What films have you watched recently?

breakstuff

The Day After.

Kind of an American version of Threads. Utterly terrifying, especially in the current climate.

It actually states at the end of the film that the depicted scenes are, in all probability, less severe than what would actually take place during and after a nuclear holocaust.

A very sobering film.

goldtop

Into the Forest (Amazon Prime): post-apocalpytic story of two sisters' survival. Very, VERY dull. The only thing positive to say is that it's probably a more accurate portrayal of what might happen if/when modern society breaks down, but their story is so small and claustrophobic that it's hardly worth telling. 1/10

Apocalyto (Amazon Prime): Mayans, slaves, sacrifice, brutality, gore. Very watchable, but it's a film of two halves and the second is just too packed with unexplained wackiness. 5/10

Philly_Q

Headhunter (Amazon Prime)
An insurance specialist is head-hunted (geddit?) for a well paid new job but finds himself dealing with the ghost of a murder victim who won't rest in her grave until her missing head is tracked down.  This amazingly cheap nonsense (directed by one Paul Tarantino!) was made in 2005, but with its ancient-looking technology and feeble digital effects it somehow manages to look more like an episode of 1980s series Tales from the Darkside.  It almost falls into the so-bad-it's-good category.  But it's just bad.

The 8th Night (Netfix)
Korean horror about a couple of Buddhist monks trying to stop a chain of events which will bring an ancient evil back into the world...
I've watched a lot of ropey horror movies in the last couple of weeks but I was expecting this one to be good.  As it turned out, I barely understood what was going on for the first ninety minutes... in the last half hour things picked up, but the ending made no sense at all.  I can't recommend it.

The Cellar (Shudder)
Remember Elisha Cuthbert from 24?  She seems to have gone straight from playing Jack Bauer's teenage daughter to playing middle-aged moms in super-generic horror movies...
A family buys an old house in Ireland which is full of spooky stuff - weird symbols above the doors, a strange equation carved into the cellar steps... and then their teenage daughter disappears.  Naturally they do a lot of Googling and consult a mathematician... it seems the house may be a gateway to another dimension...
This feels like the writer/director watched some Lucio Fulci films - City of the Living Dead, The House by the Cemetery and The Beyond - then decided to pinch a bunch of ideas and use them in a film completely devoid of any scares or tension.  And I guess he succeeded.

ICBM

SPECTRUM001 said:

Operation Mincemeat - John Madden (2022)

A recent release about a WW2 plan by The Allies to deceive Germany into plans to invade Italy.

Starring Colin Firth, Mathew McFaddyn and Kelly McDonald, the film is very watchable and quite unreal, except of course it is based on truth - yes indeed !

Combining suspense, subtle laughs and a grippingish plot, I did enjoy my 100 mins at the Bath Little Picture House - it felt like a holiday treat.

Which kind of sums the film up. Nothing too amazing but one you could happily consume.

7/10

Just saw this too. Pretty good - a fairly formulaic plot and characters (even though based on reality) with some emotional impact, humour and drama. I knew the basic story, but it's brought to life well, and there's a twist in the tale I hadn't been aware of which I've now read up a little on and is interesting. Not to do with Ian Fleming!

I would say 7/10 too, maybe 8.

stufisher

Just watched Untouchable (Netflix) ... it's fantastic! I'd say 9/10 ... possibly higher.

The story is about a rich paraplegic who needs a carer. The one he employs is from a different demographic.

The story is true ... so the humanity in the screenwriting is awesome. Yes, the movie is French with subtitles but you'll not be bothered by that I'm sure.

If you want an honest movie, that will make you smile, laugh, cry, frown, celebrate and feel that you've been on an emotional journey then this is for you.

I've thought it through again and I'd say 9.5/10

Haych

stufisher said:

Just watched Untouchable (Netflix) ... it's fantastic! I'd say 9/10 ... possibly higher.

The story is about a rich paraplegic who needs a carer. The one he employs is from a different demographic.

The story is true ... so the humanity in the screenwriting is awesome. Yes, the movie is French with subtitles but you'll not be bothered by that I'm sure.

If you want an honest movie, that will make you smile, laugh, cry, frown, celebrate and feel that you've been on an emotional journey then this is for you.

I've thought it through again and I'd say 9.5/10

I believe this was also remade as The Upside with Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart. This was also an excellent film. 

DrCornelius

Dr Strange at the flicks last night .  Nowhere near as good as the first one - I loved all the backstory in that but still a solid 7 out of 10. The Scarlett Witch steals the show of course so any fans of wandavision should be all over this .

Brio

Matrix Resurrections (again)
Watched it again after seeing it when it was released.
I actually enjoyed it but I suspect it was because I felt smug at seeing so many references to the first three.
A few nice ideas in there and very 'meta' or whatever the kids are calling being stuck up its own arse these days, even the digs at Warner Bros got a smile.
I doubt i'll ever watch it again but it filled my time well enough.

Haych

We watched Safe last night, a Jason Statham film.

It follows the typical JS formula.  JS is a guy down on his luck/wronged somehow/betrayed by folk - pick one, who finds away to get revenge on those who would do harm to him/his family/people he cares about - pick one.

