was the only reason we added it to the watch-list.

If ever proof was needed that enlisting A-list actors to be in a movie is no guarantee of a good film, this is it.

There are so many things wrong with this film that I wouldn't know where to start.

It's basically a disaster movie where Hopkins (the billionaire with a supermodel wife) and Baldwin (the art director/photographer who's banging Hopkins wife) get stranded in the Canadian wilderness without shelter or sustenance.  Oh, and then they get chased by a man eating bear for about half the movie.

Baldwin then tries to kill Hopkins so he can run off with his missus but is mortally wounded in the attempt.  Then the two bond on the way back to civilisation where Baldwin dies of his injuries just before being rescued.

Just don't bother.  Even Hopkins couldn't save this dross.

SPECTRUM001

The Blair Witch Project - 1999

I saw this in the cinema when it came out, and seems to have survived surprisingly well.

It’s really a load of old tosh, and the three main characters start to grate quite quickly. But...the story - tapping into our fears of being lost in the woods, scary ‘haunted’ houses, witchcraft etc is actually pretty good, and if you focus in, pretty scary.

That said, you might indeed find it to be a load of old tosh.

7/10

munckee

SPECTRUM001 said:

The Blair Witch Project - 1999

I saw this in the cinema when it came out, and seems to have survived surprisingly well.

It’s really a load of old tosh, and the three main characters start to grate quite quickly. But...the story - tapping into our fears of being lost in the woods, scary ‘haunted’ houses, witchcraft etc is actually pretty good, and if you focus in, pretty scary.

That said, you might indeed find it to be a load of old tosh.

7/10

I thought it was brilliant when I saw it at the cinema and have never seen it again.  The ending where it relies on your imagination is a proper scary moment. 

boogieman

13 Hours, on Prime, starring John Kransinki, Toby Stephens and various other guys who you’ll semi-recognise. (Took me ages to figure out that “Tanto” is played by the guy who was the leprechaun in American Gods.)

A covert group of US marines who are semi-attached to the CIA are sent to babysit a compound in Benghazi, Libya. Then the US ambassador comes to visit and ISIS storm his residence, which is next door. Cue lots of boo-yah testosterone fuelled action, car chases, firefights and kerplosions (it’s a Michael Bay film, you wouldn’t expect anything else). Based on a true story, although I suspect it’s been heavily tweaked and glamourised. Not bad. 7/10. 

Greatape

Rewatched 'When Eight Bells Toll'. 

Presently halfway through '20th Century Women.'

ICBM

Our Souls At Night

Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in a fairly gentle romantic drama. Redford plays an elderly widower who is quietly watching TV one evening when his neighbour, a similarly-aged and lonely widow, calls in to ask him whether he would like to sleep with her... he hesitates initially (implausibility alert, even given Fonda was 78 when it was filmed!) but then later agrees and their relationship develops, complicated by Fonda's son and grandson turning up. That's it really - but it's perfectly observed, directed and acted.

7/10

(Netflix)

Blueingreen

Yesterday (Danny Boyle, 2019).  Something happens which transforms the world into an alternative version in which The Beatles never existed;  except that our hero, a fairly talented performer but 3rd rate songwriter, remembers them and goes onto a glittering career "writing" and performing their greatest songs.

It's very patchily achieved, one of those films you watch and keep thinking of ways that it could so easily have been so much better.  But if you're enough of a Beatles fan (which I am) it's a pleasant piece of escapism with a decent sprinkling of funny or moving moments.  As a piece of cinema, 6.  As an enjoyable diversion for Beatles fans, 7.5.

rze99

The Debt. 2010

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt1226753/

Three nazi hunting Mossad agents weave complex narratives and relationships over time. The action is interleaved between then and now. 

The agents track down and trap a notorious nazi death camp doctor in the 1960s and become national heroes having done so. 

All is not well though and slowly the awful truths of the events in the ‘60s fracture the lives of the agents and their families. 

Atmospheric and tense at times with a few horrific moments.  

I really enjoyed this despite some problems with the jumping between eras, some plot flaws and the lack of young and old actor resemblances.  

Helen Mirewn is always superb but Jesper Christianssen as the wily old Nazi doctor is pure brilliance and exudes coiled evil menace. Terrific performance. 

Recommended 

 7/10 

Moominpapa

The Vast of Night (2019)  This got great reviews but i thought it was a disappointing piece of candy floss - all sweet and intense in the moments of consumption but immediately afterwards nothing positive remaining of it and yourself  feeling like you've fallen for a food con. I like the two principals and thought they did what they could with the roles, but the overarching problem was that the film seemed to have no idea what it wanted to be. At first I thought I was in for a loving, darkly humorous pastiche of  sci-fi lore of the kind that Darin Morgan did so brilliantly in several X-Files episodes.But no, this seemed to want to be more 'serious' and 'meaningful': the trouble was that it had no serious or deep meaning to it at all it was all surface, all slick visuals and moody lighting but to no purpose whatsoever. The film makers should be ashamed of their trope of paying homage to The Twilight Zone, because pretty much any Twilight Zone episode from sixty years ago wipes the floor with this vapid exercise in style.

