What films have you watched recently?

Offset

Bingo Hell (Amazon Prime, 2021). Horror-comedy, and an absolute hoot from start to finish with some great performances from the lead actors.  Richard Brake in particular hams it up to extremely good effect as the demonic owner of said establishment.  If you think of King's 'Needful Things' set in a bingo hall in small town America, you won't be far off.  Recommended - 8/10.

Blueingreen

And Then There Were None (1945).  From the Agatha Christie novel (Ten Little Indians).  Inevitably a bit creaky looking after 75 years, but well-mounted, well-acted and very inventively directed by Rene Clair.  The version I saw had been coloured, rather badly, from the original black and white.  Recommended as a classy bit of entertainment if sounds like your thing.  7.5

I Wake Up Screaming (1941).  Film noir, very typical of the genre, labyrinthine plot, femme fatale, murder, great black and white cinematography, sexual obsession.  Not one of the great noirs, but a very solid and well-made one and worth your time if you're a noir fan. 7.5.

bobblehat

Offset said:

bobblehat said:

The Green Knight -  Complete load of boll@%ks    1/10 

Is it the sort of 'so-bad-it's-almost-good' type-bollocks?  It's on my watchlist... 

IMHO - No , Its one of those movies that thinks its cleverer than it is . I can only assume that because of all the hype that people are viewing it with preconceptions that it must be good and over looking its many faults. eg. poor script, poor acting , paper thin plot etc etc.  That's just my opinion and you might think its a masterpiece. 

Philly_Q

bobblehat said:

Offset said:

bobblehat said:

The Green Knight -  Complete load of boll@%ks    1/10 

Is it the sort of 'so-bad-it's-almost-good' type-bollocks?  It's on my watchlist... 

IMHO - No , Its one of those movies that thinks its cleverer than it is . I can only assume that because of all the hype that people are viewing it with preconceptions that it must be good and over looking its many faults. eg. poor script, poor acting , paper thin plot etc etc.  That's just my opinion and you might think its a masterpiece. 

I read a review by someone who said they thought it was OK, then they read or heard an interview with the director explaining all the subtext and symbolism he'd included, and now the reviewer thinks it's a "great" film.

Which is nonsense, you shouldn't have to do a load of research just to watch a film and you can't possibly know what the director was thinking when he made particular creative decisions.

But I reserve judgement, I haven't seen it.

Offset

bobblehat said:

Offset said:

bobblehat said:

The Green Knight -  Complete load of boll@%ks    1/10 

Is it the sort of 'so-bad-it's-almost-good' type-bollocks?  It's on my watchlist... 

IMHO - No , Its one of those movies that thinks its cleverer than it is . I can only assume that because of all the hype that people are viewing it with preconceptions that it must be good and over looking its many faults. eg. poor script, poor acting , paper thin plot etc etc.  That's just my opinion and you might think its a masterpiece. 

Thanks.  I'll bump it down the list for a very rainy day.

bobblehat

Philly_Q said:

bobblehat said:

Offset said:

bobblehat said:

The Green Knight -  Complete load of boll@%ks    1/10 

Is it the sort of 'so-bad-it's-almost-good' type-bollocks?  It's on my watchlist... 

IMHO - No , Its one of those movies that thinks its cleverer than it is . I can only assume that because of all the hype that people are viewing it with preconceptions that it must be good and over looking its many faults. eg. poor script, poor acting , paper thin plot etc etc.  That's just my opinion and you might think its a masterpiece. 

I read a review by someone who said they thought it was OK, then they read or heard an interview with the director explaining all the subtext and symbolism he'd included, and now the reviewer thinks it's a "great" film.

Which is nonsense, you shouldn't have to do a load of research just to watch a film and you can't possibly know what the director was thinking when he made particular creative decisions.

But I reserve judgement, I haven't seen it.