The catalyst for this particular, ahem, plot is a small Chinese girl who has a gift for maths and memorising long numbers.  She's forced into working for a Chinese gang in New York but the Russian mafia also want her and Statham gets caught in the middle, of course.

Throw in a bunch of bent cops and a corrupt mayor from his past and you have the perfect storm for a very dull film.

As a Statham-kicks-everyone's-ass type movie, it was ok, but as a film with any credible story it was just pants.

Save yourself the bother, but if you really must it's on Prime.

Stratavarious

My wife watched 12 Monkeys with me recently.  She had never seen it before but thought it was brilliant.  

8/10 from me.

Blueingreen

3 Days of the Condor.  I suspect this appears a better movie now than it did at the time of release.  What probably looked like a fairly generic mid-70s star vehicle for Robert Redford now gets a huge amount of its charm from looking so much like a rather stylish mid-70s period piece: Dave Grusin's jazzy/funky soundtrack, the clothes, the visual styling, what passed at the time for gritty, low-key realism, at least by Hollywood thriller standards.

There's a heavy Hitchcock influence, especially North By Northwest - the uncomprehending innocent on the run from a malevolent, mysterious organisation.  As so often with Hitchcock the set up and plot are basically MacGuffins and wouldn't bear too much scrutiny.  The sub-plot involving a romance that doesn't get a chance to start between Redford and Faye Dunaway is unsatisfactory - not enough happens to justify the time given to it and you get the impression that they had ideas about how to use Dunaway's character that remained underdeveloped.  Good performances all round though, especially from Max Von Sydow as a philosophical hit-man.

All in all very decent entertainment.  7.5/10

Danny1969

So watched The Beguiled on iPlayer because someone said it was very good. 2 mins in realise it's a remake of the early seventies Clint Eastwood film, only they removed the slave in this BBC version so part of the plot now made no sense.

Utter shit 

Haych

The Courier

Dramatisation of true events that took place during the early 60s, and during the Cuban Missile Crisis in particular. 

Benedict Cumberbatch plays a middle aged businessman, Grenville Wynne, who is reluctantly recruited by MI6 and the CIA. His job is to transport Soviet secrets out of Moscow given to him by a high ranking government official in the Kremlin who fears Khrushchev will press the button. 

Good stuff and really well done. There’s nothing fanciful or unbelievable at all, maybe the timeline is compressed but beyond that the film doesn’t try to portray anything that is implausible at all. 

Highly recommended 8.5/10 - on Prime. 

goldtop

The Hunt (Amazon Prime). Jeebus - it starts dark and just gets darker and darker. Mads Mikkelsen is brilliant - as is the rest of the cast. All understated Swedish acting, scenery and filming. 7/10

Danny1969

The King of Staten Island - Netflix

Great film about a pot head living with his mum on Staten Island. Very witty well written film with some big names playing small parts. 
Highly recommended 8/10

usedtobe

Watched The Happytime Murders, the other day. Laughed like drains… 

Brio

Brilliant film. Freaked a few of my mates for some reason.

boogieman

I’m on a Facebook horror film group. Somebody mentioned they’d love to see Ken Russell’s “The Devils” but it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get hold of the uncensored version nowadays. Which got me thinking I hadn’t seen it for years, so I dug out my copy and watched it yesterday. It’s a brilliant and still disturbing film, although being Ken Russell it’s a bit OTT in places. But it still stands up really well for a 50 year old film. The only slight fly in the ointment is seeing Brian Murphy as one of the torturers; he’s forever George from George and Mildred in my head. 

Philly_Q

boogieman said:

I’m on a Facebook horror film group. Somebody mentioned they’d love to see Ken Russell’s “The Devils” but it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get hold of the uncensored version nowadays. Which got me thinking I hadn’t seen it for years, so I dug out my copy and watched it yesterday. It’s a brilliant and still disturbing film, although being Ken Russell it’s a bit OTT in places. But it still stands up really well for a 50 year old film. The only slight fly in the ointment is seeing Brian Murphy as one of the torturers; he’s forever George from George and Mildred in my head. 

You probably know this already, but a nun from The Devils appears in a crowd scene in Space Jam 2. 
Warner Bros are happy to cash in on all their property.

boogieman

Philly_Q said:

boogieman said:

I’m on a Facebook horror film group. Somebody mentioned they’d love to see Ken Russell’s “The Devils” but it’s very hard, if not impossible, to get hold of the uncensored version nowadays. Which got me thinking I hadn’t seen it for years, so I dug out my copy and watched it yesterday. It’s a brilliant and still disturbing film, although being Ken Russell it’s a bit OTT in places. But it still stands up really well for a 50 year old film. The only slight fly in the ointment is seeing Brian Murphy as one of the torturers; he’s forever George from George and Mildred in my head. 

You probably know this already, but a nun from The Devils appears in a crowd scene in Space Jam 2. 
Warner Bros are happy to cash in on all their property.

I’ve never heard of Space Jam 2, let alone seen it  . I think I’ve seen bits of the first one. Apparently WB have always refused to reissue the uncensored version of The Devils, although I’m not sure why as there seems to be a demand for it from the film buffs. It isn’t even that graphic by modern standards, presumably it’s the religious content that gets them all itchy? I recorded my copy from free to air tv when C4 did one of their “Uncensored” seasons.