What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

VimFuego said:

I was left with a feeling that I never really knew any of the characters, unlike the original.

That's today's Hollywood films in a nutshell.  They think "character development" is one line of dialogue saying they used to be a soldier, or they have a daughter, or their father died in prison...  Funny how old films managed to define the characters and tell the story in 90 minutes, now they can't do it in 2 or 3 hours.

VimFuego

Philly_Q said:

VimFuego said:

I was left with a feeling that I never really knew any of the characters, unlike the original.

That's today's Hollywood films in a nutshell.  They think "character development" is one line of dialogue saying they used to be a soldier, or they have a daughter, or their father died in prison...  Funny how old films managed to define the characters and tell the story in 90 minutes, now they can't do it in 2 or 3 hours.

agreed 100%. I need to rewatch the original, try and get a grasp on how they did it. But even though it's been years since I last watched it, I just know the characters.

Mattharrier

VimFuego said:

Philly_Q said:

VimFuego said:

I was left with a feeling that I never really knew any of the characters, unlike the original.

That's today's Hollywood films in a nutshell.  They think "character development" is one line of dialogue saying they used to be a soldier, or they have a daughter, or their father died in prison...  Funny how old films managed to define the characters and tell the story in 90 minutes, now they can't do it in 2 or 3 hours.

agreed 100%. I need to rewatch the original, try and get a grasp on how they did it. But even though it's been years since I last watched it, I just know the characters.

I think some of it is because there is so much more available in terms of technology, and so lots of lovely looking cinematography, effects and CGI are given screen time that isn't really needed. There are lots of films that look amazing and tell great stories despite not having big budgets and using minimal (often older) equipment, but I reckon a bunch of Hollywood execs and producers, given huge amounts of money to spend, would get laughed out of town if they turned around and said "nah, we don't need that, we can do this with six crew and a couple of iphones."

Look at Clerks, Monsters, Paranormal Activity and so on - critically acclaimed and financially successful, and all done with minimal cast, crew and equipment (Monsters used the cast as the crew at times).

But that's not how Hollywood works - I imagine that there's a certain amount of one-upmanship involved - "what was your last spend on location shooting? Really, mine was 2 million more"

Haych

grappagreen said:

Watched District 9 again last night... still as a great as I remembered.

I went to the cinema to watch it when it came out and I looked at my mate 5 minutes into it and mouthed 'this is rubbish'.. about 90 minutes later we'd defo changed our tune..

An amazing Sci-Fi rollercoaster, brilliantly put together that entertains mercilessly whilst challenging us to be better people..

It's a 10 from me Len..

District 9 is a great film and obviously touches on very emotive social issues, quite cleverly given its Sci Fi theme.  It's also rather a touching love story, too.

Blueingreen

Turks and Caicos.  2014 TV Movie by David Hare. The second of the Worricker trilogy starring Bill Nighy with Christopher Walken, Winona Ryder, Helena Bonham Carter.  Old-fashioned honourable-man-in-a-corrupt-world spy yarn.  Think Len Deighton/Graham Greene/Le Carre set the Blair Cameron/era, Or 70-somethings  as a nicer version of Bond and a more cynical version Felix Leiter,  still somewhat improbably charming the beautiful ladies as they approach their dotage.

Hare's object seems to be to use a light-ish entertainment vehicle to deliver a thought-provoking political message.  He doesn't come close to pulling that off - nobody who reads a newspaper occasionally will be remotely surprised by any of his political "insights".  It leans heavily on genre conventions and, the cast apart, production values are Sunday night TV drama level.

But if you like to watch Nighy doing his thing, and a well-acted spy yarn with a lightish tone sounds up your street, it's entertaining enough to justify the hour and a half.

As a quality piece of cinema, 5.  As undemanding entertainment, 7.

Greatape

Haych said:

grappagreen said:

Watched District 9 again last night... still as a great as I remembered.

I went to the cinema to watch it when it came out and I looked at my mate 5 minutes into it and mouthed 'this is rubbish'.. about 90 minutes later we'd defo changed our tune..

An amazing Sci-Fi rollercoaster, brilliantly put together that entertains mercilessly whilst challenging us to be better people..

