What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

Offset said:

EricTheWeary said:

Danny1969 said:

I gave up on Everything Everywhere All AT Once after 20 minutes, it was just too predictable, slapstick and over acted. The science also seemed to be a mash up of the many worlds  / Everett inturp of QM and the multiverse theory. 

I watched the Kermode review of it this morning. He seems to go to great lengths to say nothing about it. Such an acclaimed film I wonder if he didn't like it but can't bring himself to say so. 

I'm quite keen on Family Guy's Road to the Multiverse which covered much of the same ground as EEAAO back in 2009 but in 25 minutes. Happy to recommend that as an alternative. 

Final nail in EEAAO's coffin from my perspective.  I'm not going to bother.

Kermode is fairly opinionated and isn't backwards in coming forwards - perhaps he just thought it was 'meh'... unlike him to hold back though.

That's odd, I thought I'd read a Kermode review where he was quite positive about it.... and yes, here it is:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/15/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-review-michelle-yeoh-jamie-lee-curtis-daniel-kwan-daniel-scheinert

I tend to agree with him more often than not, but not so much in this case.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

EricTheWeary said:

Danny1969 said:

I gave up on Everything Everywhere All AT Once after 20 minutes, it was just too predictable, slapstick and over acted. The science also seemed to be a mash up of the many worlds  / Everett inturp of QM and the multiverse theory. 

I watched the Kermode review of it this morning. He seems to go to great lengths to say nothing about it. Such an acclaimed film I wonder if he didn't like it but can't bring himself to say so. 

I'm quite keen on Family Guy's Road to the Multiverse which covered much of the same ground as EEAAO back in 2009 but in 25 minutes. Happy to recommend that as an alternative. 

Final nail in EEAAO's coffin from my perspective.  I'm not going to bother.

Kermode is fairly opinionated and isn't backwards in coming forwards - perhaps he just thought it was 'meh'... unlike him to hold back though.

That's odd, I thought I'd read a Kermode review where he was quite positive about it.... and yes, here it is:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/may/15/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-review-michelle-yeoh-jamie-lee-curtis-daniel-kwan-daniel-scheinert

I tend to agree with him more often than not, but not so much in this case.

The result may be a tad overlong and convolutedly overstuffed, but it made me laugh, cry and think – which is more than can be said for many a Marvel flick.

Not quite sitting on the fence I’ll give him that. 

Philly_Q

It made me laugh a few times, it made me think a bit - as in "what the fuck is going on?" - but it certainly didn't make me cry. 

I don't think it's a bad film, I just think there's an emperor's new clothes element to it.  It's not all that clever, it's not all that weird and the performances really aren't all that great (I'm not going to begrudge Jamie Lee Curtis her Oscar though).

Incidentally, if you want a wacky recent movie try Quentin Dupieux's Incredible but True.  Even if you don't like it, it's only about 75 minutes long.

Blueingreen

Offset said:

EricTheWeary said:

Danny1969 said:

I gave up on Everything Everywhere All AT Once after 20 minutes, it was just too predictable, slapstick and over acted. The science also seemed to be a mash up of the many worlds  / Everett inturp of QM and the multiverse theory. 

I watched the Kermode review of it this morning. He seems to go to great lengths to say nothing about it. Such an acclaimed film I wonder if he didn't like it but can't bring himself to say so. 

I'm quite keen on Family Guy's Road to the Multiverse which covered much of the same ground as EEAAO back in 2009 but in 25 minutes. Happy to recommend that as an alternative. 

Final nail in EEAAO's coffin from my perspective.  I'm not going to bother.

Kermode is fairly opinionated and isn't backwards in coming forwards - perhaps he just thought it was 'meh'... unlike him to hold back though.

Yeah Kermode makes a show of being from the "dare to be different" school of criticism where he takes pride in ostentatiously liking stuff orthodox criticism is sniffy about, or being conspicuously unimpressed by sacred cows.  It's all a bit of an act for me and a much safer, more considered performance than he pretends, but I don't think it would prevent him from taking a swipe at an Oscars darling if he didn't think it fit his criteria. 

(Full disclosure - in case it's not already obvious, I don't like him much as a persona or critic: his approval or disapproval wouldn't make me more or less likely to watch a film, because I think he's more interested in painting himself as a bit of a maverick sage than he is in identifying whether the movie under consideration is one his audience would enjoy seeing).

Kebabkid

The Banshees of Inisherin.................jeez, it was deliberately slow but very sad

Jfingers

Tried a quick search, then a little more advanced. Don't have the time to carry on, anyway thanks to the person who put White Noise on these pages, it was excellent.

White Noise, Netflix, 9/10

Shrews

Philomena

Steve Coogan and Judi Dench in a true story about an Irish woman searching for the son she had taken from her by nuns. Lots of twists and turns along the way, with Coogan in a straight role as a journalist telling the story and tracking the son down.

I enjoyed it.

Not sure why Judi Dench was nominated for an oscar though. Her accent changes from Irish to James Bond 'M' throughout the film, even half way through sentences. Steve Coogan does his best not to be Partridge, but 'Aha!' he still is at times.

