What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

Barquentine said:

Most Dangerous Game. Picked from the top 10 list on Prime. Falls into the 'so bad it's good' category. It is truly absurd and I kept wondering how Christoph Waltz managed to get mixed up with such a load of bollocks.

I'm vaguely interested to watch it because the basic story has been filmed/adapted so many times.  But it doesn't look good.

jonnyburgo

County Lines on iplayer, story about a lonely kid in London groomed into drug running, insightful, realistic and great performances. Anti-feelgood movie. 7/10

Philly_Q

There's Someone Inside Your House (Netflix)

Slasher movies haven't changed much since the 1980s, except now they have more diverse casts of characters and the scriptwriters don't even attempt to give the killer any kind of logical motive.  Even the title has nothing to do with what happens in the film.

Offset

The Thing (1982).

I must have watched this >30 times over the years, and it's one of my all-time favourite films.  A work of true genius.

10/10.

Philly_Q

Offset said:

The Thing (1982).

I must have watched this >30 times over the years, and it's one of my all-time favourite films.  A work of true genius.

10/10.

No arguments from me!

TeleMaster

Top Gun: Maverick was a delightful cheese fest. 10/10.

Brio

Stay well away from the prequel:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/

Brio

Sweet baby Jesus!
There is an even worse looking sequel!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14059620/

Offset

Brio said:

Stay well away from the prequel:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/

I must admit I quite enjoyed it :-)

Brio

It be a boring world if we all liked the same things  :-)

Philly_Q

Offset said:

Brio said:

Stay well away from the prequel:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0905372/

I must admit I quite enjoyed it :-)

And this time I must strongly disagree!  Absolute shite, and an interesting example of CGI being nowhere near as effective as (utterly brilliant) practical FX.  Mary Elizabeth Winstead isn't to blame, though.

Brio said:

Sweet baby Jesus!
There is an even worse looking sequel!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14059620/

I'd like to see that! I'm surprised they were even able to make it without breaching any copyrights, trademarks or whatever.  It looks like it cost about 50p.

Kalimna

Im not sure whether this counts, as it is really a documentary, but last night my wife and I watched Hawking : Can You Hear Me?, a most excellent description of Prof Stephen Hawking's personal life. What really stood out were the emotions on display from his family - first wife, sister and children - a mixture of pride and profound resentment. You could see how difficult some of the interviews must have been for them. The other side was the more professional aquaintainces - fellow cosmologists, secretary etc who had nothing but glowing feelings. The science, fortunately (although I find it hugely interesting), was almost non-existent. 
Fascinating insight into an absolute genius with a flawed personal nature.

10/10

khaotic

Thor - Love and Thunder

Pretty poor - far too much comedy and all of it falls very flat. Doesn't build up the enemy enough. Conclusive evidence that a film written by Taika Waititi and featuring Taiki Waititi needs someone other than Taika Waititi as director.

Philly_Q

Barquentine said:

Most Dangerous Game. Picked from the top 10 list on Prime. Falls into the 'so bad it's good' category. It is truly absurd and I kept wondering how Christoph Waltz managed to get mixed up with such a load of bollocks.

I thought it was showing some so-bad-it's-good promise in the early scene where Hemsworth meets Waltz and we find out the character's called "Dodge Tynes", or something similarly ridiculous. 

The dialogue is idiotic and some of the supporting cast give epically bad performances.

When the "action" started it got rather boring for a while (I fell asleep several times and had to keep rewinding), but eventually it gets really really stupid and actually quite entertaining.  I quite liked it.

(Edit: I thought there was something odd about the end credits - they looked like a TV show - so I checked IMDB.  Apparently it was originally a 15-episode TV series, each episode only about 10 minutes long and shown on consecutive nights.  That explains the weird pacing...)

usedtobe

Just back from seeing Elvis at a nice old fashioned cinema, called The Kinema In The Woods, at Woodhall Spa, in Lincolnshire. Lovely old place. I’m not much for the modern cinema experience, but this was more like I remember the pictures as a kid - they even have an intermission, half way through, so you can go and buy an ice cream..! Comfy seats and aircon..
Anyway, I thought the film was really well done..
I was raised on Elvis - mum was a massive fan.. the wife wasn’t so much.. we both enjoyed it, although we both thought it was sad..

Jfingers

jonnyburgo said:

County Lines on iplayer, story about a lonely kid in London groomed into drug running, insightful, realistic and great performances. Anti-feelgood movie. 7/10

Cheers for that one @jonnyburgo ;, I enjoyed it. @Offset yes, 'The Thing' is great. My Dad took me to the cinema when I was a kid, just him and me. Jaws, The Thing and Close Encounters.

BluesLover

The Ninth Gate (1999) on Freevee. I love this film, but I'm not sure why. Critics didn't like it. It's the only film I know where the central character is a book. Features a young Johnny Depp, and Lena Olin. Roman Polanski was trying to do a horror film apparently but it's more of a weird mystery story. The ending is dopey but don't let that put you off.

Keiko

Jurassic World Dominion. 5/10. I don't agree with the positive reviews in this thread sorry. Starts off like it might be interesting but by the end it's just terrible. I've seen more believable action sequences in Scooby Doo and Penelope Pitstop. Maybe they should have just made it as a cartoon, it would have been a lot cheaper and achieved the same result.

The Phantom of the Open. 7/10. A bit like the Eddie the Eagle movie, but with golf. Although Mark Rylance grates on me the more films I see him in, because he's basically the same in every film.

Longtallronnie

Finally got round to watching Dune. 

Haven’t read the books or seen any of the previous adaptations so wasn’t sure what to expect but really enjoyed it. 

Can’t wait for part 2. 

SPECTRUM001

Nomadland - 2020

Am sure Nomadland will have been reviewed previously, but today I finally got to see this amazing triumph made by Chloe Zhao and starring Frances Macdormand and David Strathairn.

If the objective is to actually tell a story, Zhao nails it completely via the most subtle cinematography, acting and editing. This is a slow and beautiful film covering a most desperate and sad subject - how we as individuals living within society handle change, economic downturn, ageing, health, family issues and ultimately our own mortality.

Macdormand is magnetic as Fern; the widow pushed out onto the road. She discovers a new world of poverty and communities living out of RVs and vans, and simultaneously rejecting conventional lifestyle. This all takes place amidst the breathtaking abundant/desolate Nevada desert.

It is a desperately poignant film, however also bringing hope as Fern finds her calling and accepts a new way of life. 

For me it taps into my own personal question marks about ‘what’s it all about ?’ and helps to suggest that whilst the answers are not so easy to find, peace may be more available than we realise - just perhaps not in the way we thought.

10/10