What films have you watched recently?

RobDavies

rze99 said:j

Deep Water

2022 Film, Prime

Based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, this is very slightly erotic psychological thriller film in the old school way and directed by Adrian Lyne,

Set in the very rich self indulgent west coast USA world of enormous white houses hedonistic parties with massive swimming pools, it stars Ben Affleck (who I find dull) is actually good in this as his dullness is quietly ambiguous, like the intensely private and obsessive character he plays and the exquisitely proportioned Ana de Armas plays his infuriatingly selfish sex-child of a wife.

They are gradually driving each other insane with their ridiculous psycho sex jealousy games and their hardly innocent precocious young daughter aids and abets their loosening grips on morality and reality.

Nothing like as good as it could have been if was more subtly and darkly made and played as the plot requires, it's still a decent Friday night glass of wine couple watch and enough guessing where it needs to go keeps some interest.  


7/10

I didn’t enjoy it that much - apart from the best raspberry ripples I’ve ever seen.  Apologies for lowering the tone.  

Anyway, It felt like Affleck was trying to make Gone Girl part two and failing. 

Boiling Point on Netflix.    Stephen Graham (who is rarely in anything rubbish) plays a head chef under pressure in a new/top London restaurant.

It’s one camera, one take, ninety odd minutes of tension.  Wouldn’t say it’s ‘enjoyable’ in the true sense of the word but I’m glad I watched it. 

boogieman

Haych said:

BigBearKris said:

mattdavis said:

Ad Astra - absolutely flipping brilliant. 

Controversial.. 

I liked it but everyone else who's seen it tells me they struggled to sit through it. 
I enjoyed it although few scenes were ridiculous (glide-surfing through the space on the metal panel was it?).

I find it fascinating that different people can have totally differing opinions of the same experience.  

I'm glad that some people enjoy the film.  

It's a visually excellent film, but was also the single most boring film I've ever paid to see at the cinema.  I would have walked out midway but thought Mrs Haych was enjoying it.  She would have walked out midway but thought I was enjoying it.

Wis’d. You can’t fault the visuals because it’s all beautifully filmed with several nods to 2001 A Space Odyssey thrown in. But by Christ it’s just so boring! The story drags on for no apparent reason, it’s way too long and the ending is lame. The launching across space on a piece of metal bit is just laughable.  

Greatape

The Lighthouse, Netflix. 

Dark. Oh god, it's dark. Lovecraftian tale of isolation and descent into madness. Beautifully stylised and atmospheric, like a C19th photograph come to life. 

Warning: there is wanking. Quite a lot of it. Often over some scrimshaw. 

sinbaadi

Werewolves Within:
Harmless comic "horror".  Quite enjoyed it and was rather taken with the female protagonist, but it's very standard stuff.
New ranger in a small town, stormy weather, cut off group in a hotel, they start to die.  

Philly_Q

Greatape said:

The Lighthouse, Netflix. 

Dark. Oh god, it's dark. Lovecraftian tale of isolation and descent into madness. Beautifully stylised and atmospheric, like a C19th photograph come to life. 

Warning: there is wanking. Quite a lot of it. Often over some scrimshaw. 

I liked the film, but I don't remember the wanking at all.  I guess that means I'm not traumatised by it.  That's good.

Blueingreen

Kind Hearts and Coronets. Classic Ealing film I’ve seen several times. Famous for Alec Guinness having multiple roles (9) as members of the D’Ascoyne family.

It’s a black comedy (the charming  “hero” is a psychopath and mass murderer, but we’re always at least half rooting for him rather than the often grotesque snobs he’s bumping off). It’s one of the classic British films: superbly acted, and the darkness and cynicism of the subject matter is beautifully balanced by its lightness of tone.

My one reservation is that I never seem to enjoy it quite as wholeheartedly as its really enthusiastic fans, mainly I think because the macabre never seems to be quite my thing, even when it’s done as well as this. So I’ll give it an 8/10 knowing that lots of people (including my better half)  would think that’s too low.

westford

Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Trip to the cinema for my 9 year old’s birthday. Actually not too bad, albeit predictable and cheesy in places. Jim Carrey hams it up brilliantly as Dr Robotnik. There are bound to be far worse films out over the Easter school holidays, let’s put it that way.

boogieman

Philly_Q said:

Greatape said:

The Lighthouse, Netflix. 

Dark. Oh god, it's dark. Lovecraftian tale of isolation and descent into madness. Beautifully stylised and atmospheric, like a C19th photograph come to life. 

Warning: there is wanking. Quite a lot of it. Often over some scrimshaw. 

I liked the film, but I don't remember the wanking at all.  I guess that means I'm not traumatised by it.  That's good.

You don’t actually see anything naughty, just long shots of Robert Pattinson thrashing away and groaning. I thought it was a superbly atmospheric film, worked really well in black and white, although I did have to put subtitles on to work out WTF Willem Defoe was saying most of the time. 