I think thats sums it up nicely . Even the great Mr Kermode was taken in by that nonsense. The king in the movie is quite obviously King Arthur but in the credits he's just referred to as "The King" . Ooooh Isn't that clever. No its not, its just pointless. 

skullfunkerry

Haych said:

Philly_Q said:

Haych said:

Fun with Dick and Jane (Netflix)

2005 comedy with Jim Carey and Tia Leoni.  I'd never heard of this film before, but Mrs Haych saw it and recommended it.

I've seen the 1977 film with George Segal and Jane Fonda several times.  I didn't know there was a remake!

I knew nothing about it either, didn't know it was a remake!

I enjoyed the remake (although it's a good few years ago now when u saw it so I don't remember much about it), but I do remember watching the original and laughing out loud at it, as well as being staggered at how rude some of the jokes were, considering when it was made 

cruxiform

No Time To Die yesterday with my lad. Awesome.

sinbaadi

I think No Time to Die Yesterday is going to be the Ridley Scott written and directed sequel.

Barquentine

Benny Loves You - spoof horror, very funny 7/10

Kenny - mockumentary about an installer of portable toilets. Sounds potentially awful but it's absolutely brilliant 10/10

Both on Now TV.

Tone71

To be Someone

Mods, scooters, Toyah, Leslie Ash, that bloke from the bill and the guy from Benidorm, a shit Bricktop impersonator and rubbish storyline.

My daughter called it a gcse drama piece, utter tosh unless it is just a pisstake in which case it's still shit.

Shrews

24 Hour Party People

I had seen this previously but a long time ago. I remember really liking it at the time, but I was slightly disappointed on a 2nd watch. 

I think Steve Coogan was relatively new to me at the time and I saw no Alan Partridge (who I love) in his performance but now I'm used to him playing Partridge it was a different matter.

The rest of the cast were pretty good, especially the guy who played Ian Curtis and the music superb. Not sure who Ralf Little was playing, Peter Hook (?) if so then that wasn't great casting. He got so little air time it was hard to see what instrument he was playing.

Alan Partridge, sorry Coogan and Brian Potter, sorry Peter Kay, with two prostitutes in the back of a van an interesting scene now the two are much more famous. 

Not convinced by the chap who played Shaun Ryder. I kept thinking he was like Groomio from Plebs. 

It was like 'spot the star of the future... Isn't that whatsisname or whatshername from...' Not the fault of the film of course.

8/10 when watched all those years ago, 7/10 when watched now

Offset

The Guilty (Netflix, 2021).  Stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a copper demoted to a 911 call desk pending a court appearance.  He gets drawn into a call from a woman who says she and her son have been kidnapped and are being driven to an unknown destination.  So far, so good.  Well... kind of.   The plot, pacing and attention of this viewer rapidly unraveled and I reached the point where I was not only disinterested in the outcome, but increasingly irritated by JG's character and ultimately bored.  A shame, as I usually like JG's films and I think he's a very good actor.  But this is a mess I'm afraid and I'll admit I was that disengaged I didn't make it through to the end.  Mrs O explained the denouement to me and my reaction was 'meh - so what?'

 Very disappointing and not recommended.  3/10.

rze99

Almost Famous (2000)

iplayer

When this was first out I knew it was too silly so avoided it.

Slightly too sweet coming of age drama set in the USA rock world of the early 1970s. A  15-year old with an intellectual and obsessively controlling Mum has been educated about rock music though being given his sister's classic rock albums and is now determined to be a rock journalist.

Absurdly, his first work is spotted and he gets a job writing for Rolling Stone magazine on mid level touring band band Stillwater.

Ridiculously, at age 15 he gets to follow them on tour, he becomes a fan, falls in love, gets enmeshed in the band politics all of which threaten the delivery of the Rolling Stones piece. Silly, but enjoyable, nicely played and it made me long to be in a touring band.

Nicely played by a star cast it is well made enjoyable tosh 6/10

Shrews

Melancholia

The first hour is akin to the drawn out wedding scene in The Deer Hunter in that it's boring, slow and there's not a lot going on. If you get past that, then it turns into something that's quite memorable, but it's still slow, slow, slow.

