What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

Last Night in Soho

Edgar Wright's new film starts out feeling like a sort of 1960s London version of La La Land (it's not a musical but there is a lot of music) but it slowly morphs from coming-of-age comedy drama to fantasy to horror.  It is, of course, extremely well-made and and the attention to period detail is impressive.  It took a while for me to warm to it, but ultimately I liked it a lot, although not quite as much as I was hoping to.

boogieman

El Camino on Netflix. One off sequel to Breaking Bad showing what happened to Jesse. A bit slow in places but I enjoyed it overall, especially the welding shop scene which I thought was excellent. 

UnclePsychosis

Philly_Q said:

Last Night in Soho

Edgar Wright's new film starts out feeling like a sort of 1960s London version of La La Land (it's not a musical but there is a lot of music) but it slowly morphs from coming-of-age comedy drama to fantasy to horror.  It is, of course, extremely well-made and and the attention to period detail is impressive.  It took a while for me to warm to it, but ultimately I liked it a lot, although not quite as much as I was hoping to.

Interesting. 

I bloody love Edgar Wright so I've been looking forward to this. 

Philly_Q

UnclePsychosis said:

Philly_Q said:

Last Night in Soho

Edgar Wright's new film starts out feeling like a sort of 1960s London version of La La Land (it's not a musical but there is a lot of music) but it slowly morphs from coming-of-age comedy drama to fantasy to horror.  It is, of course, extremely well-made and and the attention to period detail is impressive.  It took a while for me to warm to it, but ultimately I liked it a lot, although not quite as much as I was hoping to.

Interesting. 

I bloody love Edgar Wright so I've been looking forward to this. 

I saw it at the London Film Festival but I think it's on general release very soon.

VimFuego

Joker - 2019. An origin story to Batman's nemesis. It's a bit of a slow burner, takes a while to get going, but Joaquin Phoenix gives a performance where it's difficult to see the lines between is he acting or genuinely Arthur Fleck, his portrayal is absolutely mesmorising. 10/10.

paulnb57

Greyhound on Apple TV

Tom Hanks Captains “The Greyhound” defending ships against German U Boats on an Atlantic Convoy

Superb

Haych

The Adventures of Huck Finn (Disney +)

Haven't read the book since I was a child so memory fails me that I can't know whether it bears any resemblance to Mark Twain's original, but nonetheless it's actually a pretty decent film.

Doesn't really have a dull moment, has a great cast and a young Elijah Wood does a great job of his role in the title lead.

Great family film, would highly recommend for any family.

Arrival (Netflix)

The first time I watched Arrival a few years ago I thought it was a great film.  At the time I decided it would be the kind of film that would be better with a second viewing and I wasn't wrong.

Just finished watching it this evening and it's a much, much better film the second time around, which is in some way a bit of an irony given its theme.

Blueingreen

The Joker. I must have read some reviews of this when it came out but my vague memory was of it being pretty highly rated while being described as violent and grim, both things that can make me avoid a film. So I started watching it thinking I’d give it a try but might not stick with it if it was too unpleasant.

 In the end I thought it was an unexpectedly brilliant film. There was grimness and violence of course, but reasonably well within my tolerance levels. There’s a huge amount of references to other movies going on, especially early Scorsese (Taxi Driver, King of Comedy).  It was bit like good hip-hop - sampling elements from other films but recombining them with enough wit and flair to make something just as valid as the originals. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance was stunning, as was the cinematography throughout. I also loved the score. 9/10

fretmeister

VimFuego said:

Joker - 2019. An origin story to Batman's nemesis. It's a bit of a slow burner, takes a while to get going, but Joaquin Phoenix gives a performance where it's difficult to see the lines between is he acting or genuinely Arthur Fleck, his portrayal is absolutely mesmorising. 10/10.

My missus has a background in mental health issues and she was very impressed at how good JP's performance was.

Shrews

Have to second (3rd, 4th, 5th etc) The Joker. I don't like The Batman, Superman stuff and don't even like Joaquim Phoenix as an actor but watched this out of curiosity recently as I like the idea of a back story.

Have to say, it was unexpectedly brilliant. 

LastMantra

Is the joker really depressing/dark?
I want to watch it but I'll maybe leave it to when I'm feeling a bit better. 

VimFuego

it is very dark, dunno if I'd say depressing. Sounds odd to say it, but the way the film is framed, the ending is almost uplifting.

LastMantra

Barquentine said:

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

I enjoyed that too.
I felt it kinda tried too hard at times (not even entirely sure what I mean by that tbh) but considering it was a decent length movie about what it was about, low budget and not exactly being a new concept, it was actually really good.
7/10 for me. 

Blaendulais

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

only a true story tho

EricTheWeary

LastMantra said:

Is the joker really depressing/dark?
I want to watch it but I'll maybe leave it to when I'm feeling a bit better. 

The Joker is heavily based on The King of Comedy (it’s obviously acknowledged) and is as cheerless as that was it you’ve ever seen that. 

Blueingreen

LastMantra said:

Is the joker really depressing/dark?
I want to watch it but I'll maybe leave it to when I'm feeling a bit better. 

It's very subjective but I'd say my tolerance for depressing/dark is pretty low but I stuck with it and enjoyed it. 

Longtallronnie

Help on 4
Jodie Comer is a care worker during the onset of the covid pandemic. Also starting Stephen Graham as one of the residents in the home she works at. 

Feel pretty depressed now. It was brilliant but brought back far too many feelings of dread, helplessness and utter despair. 

LastMantra

Cheers guys. Probably give it a go soon. 

I actually watched the king of comedy recently. 

Philly_Q

Titane
Hinterland
Inexorable
La Abuela

All watched today (well, yesterday now) at the London Film Festival.  Lots of subtitles.  And all very good, except Hinterland.

HerbieTheRadDorklift

Shrews said:

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.

I don't think I'm a fan of Alan's "professional persona" like in This Time, much prefer the fly on the wall style of "I'm Alan Partridge"