AlbertC

The Gentlemen 7/10
I’ve not watched a Guy Ritchie movie since Snatch a while back but he still seems to be ploughing a similar furrow if this is anything to go by. 

Its pretty entertaining and fast paced with some enjoyable performances. Particularly Hugh Grant and Colin Farrell both who seemed to be having fun respectively as a sleazy tabloid journo and a loveable rogue.  

Matthew McConaughey plays it straight as the ruthless drug baron. 

The only negative from the cast for me was Michele Dockery. It’s not that her Essex accent was necessarily bad, but somehow her delivery of the lines was unconvincing and a bit cringeworthy. 

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

Philly_Q said:

Greatape said:

The Lighthouse, Netflix. 

Dark. Oh god, it's dark. Lovecraftian tale of isolation and descent into madness. Beautifully stylised and atmospheric, like a C19th photograph come to life. 

Warning: there is wanking. Quite a lot of it. Often over some scrimshaw. 

I liked the film, but I don't remember the wanking at all.  I guess that means I'm not traumatised by it.  That's good.

You don’t actually see anything naughty, just long shots of Robert Pattinson thrashing away and groaning. I thought it was a superbly atmospheric film, worked really well in black and white, although I did have to put subtitles on to work out WTF Willem Defoe was saying most of the time. 

I have subtitles on nearly all the time when I'm watching films.  I hate missing bits of dialogue, and although subtitles are slightly distracting they're less distracting than having to pause and rewind.

skullfunkerry

sinbaadi said:

Werewolves Within:
Harmless comic "horror".  Quite enjoyed it and was rather taken with the female protagonist, but it's very standard stuff.
New ranger in a small town, stormy weather, cut off group in a hotel, they start to die.  

I watched that a few days ago, came here to post about it. I enjoyed it too, thought it was more of a horror than a comedy, and didn't see the end coming until the end, which is always a bonus.

fretmeister

Blueingreen said:

Kind Hearts and Coronets. Classic Ealing film I’ve seen several times. Famous for Alec Guinness having multiple roles (9) as members of the D’Ascoyne family.

It’s a black comedy (the charming  “hero” is a psychopath and mass murderer, but we’re always at least half rooting for him rather than the often grotesque snobs he’s bumping off). It’s one of the classic British films: superbly acted, and the darkness and cynicism of the subject matter is beautifully balanced by its lightness of tone.

My one reservation is that I never seem to enjoy it quite as wholeheartedly as its really enthusiastic fans, mainly I think because the macabre never seems to be quite my thing, even when it’s done as well as this. So I’ll give it an 8/10 knowing that lots of people (including my better half)  would think that’s too low.

My favourite film of all time.

As long as you ignore the American edit version which ruins it. 

mattdavis

boogieman said:

Haych said:

BigBearKris said:

mattdavis said:

Ad Astra - absolutely flipping brilliant. 

Controversial.. 

I liked it but everyone else who's seen it tells me they struggled to sit through it. 
I enjoyed it although few scenes were ridiculous (glide-surfing through the space on the metal panel was it?).

I find it fascinating that different people can have totally differing opinions of the same experience.  

I'm glad that some people enjoy the film.  

It's a visually excellent film, but was also the single most boring film I've ever paid to see at the cinema.  I would have walked out midway but thought Mrs Haych was enjoying it.  She would have walked out midway but thought I was enjoying it.

Wis’d. You can’t fault the visuals because it’s all beautifully filmed with several nods to 2001 A Space Odyssey thrown in. But by Christ it’s just so boring! The story drags on for no apparent reason, it’s way too long and the ending is lame. The launching across space on a piece of metal bit is just laughable.  

Ha ha. I guess that’s why art is so wonderful. If you like it, you like it. 
Trying to work out why I love films like this. I find it a compelling premise to have a simple universal story (like the father son relationship here, or the mid life existential awakening that he goes through) played out against a background of space/technology/the future. I’ve always found that contrast engaging.

I think fundamentally it speaks to me as I’m grappling with some of it those issues to at the moment - I’m probably projecting a lot of myself into it. 

Plus I think Brad Pitt is bloody brilliant in it. 

(I do agree the space surfing with a metal panel, and using a nuclear explosion to propel you in the just the right direction to earth was a bit rubbish - but by that point it had won me over). 

HerbieTheRadDorklift

sinbaadi said:

Werewolves Within:
Harmless comic "horror".  Quite enjoyed it and was rather taken with the female protagonist, but it's very standard stuff.
New ranger in a small town, stormy weather, cut off group in a hotel, they start to die.  

I wonder why

DrCornelius

HerbieTheRadDorklift said:

sinbaadi said:

Werewolves Within:
Harmless comic "horror".  Quite enjoyed it and was rather taken with the female protagonist, but it's very standard stuff.
New ranger in a small town, stormy weather, cut off group in a hotel, they start to die.  