The planet Melancholia is close to smashing into Earth. Bizarrely, the best that the MC's can do to determine this is to hold a looped metal coat hanger at arms length to see whether it's getting closer or moving away from the Earth. There doesn't appear to be any TV, radio or social media to confirm it!

When they determine it's getting closer the two MC's (who are sisters) get very edgy. The one (the bride) is a depressed character who just seems to accept the inevitable, the other sister becomes more erratic, even though she's the one who isn't depressed.

The opening sequence is a slo-mo of the two planets colliding, the end scene the two MC's and a small boy sat in a field waiting to frazzle.

5/10 - very slow and boring but kinda sticks in the mind.

axisus

Genevieve - lovely old 50s comedy, much loved by my dear mum who passed away this year. 

The running man - sci-fi with Schwarzenegger. Very 80s kitsch film, hilarious how the dystopian future is so 80s styled. One of those films that is almost bad, but it's just pure fun from those fun years and gets away with it. 

Mattharrier

rze99 said:

Almost Famous (2000)

iplayer

When this was first out I knew it was too silly so avoided it.

Slightly too sweet coming of age drama set in the USA rock world of the early 1970s. A  15-year old with an intellectual and obsessively controlling Mum has been educated about rock music though being given his sister's classic rock albums and is now determined to be a rock journalist.

Absurdly, his first work is spotted and he gets a job writing for Rolling Stone magazine on mid level touring band band Stillwater.

Ridiculously, at age 15 he gets to follow them on tour, he becomes a fan, falls in love, gets enmeshed in the band politics all of which threaten the delivery of the Rolling Stones piece. Silly, but enjoyable, nicely played and it made me long to be in a touring band.

Nicely played by a star cast it is well made enjoyable tosh 6/10

Indeed, it's a ridiculous story - Cameron Crowe was actually 16 when he went on tour with the Allman Brothers Band! :-D I don't think it's intended to be an accurate portrayal of Crowe's life, but it is based on the real story, and he really was 16 and went on tour with the ABB, lying about his age to do so.

It's a great film, and I love it, but it is definitely a touch too saccharine in places, and I imagine that the reality of touring, especially for a 16 year old, would have a lot more of the dark, sordid times than were shown in the film.

Philly_Q

Gwledd (The Feast)

This is the first Welsh-language horror film to ever get a cinema release, although I saw it online on BFI Player as part of this year's London Film Festival.

The film itself is sloooooooow, with a bunch of extremely irritating characters.  It feels like they're attempting some Yorgos Lanthimos style weirdness... if they are it doesn't work.  There's some kind of consumerism-is-bad, don't-mess-with-nature message, but it's clumsily delivered, as are the horror elements.  I can't recommend it.

SteveRobinson

Haych said:

Gone Baby Gone (Netflix)

The plot is quite clever and fortunately I'd forgotten all the twists since last time I watched it but it seemed also to carry a subliminal message about the choices people make and what they're willing to sacrifice to either make what they feel is the right or wrong decision in the moment, and the morality surrounding who gets to decide at all.  It's quite powerful stuff if you think too long about it.

Probably the best film I've seen for quite a while, I can't think if a reason not to give it 10/10.

On the strength of your recommendation @Haych, Mrs R and I watched this last night. We boith really enjoyed it and it had me guessing right to the end.

Agreed, 10/10.

Shrews

Alan Partidge: Alpha Papa

Don't get me wrong, I love Alan Partridge. He's such an old square, can't help but  laugh at him and I had seen this before.

Trouble is I hated it last time. It just wasn't the Partridge I loved. He seemed to have got younger, wasn't as square as he was in the series and although I desperately wanted to laugh, I just found it pissed me off. 

I watched the first series of This Time and once I got used to the format I found I liked it. After the second series, I was back to being a fan! How cringeworthy was his BBC poem?!

On the strength of that I thought I'd give Alpha Papa another go.

But, alas, only a slight improvement. At least I didn't get pissed off this time and I managed to make it until the end. Still not Partridge for me, too youthful, not Val Doonican enough. Should've made him even more square as he got older. 

Previous 2/10, this watch 4/10. This Time series 8/10.