What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

merlin said:

Philly_Q said:

The Menu (Disney+)

A group of foodies visit an extremely exclusive restaurant to experience the tasting menu.  The evening does not turn out as expected.  I really enjoyed this, it's quite unusual to see a film with some genuine surprises.  And it's got Anya Taylor-Joy in it.

I quite liked it but didn't think that Roof Fiends was correctly cast. The role needed someone much darker in spirit. 

Thinking about it afterwards, all the most surprising, WTF moments have happened by the middle of the film, and a lot of that is in the dialogue more than the events.  From then on it doesn't quite sustain the atmosphere. I think Fiennes could have easily handled a slightly darker role, but the script lets him down a bit.

ICBM

merlin said:

I quite liked it but didn't think that Roof Fiends was correctly cast. The role needed someone much darker in spirit. 

I haven't seen it yet - to be honest, the premise and the trailers I've seen make it seem very forced and not that interesting to me - but if you think Ralph Fiennes isn't right for darker roles then I can only assume you've never seen Schindler's List.

There is a reason he was picked as Voldemort in the Harry Potter series (although it's far from his best work).

Gulliver

On The Line  (Amazon Prime)

Mel Gibson isn't bad in it, some of the supporting cast are shite and over-act, the last ~15 minutes is an absolute skip fire.

2/10

Stratavarious

The Omen (1976)

An old horror fave. Not seen the original for about 10 years.  Still a classic, creepy, well done movie with some great scenes and setups. 

666/1000

EricTheWeary

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

ewal

Thirteen Lives (Amazon Prime)

Really interesting story. However, I didn't enjoy the way this film told it. Can't decide if it was the script or the actors who were at fault, or perhaps a mixture of both. I know the film quite deliberately set out to present the story from the rescue team perspective, however surely the boys and coach who were trapped deserved more attention?

5/10

Philly_Q

Orphan: First Kill (Paramount+)

The first Orphan film (2009) relied on a twist which was revealed shortly before the end of the movie.  For this prequel, they've lost that element of surprise so they've had to come up with something different... and I wonder why they bothered.  It's got no scares, no humour, no likeable characters and the whole thing has a flat, dreary, ugly look.  It's not unwatchable, but it's pretty pointless.

It is interesting that in the first film Isabelle Fuhrman was a 12-year-old girl playing a child who turned out to be a psychopathic 30-something adult woman.  Now 12 or 13 years on, she really is an adult, playing the same character in a prequel.  Weird.

 

Offset

Philly_Q said:

Orphan: First Kill (Paramount+)

The first Orphan film (2009) relied on a twist which was revealed shortly before the end of the movie.  For this prequel, they've lost that element of surprise so they've had to come up with something different... and I wonder why they bothered.  It's got no scares, no humour, no likeable characters and the whole thing has a flat, dreary, ugly look.  It's not unwatchable, but it's pretty pointless.

It is interesting that in the first film Isabelle Fuhrman was a 12-year-old girl playing a child who turned out to be a psychopathic 30-something adult woman.  Now 12 or 13 years on, she really is an adult, playing the same character in a prequel.  Weird.

 

One I'll firmly remove from any intention I may have had to watch it!

Stratavarious

EricTheWeary said:

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

For all the noise about the acting, it was a strange film.  I managed to stick it out to the end but nothing really changed.. it just kept being more of the same.  Disappointing.

I suppose it has some documentary value for that bit of history.   Not going go be a rewatch.

paulnb57

A Million Ways To Die In The West

Western send up in the vein of Blazing Saddles or Police Squad, so if you enjoy a bit of inane escapism, its for you.
Pretty well done actually, with some laugh out loud moments and Cameos to spot…

7/10

Offset

Stratavarious said:

EricTheWeary said:

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

For all the noise about the acting, it was a strange film.  I managed to stick it out to the end but nothing really changed.. it just kept being more of the same.  Disappointing.

I suppose it has some documentary value for that bit of history.   Not going go be a rewatch.

It was one of Scorsese's more disappointing films, agreed (and let's be honest - there haven't been that many).  But I loved some of backdrops and the atmosphere they created and the acting was great, especially from DDL and LDC.

Brio

paulnb57 said:

A Million Ways To Die In The West

Western send up in tje vein of Blazing Saddles or Police Squad, so if you enjoy a bit of inane escapism, its for you.
Pretty well done actually, with some laugh out loud moments and Cameos to spot…

7/10

That and Ted2 are the funniest films I've seen.

rze99

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Prime. 1956 Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring James Stewart, Doris Day, Bernard Miles with Music by Bernard Herrmann

An American Doctor's family are holidaying in what was then the last days of French Morocco traveling from Casablanca to Marrakesh, they meet a suave and mysterious Frenchman Louis Bernard and they agree to meet him for dinner. Soon, they are deep in a spy murder mystery and face an existential family threat. 

It's a big budget glossy affair this movie. Aside from the usual clunkiness of back projections of the time, in Vistavision, the film looks quite magnificent in saturated vivid colour and pristine hair and clothes, and there is quite a lot of location footage in the Medina, Marrakesh as well as later, parts of London that are now sadly demolished. There's a startling scene to these modern eyes where he drugs his own wife to calm her down as she faces some bad news!