It's a 10 from me Len..

District 9 is a great film and obviously touches on very emotive social issues, quite cleverly given its Sci Fi theme.  It's also rather a touching love story, too.

They only want to make things based on a goddamn franchise. 

Whatever happened to films like The Conversation, All The President's Men, Papillon? (I know: remade...) 

ICBM

Cleopatra

Classic 1963 historical epic with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. For decades it was the most expensive movie ever made, in real terms. (Finally topped by Waterworld in 1995!)

The restored version, in two parts because it's over four hours long, and I'd watched the first part a couple of weeks ago. And actually I might have been better stopping there - the first part seemed much better. (Apparently the original cut was six hours long and would have been split into two separate releases, called Caesar And Cleopatra and Antony And Cleopatra... that might have been an improvement.) In the second part, the more you see of Taylor, the worse it is - she's just not very good. Burton is OK but tries a bit too hard, and the best performance is actually Rex Harrison as Caesar in the first half. There's also surprisingly little chemistry between Burton and Taylor despite their real-life affair that was the start of their turbulent time together/apart/together etc. Overall it's overblown, too long, quite historically inaccurate, and to be honest just not that exciting compared to many of the other Hollywood epics. Apart from the enormously expensive sets it's hard to see where all the money went.

6/10

Longtallronnie

Last night I started with Captive State on Now TV, interesting premise but just didn’t keep my attention. 

So ended up with Raiders of the Lost Ark, need I say more.

Watching Jolt atm on Prime. Kate Beckinsale is in it. If you’re on Instagram, she’s absolutely hilarious. And utterly stunning. 

Devil#20

Not a film as such but just watched 'Killing Escobar' on BBC (so it's available on catch up). It recounts a mission by a load of British mercenaries sent to kill Pablo Escobar at his retreat in the mountains. They are led by an ex-SAS Glaswegian guy. You wouldn't think so to look at him now but he was a right hard bastard. I won't post any spoilers in case anybody decides to watch it. 

EricTheWeary

My son was watching Sisters ( 2015) which is a reasonably terrible US comedy. One of the main characters has the same name as my sister which seemed to be the most interesting thing about it. 

boogieman

Devil#20 said:

Not a film as such but just watched 'Killing Escobar' on BBC (so it's available on catch up). It recounts a mission by a load of British mercenaries sent to kill Pablo Escobar at his retreat in the mountains. They are led by an ex-SAS Glaswegian guy. You wouldn't think so to look at him now but he was a right hard bastard. I won't post any spoilers in case anybody decides to watch it. 

Watched that too, really interesting. I wonder how long before Hollywood do the remake with Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

Hottubes

Devil#20 said:

Not a film as such but just watched 'Killing Escobar' on BBC (so it's available on catch up). It recounts a mission by a load of British mercenaries sent to kill Pablo Escobar at his retreat in the mountains. They are led by an ex-SAS Glaswegian guy. You wouldn't think so to look at him now but he was a right hard bastard. I won't post any spoilers in case anybody decides to watch it. 

Sounds like a good watch. Having been to Medellin a few times, i can tell you it's an amazing city, and the women are stunningly beautiful and the night lifes great. Partied in Mangos nightclub a few times. Food is also outstanding, and all fresh no processed shit.

Blueingreen

Worricker - Salting the Battlefield.  Third in the Worricker trilogy.  Not going to say much because anyone thinking of watching it has presumably seen the first two and will be expecting more of the same, which is more or less what they'll get.  The ending was rather unsatisfactory I thought, I'd have expected something more final at the end of a trilogy.  Maybe they are hoping for more.

boogieman

The Tomorrow War. Free on Prime. Others have already said it : brainless hokum with a storyline nicked from various other films and lots of things going whoosh, growl, bang and kaboom. Has plot holes you could drive a bus through and it’s far too long as well, but ‘twas enjoyable enough for a Saturday evening with brain firmly turned off

munckee

munckee said:

Philly_Q said:

Fear Street Part 1: 1994
Fear Street Part 2: 1978
Fear Street Part 3: 1666

For over three centuries the small town of Shadyside has been the scene of many terrible murders, due - so legend has it - to the curse of a girl called Sarah Fier who was hanged for witchcraft in 1666.  In 1994, following the latest series of killings, a group of friends try to save their own lives and end the curse forever.

