What films have you watched recently?

paulnb57

Enola Holmes 2, Netfix

Utter tosh, but proper entertainment, we loved it

rze99

Offset said:

Edge Of Darkness (2010)

I was a massive fan of the original BBC TV series, which starred the fabulous and sorely-missed Bob Peck plus a very young Joanne Whalley.  Directed by Martin Campbell who also directed the original, it has Mel Gibson and Bojana Nockovic in the Peck and Whalley roles.  Ray Winstone and Danny Huston also feature.

I was not expecting a lot.  Movie remakes of TV series are usually A Bad Thing in my book, but this was really good.  Not usually a fan of Gibson either, but I really enjoyed his performance.  Winstone as Jedburgh was convincing as the dying British security fixer.  The role was originally slated for De Niro but he walked off set when shooting started.  That's a good thing because Winstone gives a very good performance.

I obviously won't spoil the plot for those of you unfamiliar with it, but suffice to say it follows a determined policeman's efforts to bring a large corporation to task for some extremely unpleasant shenanigans.  It all gets very messy as Gibson takes the gloves off and gives up any pretense at playing by the rules.

The original was far more understated but I thoroughly enjoyed this.  The baddies were really bad (Huston was especially slimy), the supporting cast were great, it snapped along at a good pace and the it kept us fully engaged.

Recommended at 7.5/10.

Mr Harrigan's Phone (2022).

I loved this.  It's a great movie based on a King story, which most certainly isn't always the case.  I haven't read the novella but the film has all the recognisable King themes: set in Maine; rites of passage sub-plot; small town America etc.  It stars Donald Sutherland and he's convincing as the elderly, lonely, ruthless billionaire living alone in a large house who hires a local kid (Jaeden Martell) to read to him three times a week for a few dollars a pop.  The two become unlikely friends, and the arrangement continues into the kid's high school years.

Then the old man dies... and as with so many King stories, the expression 'be careful what you wish for' becomes extremely pertinent...

I was glued to this from start to end.  The performances are great and whilst the plot has little by way of surprises for those familiar with King's work, it's nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable.  My only real criticism of it is that it's probably 30 minutes too long.  But that's a minor observation.

8/10.

Where can the original series be found? Why is it never repeated or on iPlayer?  I loved it but, back then I really had the hots for Joanne Whalley... sigh

Offset

rze99 said:

Where can the original series be found? Why is it never repeated or on iPlayer?  I loved it but, back then I really had the hots for Joanne Whalley... sigh

Looks like this might do it.

 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3hhwp4

paulnb57

All Quiet on the Western Front, Netflix

Set in the closing years of WW1, it follows the life of German soldier Paul Bäumer, who, after enlisting in the German Army with his friends, finds himself exposed to the realities of war, shattering his early hopes of becoming a hero.

Interesting is the film is from the perspective of Ze Germans

Very well done, only downside for us was, its dubbed, it took a while to realise but once we noticed…

8/10

bobblehat

paulnb57 said:

All Quiet on the Western Front, Netflix

Set in the closing years of WW1, it follows the life of German soldier Paul Bäumer, who, after enlisting in the German Army with his friends, finds himself exposed to the realities of war, shattering his early hopes of becoming a hero.

Interesting is the film is from the perspective of Ze Germans

Very well done, only downside for us was, its dubbed, it took a while to realise but once we noticed…

8/10

Watched this a couple of weeks ago and loved it.  We watched it in German with subtitles which made it feel far more authentic. I went back and watched some of it dubbed in English nd it just doesn't work.

Haych

This weekend's films were:

The Good Liar

Roy (Ian McKellen) is an ageing con artist who meets Betty (Helen Mirren) via an online dating site.  They quickly become close, despite the protests of Betty's grandson, and Roy manipulates his way into Betty's home and life.

It's a gently paced film and performances from McKellen and Mirren are wonderful, as you'd expect.  The outcome of the plot was quite obvious from the start, but I found the method a bit tenuous.  I came up with my own guess how the plot would unfold, which would have reached the same destination, and would have been far more plausible.

That said, it only really unfolds during the last scene so the rest of the movie wasn't affected by this slight disappointment until it's nearly over, so it's still worth watching.

A strong 7/10.

The next one wasn't so great; Untraceable.

A formulaic thriller in which a team of FBI agents working in the cyber crimes department hunt down a serial killer.  This particular serial killer likes to broadcast his victims murder on the internet, with the viewer count being a mechanism by which the victim dies - the more views, the faster the death.

Of course, the killer is so astute that the FBI cannot trace the origins of his website, hence the title, and a deadly game of cat and mouse begins.

Predictable and quite mediocre, if not completely terrible.

4.5/10

Both on Netflix.

Switch625

paulnb57 said:

Very well done, only downside for us was, its dubbed, it took a while to realise but once we noticed…

8/10

I got about 10 mins in to it before realising "these guys don't sound very German". Swiftly changed it to German with subtitles which improved it greatly. Great film.