The plot is fairly evolved but the pacing not always at Hitch's best, but Janes Stewart's performance is excellent as a confused and increasingly desperate family-man-in-peril. Doris is good too actually, but you have to put up with her Que Sera, Sera. It's a touch too long at over 2 hours.

6/10

DrCornelius

Offset said:

Stratavarious said:

EricTheWeary said:

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

For all the noise about the acting, it was a strange film.  I managed to stick it out to the end but nothing really changed.. it just kept being more of the same.  Disappointing.

I suppose it has some documentary value for that bit of history.   Not going go be a rewatch.

It was one of Scorsese's more disappointing films, agreed (and let's be honest - there haven't been that many).  But I loved some of backdrops and the atmosphere they created and the acting was great, especially from DDL and LDC.

The book that the film is based on is really good , there are some fantastic real life characters that the writers lift straight off the page into the film

Philly_Q

DrCornelius said:

Offset said:

Stratavarious said:

EricTheWeary said:

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

For all the noise about the acting, it was a strange film.  I managed to stick it out to the end but nothing really changed.. it just kept being more of the same.  Disappointing.

I suppose it has some documentary value for that bit of history.   Not going go be a rewatch.

It was one of Scorsese's more disappointing films, agreed (and let's be honest - there haven't been that many).  But I loved some of backdrops and the atmosphere they created and the acting was great, especially from DDL and LDC.

The book that the film is based on is really good , there are some fantastic real life characters that the writers lift straight off the page into the film

I saw it in the cinema when it came out, but I remember so little that in my mind it's turned into a weird version of Oliver Twist, with Day-Lewis and Diaz as Bill Sikes and Nancy.

BigBearKris

Offset said:

Stratavarious said:

EricTheWeary said:

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

For all the noise about the acting, it was a strange film.  I managed to stick it out to the end but nothing really changed.. it just kept being more of the same.  Disappointing.

I suppose it has some documentary value for that bit of history.   Not going go be a rewatch.

It was one of Scorsese's more disappointing films, agreed (and let's be honest - there haven't been that many).  But I loved some of backdrops and the atmosphere they created and the acting was great, especially from DDL and LDC.

Totally agree.

It has very theatre-like feel to it and can be watched like such. Performances are great.

Stratavarious

BigBearKris said:

Offset said:

Stratavarious said:

EricTheWeary said:

I managed an hour of Gangs of New York on Film 4 last night. Just seemed to be utter bollocks. 

For all the noise about the acting, it was a strange film.  I managed to stick it out to the end but nothing really changed.. it just kept being more of the same.  Disappointing.

I suppose it has some documentary value for that bit of history.   Not going go be a rewatch.

It was one of Scorsese's more disappointing films, agreed (and let's be honest - there haven't been that many).  But I loved some of backdrops and the atmosphere they created and the acting was great, especially from DDL and LDC.

Totally agree.

It has very theatre-like feel to it and can be watched like such. Performances are great.

Yep.. It was staged like a theatre production.. expecting it to turn into a musical with some big street gang singalongs.

boogieman

The Wonder. Netflix. Quirky atmospheric gothic tale of a young rural Irish girl who has seemingly stopped eating and is miraculously existing on nothing but fresh air and water. An English nurse is engaged to keep an eye on her to see if she truly is the miracle that her family claims. A bit of a slow burner at first but very atmospheric, beautifully acted and filmed. I liked it apart from the over-arty, slightly pretentious beginning (stick with it, it gets better within a few minutes). 8/10. 

Haych

Your Place Or Mine

Netflix RomCom with Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon.

Reese (Debbie) and Ashton (Peter) had a brief fling 20 years ago and while their relationship went no further they remain best friends, call each other daily and apparently tell each other everything.

Fast forward to present day and Peter lives in New York while Debbie still lives in LA, where they met.  

Debbie needs to visit New York to take some classes for her degree and is let down at the last minute by her friend who was meant to look after her 13 year old son while she was away.  

Peter steps in and they effectively swap homes for a week, Peter flying to LA to look after Debbie's son, and Debbie flies to New York and stays in Peter's apartment while she studies for her degree.

While swapping homes for the week things happen and they learn that they don't quite tell each other everything.

It's very predictable, of course, and if I'm honest it's not very funny for a romcom, and given past works of both Ashton and Reese not at all what I expected.  But, I really enjoyed it.  It's sweet, entertaining and while not laugh out loud funny there are some amusing moments, but in a grown up kind of way.

If they filled it with laughs it would have detracted from what is actually quite a good story and it would just have felt cheap and probably have been less funny.

I wasn't expecting to like it but I really did.  Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon are both perfect in their roles and are great to watch.  They have both aged incredibly well, too!

I can't help it but I have to give it 8/10 for just being a really sweet, entertaining feel good boy-meets-girl kinda movie.

HerbieTheRadDorklift

Plane

I now rate films based on the type of film they are, and for this type of film it's 10/10