This new trilogy, based on a series of books by the author of Goosebumps, has been released on Netflix over the last couple of weeks.  A lot of it is familiar horror-movie stuff - part 1 has a Scream/Urban Legend kind of feel, part 2 is a sort of Friday the 13th pastiche, part 3 has Americans in period costume doing weird Irish accents - but it works thanks to strong characters, and by going places you don't quite expect.  I liked it a lot.

Just watched the first instalment. Didn’t seem like much that separated it from other horrors but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to watching the second. 

Have now watched the trilogy and really enjoyed although I’m can’t really put my finger on why. The fact it came from a book may have made a stronger story and having decent actors in a horror helps. 

Philly_Q

munckee said:

munckee said:

Philly_Q said:

Fear Street Part 1: 1994
Fear Street Part 2: 1978
Fear Street Part 3: 1666

For over three centuries the small town of Shadyside has been the scene of many terrible murders, due - so legend has it - to the curse of a girl called Sarah Fier who was hanged for witchcraft in 1666.  In 1994, following the latest series of killings, a group of friends try to save their own lives and end the curse forever.

This new trilogy, based on a series of books by the author of Goosebumps, has been released on Netflix over the last couple of weeks.  A lot of it is familiar horror-movie stuff - part 1 has a Scream/Urban Legend kind of feel, part 2 is a sort of Friday the 13th pastiche, part 3 has Americans in period costume doing weird Irish accents - but it works thanks to strong characters, and by going places you don't quite expect.  I liked it a lot.

Just watched the first instalment. Didn’t seem like much that separated it from other horrors but I enjoyed it and am looking forward to watching the second. 

Have now watched the trilogy and really enjoyed although I’m can’t really put my finger on why. The fact it came from a book may have made a stronger story and having decent actors in a horror helps. 

For me it was the characters.  I've spent most of my life watching horror movies and I expect the characters to be cardboard cutouts, it goes with the territory... but here there's a bit more depth.

Nothing to do with the plot and not just the performances, which were good, but it's nice to see teenagers who look like... ordinary teenagers, not thirty-year old underwear models.  And it has the ethnic diversity and LGBT characters, which feels like a box-ticking exercise in so many films nowadays, but here it feels completely natural. 

I don't want to overstate it, but they just did a good job.

Danny1969

Well these aren't films but if you are looking for something to watch then this might be of interest. 

Rake  -  Netflix .... brilliant Australian series about a fast living lawyer, great fun, criminally underrated and much better than 90% of the shit on our BBC / ITV 

Don't F#CK with cats  - Netflix .... American keyboard warriors track down a sadistic cat / human killer ... great documentary

Clarkson's Farm ... Amazon prime, well we all know he can be a prick but in this series he takes on running his own farm after the main guy retire's. Some of the most though provoking and best TV  I have seen for a long tine. Quite sad I've watched the whole series, gonna miss it, highly recommended even if you hate hm and all he stands for. 

bobblehat

Nomadland - Disney+ 

Not sure how or why this one any awards. Its a fairly interesting subject that I feel could have been better served as a documentary. Overall pretty dull. 

Philly_Q

Blood Red Sky

On Netflix.  Air Force One meets Nosferatu.... It's too long and treads water a bit in the middle, but I enjoyed it.

Mattharrier

boogieman said:

Devil#20 said:

Not a film as such but just watched 'Killing Escobar' on BBC (so it's available on catch up). It recounts a mission by a load of British mercenaries sent to kill Pablo Escobar at his retreat in the mountains. They are led by an ex-SAS Glaswegian guy. You wouldn't think so to look at him now but he was a right hard bastard. I won't post any spoilers in case anybody decides to watch it. 

Watched that too, really interesting. I wonder how long before Hollywood do the remake with Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

There was supposed to be a movie made, based on the book Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down was based on his book of the same name) - apparently Killing Pablo ended up being used as the basis for Narcos, the Netflix series.