What films have you watched recently?

BigBearKris

Haych said:

Fall (Netflix)

Not a comfortable film to watch if you don't like the thought of being up high.  Very little in the way of gore but all the same it should be classified as a horror film, it's just about the most tense thing I've ever watched.

Two best friends decide to climb a 2000 foot radio tower in the desert a year after one of them loses their husband in a climbing accident.

After reaching the upper platform of the tower and performing pointless stunts, the rickety ladder becomes detached and falls to the ground leaving the pair stranded at the top with no way to descend the structure.

Talk about tense and nausea inducing!  It's very well done.  There are no green screens or digital effects, either.  The top 100 feet of the tower was constructed on the summit of a mountain so all the up high shots look realistically up high.  I guess there must have been some digital shenanigans for the look downs shots, but the scenes with people in them were mostly done properly.

As well done as it was, the cynic in me doesn't buy the ending. I have an iPhone, it has never worked like that for me.

Hard to give it a score, as a film for tension, totally 10/10.  Plot 5/10, plausibility 2/10, acting 6/10.

We've seen it when it first came out last year so I got over the trauma by now
It was pretty scary as I don't do heights either. It induces similar discomfort like those videos on yt of people climbing similar masts and structures - you have to have your brain built completely different to attempt such activities. 
Interesting facts about film being shot the way you described - I assumed it's all CGI. It did look quite realistic so kudos for that.

EricTheWeary

JezWynd said:

EricTheWeary said:

The Equalizer 2 

Film 4

I really liked The Equalizer and found 2 very disappointing when it came out. So, better than I remembered tonight. Bit silly in places, bit cliched in others but it hangs together. Two of the cast later get reunited in The Mandalorian I realised. 

The Equalizer is revenge porn. It's a very popular genre, we all love to see the bad guys get their just desserts, but director Fuqua takes it over the top with a near identical shot in both movies as the primo bad guy gets taken down in tortured, wet, slo-mo. The actor in the first movie, Marton Csokas, has a chillingly deadpan perma-sneer that gets cartoonish during the death shot. It's powerful stuff, esp with the repeated 'before I die alone, I will have vengeance' vocal line leading up to it.

In the first one he works in a DIY shop, in the second he's a sort of Uber driver. Lives a modest lifestyle, nice guy to everyone. But he has a secret double life and is a shit kicking badass when he wants to be. Definitely feeding into a particular type of fantasy. 

JezWynd

EricTheWeary said:

JezWynd said:

EricTheWeary said:

The Equalizer 2 

Film 4

I really liked The Equalizer and found 2 very disappointing when it came out. So, better than I remembered tonight. Bit silly in places, bit cliched in others but it hangs together. Two of the cast later get reunited in The Mandalorian I realised. 

The Equalizer is revenge porn. It's a very popular genre, we all love to see the bad guys get their just desserts, but director Fuqua takes it over the top with a near identical shot in both movies as the primo bad guy gets taken down in tortured, wet, slo-mo. The actor in the first movie, Marton Csokas, has a chillingly deadpan perma-sneer that gets cartoonish during the death shot. It's powerful stuff, esp with the repeated 'before I die alone, I will have vengeance' vocal line leading up to it.

In the first one he works in a DIY shop, in the second he's a sort of Uber driver. Lives a modest lifestyle, nice guy to everyone. But he has a secret double life and is a shit kicking badass when he wants to be. Definitely feeding into a particular type of fantasy. 

The revenge is ours, the audience’s, rather than the protagonist’s - he’s the tool (who handily works in a tool shop!).

Philly_Q

Haych said:

Fall (Netflix)
Talk about tense and nausea inducing!  It's very well done.  There are no green screens or digital effects, either.  The top 100 feet of the tower was constructed on the summit of a mountain so all the up high shots look realistically up high.  I guess there must have been some digital shenanigans for the look downs shots, but the scenes with people in them were mostly done properly.

Yeah, I saw a screening introduced by the director.  One of the very first things they asked when they were auditioning the cast was if they could handle heights, they didn't want to go through a whole audition process then find their chosen stars suffered from vertigo!

goldtop

I want to download a few films from Netflix for a long-haul flight. On the strength of the reviews above, I've dismissed Fall from my viewing list.  

Any other suggestions? Thriller, sci-fi, drama (no rom-coms, car chases, Marvel-type stuff)

rze99

Offset said:

SteveRobinson said:

Fall 2022 (Netflix)

This is the most terrifying thing I've ever watched.

Me too.  I had to turn away more times than I could count.

why I've avoided it... I'm officially not scared of heights. Until I am.

rze99

Prisoners

2013 Netflix

Two families suffer the abduction of their daughters and there's only one lead. The Detective assigned is rigorous despite his incompetent boss, but is unable to hang anything on the only suspect emerging and then, led by one of the exasperated and increasingly aggressive fathers, they take their own actions and horrible things gradually ensue (avoiding spoilers). Things get darker and darker. Super performances all round this is not an easy watch and it is pretty long. Warning: Torture and extreme cruelty scenes.

Very impressive 
8/10

mgaw

goldtop said:

I want to download a few films from Netflix for a long-haul flight. On the strength of the reviews above, I've dismissed Fall from my viewing list.  

