What films have you watched recently?

Offset

Simonh said:

Shadow in the clouds.

A preposterous proposition acted badly with a terrible script and vastly unbelievable action. 

DO. NOT. WATCH.

-10/10

I concur with your synopsis.  However I think you were way too generous with your rating.

CHRISB50

The Alpinist.

Film about Marc Andre Leclerc, a climber / alpinist from Canada who free solos bloody big hills.

Quite similar to the Alex Honnold documentary, Free Solo, but different enough to make it worthwhile.

The climbs he does beggar belief, and the cinematography is great.

9/10

Danny1969

The Dawn Wall

Docu film about the amazing climb of the Dawn Wall face of El Cap in the Yosemite national park. Just staggering commitment and shear guts from 2 amazing people. Very well put together and a hell of a story 

8 / 10  

Philly_Q

Offset said:

Simonh said:

Shadow in the clouds.

A preposterous proposition acted badly with a terrible script and vastly unbelievable action. 

DO. NOT. WATCH.

-10/10

I concur with your synopsis.  However I think you were way too generous with your rating.

Aaaah.... I thought it was OK.  The first half hour or so on the plane was dreadful but I liked where it went after that.

CHRISB50

Danny1969 said:

The Dawn Wall

Docu film about the amazing climb of the Dawn Wall face of El Cap in the Yosemite national park. Just staggering commitment and shear guts from 2 amazing people. Very well put together and a hell of a story 

8 / 10  

It's a great film isn't it.

I really enjoyed it as well.

SPECTRUM001

Haven’t watched any films for a while as we’ve been bingeing Ozark.

However today saw Dark Waters (2019). Not sure if it has been reviewed here (apologies if I have missed).

Well it is a shocking film telling the story of an Ohio based lawyer leading the charge to bring DuPont (yes, them !!!) to justice after they knowingly poisoned thousands of Americans whilst dumping toxic waste.

Mark Ruffalo plays Rob Bilot, the heroic man who devotes his life and career holding DuPont to account. It’s page turner whistleblower David vs Goliath stuff, and nice to see Tim Robbins too (I don’t think he does much these days unless for a worthwhile statement).

Sad, gripping, bewildering and essential. 

7/10 (10/10 for its importance value).

Moominpapa

A Quiet Place Part II (2020)

What's good: Millicent Simmonds as the deaf girl is an interesting and sympathetic character

There are some atmospheric moments.

OK, that's it for the good bits, now ....

SPOILERS BELOW

So there are two major, massive, fatal problems with the film

1. There is absolutely no development of the problem from the first film. Why is Aliens one of the best sequels ever made? Because it develops the problem in an interesting way. We see the creatures in a new light - they have a queen, the stakes are raised. In this film the monsters are portrayed exactly the same as in the first film
2. I probably don't even need to say this to anyone who has een the first film, but the plot has so many WTF???? moments that it seriously undermines your ability to stay in the moment. In particular there is one major plot moment towards the end of the film (on the island, involves a boat) which makes so little sense given what has gone before that you just sit there gobsmacked at what they are asking you to swallow,
   

rze99

Beatriz at Dinner

Beatriz is a Los Angeles massage therapist and holistic healer who drives to the seaside mansion of her client Cathy. When her old Golf breaks down, she receives a friendly invitation from Cathy to stay for a seemingly innocent business dinner with her husband, financial backer and lawyer. 

As the guests arrive and the wine starts to flow, Beatriz finds herself at visceral odds with Doug Strutt, a ruthless real estate mogul who cares more about money than people.here Strutt is essentially Trump and Beatriz, his antithesis. 

Nicely and subtly written and played, the tension rises as essentially good-hearted but vacant Cathy tries to please everybody, being kind to Beatriz while playing host to the monster upon whom their family fortune is based, while tired drunk and emotional Beatriz tries to figure out whether Srutt is from her past or the enemy of the future or both. And what will she do when drunk and upset?

recommended

7/10

HAL9000

Fargo - somehow I’ve got through life without having ever seen this. Very watchable. Probably didn’t quite live up to the hype but still a solid and very respectable 8/10.

EricTheWeary

Men in Black International.

C4

I didn’t even know this existed until tonight. 

General romp in the style of the previous ones. 

axisus

I watched the old 80s comedy Ruthless people. Good cast with 80s comedy staples Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater, plus Bette Midler and the ever excellent Danny DeVito.

Whilst no classic, it has that delightful 80 vibe which I am so enjoying these days. Maybe I could stretch to 6.5/10.

axisus

Finally I got around to watching Prometheus. 10 years late! To be honest I had a strop about it from the start so just didn't bother with it. Why? well, having seen trailers/clips it seemed to me that Ridley Scott had completely missed the target with the look of the film. I am basing that on the fact that it was originally put out as a prequel to Alien, although clearly far advanced to that film in terms of ALL technology that we see. I see though that the 'prequel' tag was somewhat rowed back from at later times.

Anyway, I enjoyed it as a sci-fi horror romp, even though it had much daftness throughout. For instance, the scientists were the most unscientific bunch ever! Take helmets off, prod and poke stuff, bring an artefact back and blow it up, bring some crazed loon along in the team. But hey, it was fun. Happy to go with a 7/10.

AsterixTG

Dune - loved it. Remember just enough about the book and David Lynch film for the story to familiar, but not enough for them to dictate any particular feelings about the new DV version.

I'm a massive fan of how he handled 'Blade Runner 2049' and he's done a cracking job with Dune too.

Philly_Q

Eternals

I saw the trailer for this a few months ago and was appalled by how dull it looked... for the first time Marvel had made a film I didn't think I'd be able to watch.

Well, I watched it.  It's a bit of a mess.  It's too long, there are too many characters, some of them with far too little to do in a plot which is really pretty simple but is made extremely convoluted.  There's a lot of boring dialogue and ill-conceived attempts at humour. 

But actually it feels a lot more like a typical Marvel film than I was expecting - intergalactic adversaries, monsters, lots of CGI, a surprising amount of action... and a couple of end credits sequences which suggest there's much more to come, whether we want it or not.

It really wasn't that bad.

vanlooy1

C’mon C’mon.
Trundles along but draws you in, beautifully acted particularly by the young lad Woody Norman.

Haych

Had a couple of mates over last night for a bit of a chat and to talk about our upcoming Moto-trip to Scotland later this year.

Dave happened to mention he really liked the movie Wild Hogs, Mike agreed and I just stated I had the film in my iTunes collection.

A mutual agreement was therefore made that we ought to watch the movie (well, we half watched it), and so we did.

Still quite a decent movie even though I've probably seen it a couple of dozen times now.  Marisa Tomei helps, of course.

ICBM

I watched Kermode's review of Moonfall last night and I think I have to go and see it now .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001459c/the-film-review-the-eyes-of-tammy-faye-moonfall-encanto

Philly_Q

Haych said:

Wild Hogs....

Still quite a decent movie even though I've probably seen it a couple of dozen times now.  Marisa Tomei helps, of course.

I don't think I've seen any film more than a few times, certainly nowhere near a couple of dozen.  There are too many films I haven't seen already!

JezWynd

Come And See. Harrowing retelling of German atrocities in Belarus during WWII. Not an easy watch; some of the images stay with you, but as an accurate account of the casual, mundane cruelty of the German army it could not be bettered.

VimFuego

JezWynd said:

Come And See. Harrowing retelling of German atrocities in Belarus during WWII. Not an easy watch; some of the images stay with you, but as an accurate account of the casual, mundane cruelty of the German army it could not be bettered.

so a lighthearted and gentle comedy for a dreary day when you need a bit of a pick me up then?