I wonder why

Looks like she's kidnapped Right Said Fred

HAL9000

Shrews said:

Empire of the Sun

Critically acclaimed film, but for me it's overacted by young Christian Bale, and as he's getting most of the screen time I just found it annoying. Other than the nuke scene and the scene where he loses his mother in the crowd the rest is completely forgettable. Oh and the slap that one of the servants gives him, that also sticks in the memory.

5/10

I quite liked this but would agree that, like many earlier Spielberg movies, it’s overly long and has too much padding. See also…

Jaws - You sit through nearly two hours of movie but really only for the Robert Shaw gets eaten scene.

ET - Sit through the best part of a further two hours because the kids want to see the bit where the bikes fly at the end.

Close Encounters - Another two hours wasted whilst waiting to watch the spacecraft land.

You get the idea.

(I sit through Empire of the Sun for the Cadillac of the Skies scene.)

CMW335

HAL9000 said:

Shrews said:

Empire of the Sun

Critically acclaimed film, but for me it's overacted by young Christian Bale, and as he's getting most of the screen time I just found it annoying. Other than the nuke scene and the scene where he loses his mother in the crowd the rest is completely forgettable. Oh and the slap that one of the servants gives him, that also sticks in the memory.

5/10

I quite liked this but would agree that, like many earlier Spielberg movies, it’s overly long and has too much padding. See also…

Jaws - You sit through nearly two hours of movie but really only for the Robert Shaw gets eaten scene.

ET - Sit through the best part of a further two hours because the kids want to see the bit where the bikes fly at the end.

Close Encounters - Another two hours wasted whilst waiting to watch the spacecraft land.

You get the idea.

(I sit through Empire of the Sun for the Cadillac of the Skies scene.)

Jaws is a classic from start to finish and the Shaw monologue is by far the standout scene imo

west

Jaws is a classic from start to finish and the Shaw monologue is by far the standout scene imo

And just to think oliver reed was in the frame initially to play quint . i loved ollie and his screen prescence but it just wouldnt have been the same ....

Gassage

Vertigo 

James Stewart is absolutely compelling in this brilliant dark and gothic phsyco thriller about the interrelationship between man and woman

There are two ways of approaching Vertigo; one is to see it as a male film on the side of the male view of women; the other is to see it as a satirical attack on the misogynist mindset. They are, in fact, two sides of the same interpretative coin and this is Hitchcock's clear dig at the male dominated society of the 50s.

Vertigo also combines, like North by Northwest, a balance of Alf's brash flair for psychological shocks with his elegant genius for dapper stylishness and that interpretation of the 50s reference icons.

To score this less than 10/10 is like telling the Mona Lisa she needs to smile more. It could well be one of the greatest films ever made.

So it gets 10/10.

Absolutely fucking brilliant.

Haych

mattdavis said:

boogieman said:

Haych said:

BigBearKris said:

mattdavis said:

Ad Astra - absolutely flipping brilliant. 

Controversial.. 

I liked it but everyone else who's seen it tells me they struggled to sit through it. 
I enjoyed it although few scenes were ridiculous (glide-surfing through the space on the metal panel was it?).

I find it fascinating that different people can have totally differing opinions of the same experience.  

I'm glad that some people enjoy the film.  

It's a visually excellent film, but was also the single most boring film I've ever paid to see at the cinema.  I would have walked out midway but thought Mrs Haych was enjoying it.  She would have walked out midway but thought I was enjoying it.

Wis’d. You can’t fault the visuals because it’s all beautifully filmed with several nods to 2001 A Space Odyssey thrown in. But by Christ it’s just so boring! The story drags on for no apparent reason, it’s way too long and the ending is lame. The launching across space on a piece of metal bit is just laughable.  

Ha ha. I guess that’s why art is so wonderful. If you like it, you like it. 
Trying to work out why I love films like this. I find it a compelling premise to have a simple universal story (like the father son relationship here, or the mid life existential awakening that he goes through) played out against a background of space/technology/the future. I’ve always found that contrast engaging.

I think fundamentally it speaks to me as I’m grappling with some of it those issues to at the moment - I’m probably projecting a lot of myself into it. 

Plus I think Brad Pitt is bloody brilliant in it. 

(I do agree the space surfing with a metal panel, and using a nuclear explosion to propel you in the just the right direction to earth was a bit rubbish - but by that point it had won me over). 

I kinda know what you mean. A couple of years ago I watched a George Clooney film set in Italy, I think. 

It was all a bit of a dull affair and nothing really happened, but the way it was shot and the way the nothingness unfolded just touched something deep in my soul and I really enjoyed it. 

Every other person who’s reviewed the same film talks about how boring it is.