Any other suggestions? Thriller, sci-fi, drama (no rom-coms, car chases, Marvel-type stuff)

Snakes on a plane.  Airplane. Flight. Flight 93. Sully …,,

rze99

Elizabeth

1998 BBC iPlayer Historical drama 

Elizabeth Tudor (Cate Blanchett) becomes queen and is assumed weak by threats from within and abroad and strongly guided to marry to ensure peace.  Hard to be sue who to rust she gradually asserts herself and develops confidence in her own judgement and strengths.  Walsingham is played by a wily and astute Geoffrey Rush and her not-so-secret lover, Sir Robert Dudley by Joseph Fiennes Kathy Burke is an interesting choice as sister Mary but I found that something of a stretch. Seemed to play fast and loose with history but that's what I expected. I missed this one before now so was fresh to it. Some of the costumes and location shoot are fabulous (but Elizabeth's crown looks like kids costume for some reason. Blanchett is terrific and worth watching it for alone, beautifully playing a woman in transition from girl to the world's most powerful person. 

Enjoyable
7/10

CavemanGrogg

Rob Zombie's, The Monsters, hilarious, I enjoyed it, which is rare for me with comedies.

Offset

Unearth (2020)

American horror starring John Carpenter's one-time muse, Adrienne Barbeau.  It took me three installments to to get through this and frankly, I wish I hadn't bothered.  For some reason I wanted to like it which is, I suppose, why I persevered.  But it was undeserving of my effort.  It committed the biggest movie crime there is - it was boring.  Furthermore it wasn't remotely scary and I didn't give a toss about any of the characters.

Avoid.  2/10.

Philly_Q

@Offset I think I have Unearth on my watchlist but I saw a few seconds of the trailer and I could tell it was going to be bad.  The title reminds me of another film which is on one of the streaming channels - The Devil Below.  Which is also very boring and a complete waste of time, avoid if you haven't already seen it.

EricTheWeary

The Ipcress File

BBC4 


I thought I had seen this before at some point but may have been getting it mixed up with other Caine films. 

It’s a bit of a period piece, if you want to know what London looked like in 1965 and to hear people discussing ‘birds’ without irony you’ll love it. The arty camera angles, the rather disjointed story telling and leaps into implausibility don’t help but it has character and atmosphere and it seems  hard to imagine anyone else in that role (offered to Richard Harris originally I gather). 

Offset

Philly_Q said:

@Offset I think I have Unearth on my watchlist but I saw a few seconds of the trailer and I could tell it was going to be bad.  The title reminds me of another film which is on one of the streaming channels - The Devil Below.  Which is also very boring and a complete waste of time, avoid if you haven't already seen it.

Sadly for me @Philly_Q I've already endured The Devil Below.  It wasn't so much a case of streaming as steaming.  Utter shite as you say.

AlbertC

The Wonder
Netflix

I enjoyed this very well acted film. Set in 19th century Ireland. A young girl becomes the focus of attention after stopping eating but suffering no ill effects. The community, papers and church are all embroiled in the circus surrounding this "miracle". 
Florence Pugh plays a widowed nurse brought over from England to study and assess the girl and her condition.
Lovely wild scenery of Ireland.

8/10

chillidoggy

Fall.

Despite my misgivings having read the previous reports on here, I decided to watch it. Pretty clever, although there were some glaring holes, and I found myself wondering why two intelligent beings had climbed a 2,000 ft tall mast in the arse-end of nowhere without letting anyone else on the planet know they were doing so.

Better than I thought it would be, although that could have been due to me dribbling at the drop-dead gorgeous Virgina Gardner and her pneumatic thrupenny bits.

fretfinder

Mile 22 with Mark Wahlberg, stylish action and graphic violence but a feeble story and, overall, an absolute load of old tosh.

Offset

My Name Is Lenny (2017)

I was drawn to check this out after recent references in the Charles Bronson thread to Lenny McLean, of whom this film is a biopic.

Aussie Josh Helman plays the title role which is the first problem.  As someone born within the sound of Bow Bells,  I have to say his accent wasn't convincing.  He puts in an OK-ish performance but no matter how hard he tried, he'd never EVER be as terrifying as the real Lenny and frankly he looked nothing like him.  It's a fairly harrowing tale though, and McLean most definitely had an assortment of personal demons which drove some of his behaviours.  McLean's nephew was the screenwriter for this film so one would imagine it's close to the truth.

'Enjoyable' isn't a word I'd use to describe this film as it's a painful watch.  McLean does find redemption of sorts towards the end of his life - he died young at the age of 49 from lung cancer.

I'd give it 4/10.

Barquentine

Luther Fallen Sun. What utter bollocks. Worst film I've seen in a long time.

CaseOfAce

Barquentine said:

Luther Fallen Sun. What utter bollocks. Worst film I've seen in a long time.

I quite enjoyed the Luther film - I mean nothing we haven't seen a million times before and some of the laziest screenwriting I've seen since ooh... last week - but the way they did the overhead shots of London made it look like Gotham City. I assume they were going for that vibe because of the utterly pointless shot of Luther standing on top of a tower block staring moodily at the vista... why ?!? was he trying to see the master criminal on the horizon?!
And it basically makes a very strong case for Idris Elba being the next Bond?

Fall - I hate heights and had to watch this in bits.. really... very ...tense.
I felt a major scene was left out at the end which was a bit underhand of the makers.