SPECTRUM001

munckee said:

SPECTRUM001 said:

The Blair Witch Project - 1999

I saw this in the cinema when it came out, and seems to have survived surprisingly well.

It’s really a load of old tosh, and the three main characters start to grate quite quickly. But...the story - tapping into our fears of being lost in the woods, scary ‘haunted’ houses, witchcraft etc is actually pretty good, and if you focus in, pretty scary.

That said, you might indeed find it to be a load of old tosh.

7/10

I thought it was brilliant when I saw it at the cinema and have never seen it again.  The ending where it relies on your imagination is a proper scary moment. 

Yep, two days after my second viewing, and it has been lingering in my thoughts.

Always a good sign.

CFH

 We watched The Clovehitch Killer on Amazon Prime last night. 

Pleasantly surprised. Very dark and brooding, great cinematography. Much less scary than anticipated but thrilling enough to keep your attention throughout. I'm no film critic, but would recommend checking it out!

Philly_Q

Army of the Dead

Yes, it's just as bad as you all said it was.  With some judicious rewriting and an an hour cut out of the running time, this could have been a fun, stupid zombie movie.  But Zack Snyder can't really do fun... and, typical Netflix, they don't really care about the quality of their output because people will watch it anyway, they've paid their monthly subscriptions.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Went to the pictures last night and watched "A Quiet Place II".

It was good, verging on very good. I don't think it was ever going to match the first one, as the whole concept of the film is no longer a novel one, but still very watchable. 

What I particularly appreciated was the fact that it was kept short, punchy and intense throughout. Nothing more annoying than a film with tonnes of potential being spoiled by being dragged out too long with too much 'bagginess' and needless backstory. Especially so with a horror where pacing and tension is so important. This film got the balance between character development and action pretty spot-on.

Simonh

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Went to the pictures last night and watched "A Quiet Place II".

It was good, verging on very good. I don't think it was ever going to match the first one, as the whole concept of the film is no longer a novel one, but still very watchable. 

What I particularly appreciated was the fact that it was kept short, punchy and intense throughout. Nothing more annoying than a film with tonnes of potential being spoiled by being dragged out too long with too much 'bagginess' and needless backstory. Especially so with a horror where pacing and tension is so important. This film got the balance between character development and action pretty spot-on.

does the gaping plot hole of the quiet place not bother you? I was really enjoying the film and the premise until they got to the waterfall scene, if some background noise is all it takes to defeat the creatures hunting ability then surely you just make lots of background noise to keep them confused and hunt them down. 

Ruined it for me.

Simonh

ICBM said:

Hope Gap

Bill Nighy and Annette Bening in an emotional drama about a marriage breakup and its impact on their son. That's it really... there's not that much of a story other than the basics of that, no great revelations or plot twists, and although the photography is very good there's nothing much else to say about the direction! But...

Nighy and Bening are absolutely outstanding. If you want to see two hugely experienced actors doing what they do best, it's worth seeing for that alone. Nighy is subtle, Bening is possibly a little over the top in a couple of places, but her character is meant to be uncomfortable, and she just about stays the right side of the line. I think the film is trying to say something meaningful about relationships, which it largely fails at, but it doesn't really matter.

7/10

(Netflix)

I thought there was a bit of a twist in this one right at the end when she visits him - I wasn't expecting what happens (trying not to do spoilers)

boogieman

Simonh said:

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Went to the pictures last night and watched "A Quiet Place II".

It was good, verging on very good. I don't think it was ever going to match the first one, as the whole concept of the film is no longer a novel one, but still very watchable. 

What I particularly appreciated was the fact that it was kept short, punchy and intense throughout. Nothing more annoying than a film with tonnes of potential being spoiled by being dragged out too long with too much 'bagginess' and needless backstory. Especially so with a horror where pacing and tension is so important. This film got the balance between character development and action pretty spot-on.

does the gaping plot hole of the quiet place not bother you? I was really enjoying the film and the premise until they got to the waterfall scene, if some background noise is all it takes to defeat the creatures hunting ability then surely you just make lots of background noise to keep them confused and hunt them down. 

Ruined it for me.

And me. Made me wonder why they just didn’t live next to the waterfall and avoid all the need for silence. 

Longtallronnie

The waterfall thing never bothered me in AQP. 

For a start, how would you transport all the necessary gear to make a home in an ideal location without making any noise? Unless there happened to be a Home Depot next to the waterfall? 

Makes more sense to adapt the hone you already have imo. 

Watched the sequel last week, very much enjoyed it but I agree that it was never going to have the impact of the first. 

Simonh

Longtallronnie said:

The waterfall thing never bothered me in AQP. 

For a start, how would you transport all the necessary gear to make a home in an ideal location without making any noise? Unless there happened to be a Home Depot next to the waterfall? 

Makes more sense to adapt the hone you already have imo. 

Watched the sequel last week, very much enjoyed it but I agree that it was never going to have the impact of the first. 

You don’t need a waterfall, just the increased background noise and that wouldn’t be difficult to do at all