Switch625

I watched Weird - The Al Yankovic Story on Saturday. I was under the impression that it was a biopic so when I realised that it was just a parody that plays loose with the facts I was somewhat disappointed. But overall it was entertaining and what you expect I suppose from Weird Al. Daniel Radcliffe did a great job though.

Brio

Enola Holmes 2.
I only really knew Millie Bobby Brown from Stranger Things where she was obviously excellent. but seeing her in Enola H 1 was a revelation of a different side to her.
Throughly enjoyed Enola 2 and am really looking forward to where she goes next.

Brio

Oh, forgot that at the weekend I finally got to see Lady Snowblood.

The film recounts the tale of Yuki (Kaji), a woman who seeks vengeance upon three of the people who raped her mother and killed her father and brother. The film's narrative is told out of chronological order, jumping between present and past events. Alongside Kaji, the film's cast includes Toshio Kurosawa, Masaaki Daimonm, Miyoko Akaza, and Kō Nishimura.
Lady Snowblood was released theatrically in Japan on 1 December 1973, and was distributed by Toho. It spawned a sequel, Love Song of Vengeance (1974), and served as inspiration for the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill.

I didn't know about the Tarantino connection but it is very very obviously the inspiration for Kill Bill. I had to check on Wiki as soon as I'd finished watching.

Japanese with subtitles and pretty good. If you liked Kill Bill you should like this.

SteveRobinson

Strangeways Here We Come (Netflix)

A fly on the wall documentary about life on a Salford high-rise housing estate.

merlin

paulnb57 said:

Interesting is the film is from the perspective of Ze Chermans

FTFY

stufisher

Another vote for The Good Nurse (as mentioned recently).

8.5/10

DrCornelius

Blow on Prime 

After recently finishing Narcos and loving it thought I’d give this a go tonight . Lame , dull storyline , zero excitement 5 out of 10 and 2 of the marks were for Ray Liotta

thumpingrug

Living.  Stars Bill Nighy.  Its not exactly a laugh-a-minute or action-packed but very well acted and very well filmed.  I wont say too much due to spoilers, but its well worth a watch if you like a thoughtful film.

Philly_Q

Run Sweetheart Run

A completely random choice from the new releases on Amazon Prime...

A young legal assistant agrees to a "dinner meeting" with one of her boss's clients, who turns out to be a Very Very Bad Man.  To begin with this seems like a rather tasteless, highly implausible thriller, but it turns into a completely ludicrous horror After Hours, of sorts...  For a while it threatens to almost work, in its stupid way, but then it just fizzles out.

Not recommended.

Haych

The Luckiest Girl Alive

Ani (Mila Kunis) is an angry woman with something to prove.  She is pursuing her dream career and about to marry into real money and well above her station.  But she's also a woman running from, and trapped by, past trauma and allegations from her time at a privileged private high school, where she didn't really belong.

I can't really say more than that without giving plot spoilers away.  The timeline is split between now and then as the plot unfolds and we get to find out what happens to her to make her so angry and determined to prove that she is better than she thinks she is.

It's a decent film, although it's told directly from the perspective of Ani and relies on her constantly narrating her thoughts and backstory to make the film work - it's quite irritating, and in a good film it shouldn't really be necessary.  

The plot isn't that complicated and it's not really necessary, so either the film maker's were lazy or just didn't believe their audience was intelligent enough to grasp the story without Ani's constant explanation of what happened or what she's thinking.

It also negates the message of the film and it ends up being not quite as powerful as it's trying to be.

It should easily be an 8/10 but I have to dock it a point at least for it's lazy and irritating story telling.  On Netflix.

Offset

Loving Adults (2022)

Danish crime/thriller.  The title is, as you might suspect, ironic in the extreme.  Man has affair, tries to exit his marriage... it all goes very Pete Tong indeed as he finds out his wife has some secrets of her own and reveals a hitherto hidden side to her personality.

We did rather enjoy this.  It's fairly understated but has a couple of genuinely surprising twists.  Unfortunately it also has some totally unbelievable moments as well.  What ramped it up a notch for me however are two very strong performances from the main protagonists - I'd never heard of either of them.

6.5/10.

SPECTRUM001

Cop Land - 1997 - James Mangold

Thoroughly enjoyed this film, which stars everybody - DeNiro, Ray Liotta, Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel etc.

Corruption in the NYPD, with a brooding sense of fear. Stallone is particularly good playing a sad and confused sheriff powerless to confront the issues in front of him.

Not a masterpiece, but a pretty good way to spend 100 minutes.

7/10

Haych

Me Time

Mark Wahlberg and Kevin Hart head up this Netflix “comedy”. Looks good in the trailer but don’t waste your time. 

Not funny, not good, barely entertaining. 

3/10