Amazing story though  7/10

MagicPigDetective

Devotion, on Prime. Based on true tale of a black pilot in the Korean war. Stunning flight scenes with the Corsairs. Starts quite slow but it develops and ends very powerful and emotional. Jonathan Majors us excellent as the main character.

RocknRollDave

Haych said:

Watched the new Luther film too last night. 

Thought it was alright so long as you didn’t think too hard. If you think about it then it becomes very obvious that it’s totally implausible as to be ridiculous. 

Otherwise it was a bit like a Jo Nesbo novel turned into a film. 

My problem with it was that the nonsense was so in-your-face that it didn’t require any thinking at all to draw attention to it. Really hard to suspend one’s disbelief at all to tosh like this.

HAL9000

Rock and Roll’s Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie. Hugely entertaining and available on Netflix. An absolute must (and also an absolute hoot) for those old enough to remember John Otway and Wild Willie Barrett’s performance on OGWT. Easily eight out of ten from me.

rze99

Jfingers said:

Tried a quick search, then a little more advanced. Don't have the time to carry on, anyway thanks to the person who put White Noise on these pages, it was excellent.

White Noise, Netflix, 9/10

thanks for the tip I'd not spotted that one - looks like it'll be on my list

Offset

HAL9000 said:

Rock and Roll’s Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie. Hugely entertaining and available on Netflix. An absolute must (and also an absolute hoot) for those old enough to remember John Otway and Wild Willie Barrett’s performance on OGWT. Easily eight out of ten from me.

It's brilliant isn't it!  Got to love Otway.  I've seen him more times than I care to remember and despite the fact I know his act inside out, I still enjoy it.

A friend of mine is a massive fan and a couple of years ago, his daughter asked JO to record a happy birthday video for him.  Otway duly obliged!

boogieman

Offset said:

HAL9000 said:

Rock and Roll’s Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie. Hugely entertaining and available on Netflix. An absolute must (and also an absolute hoot) for those old enough to remember John Otway and Wild Willie Barrett’s performance on OGWT. Easily eight out of ten from me.

It's brilliant isn't it!  Got to love Otway.  I've seen him more times than I care to remember and despite the fact I know his act inside out, I still enjoy it.

A friend of mine is a massive fan and a couple of years ago, his daughter asked JO to record a happy birthday video for him.  Otway duly obliged!

I’ve seen Otway many times too, I still can’t figure out if it’s all done very knowingly or he really is totally deluded about his talents. A mate of mine, Steve Barker, made the Otway film btw, he’s been a massive Otway fan for years and did it mostly out of love for the guy. Also Otway is very canny with a penny and certainly would never have paid a proper film crew to do it. It was mostly filmed on a Canon 5D and GoPros and then edited on a laptop in Steve’s spare bedroom. 

EricTheWeary

Funeral in Berlin (1966)

iplayer

I don’t think as well known but probably better plotted and better looking than The Ipcress File. I like the period stuff - the cars, clothes, East Berlin. There is a third Harry Palmer film, The Billion Dollar Brain, but that doesn’t seem to be available for streaming anywhere. 

Tone71

The Whale: Depressing but a really good watch 7/10

A Man Called Otto : A good easy watch with some funny bits 7/10

Philly_Q

EricTheWeary said:

Funeral in Berlin (1966)

iplayer

I don’t think as well known but probably better plotted and better looking than The Ipcress File. I like the period stuff - the cars, clothes, East Berlin. There is a third Harry Palmer film, The Billion Dollar Brain, but that doesn’t seem to be available for streaming anywhere. 

That's the one directed by Ken Russell.  It's pretty bonkers.

The Harry Palmer films loomed quite large in my childhood because Len Deighton was my dad's favourite author... he had all the Deighton books including one with an interesting cover... Anyway, I've always liked The Ipcress File best of the three films.  I read the book in my early teens and didn't really get it.  It wasn't much like the film.

EricTheWeary

Philly_Q said:

EricTheWeary said:

Funeral in Berlin (1966)

iplayer

I don’t think as well known but probably better plotted and better looking than The Ipcress File. I like the period stuff - the cars, clothes, East Berlin. There is a third Harry Palmer film, The Billion Dollar Brain, but that doesn’t seem to be available for streaming anywhere. 

That's the one directed by Ken Russell.  It's pretty bonkers.

The Harry Palmer films loomed quite large in my childhood because Len Deighton was my dad's favourite author... he had all the Deighton books including one with an interesting cover... Anyway, I've always liked The Ipcress File best of the three films.  I read the book in my early teens and didn't really get it.  It wasn't much like the film.

Deighton has a cameo in The Ipcress File, apparently it’s his hands you see breaking eggs as Caine couldn’t do it. 

Apparently Motörhead’s Bomber is named after Deighton’s book of that name. 

Offset

boogieman said:

I’ve seen Otway many times too, I still can’t figure out if it’s all done very knowingly or he really is totally deluded about his talents. A mate of mine, Steve Barker, made the Otway film btw, he’s been a massive Otway fan for years and did it mostly out of love for the guy. Also Otway is very canny with a penny and certainly would never have paid a proper film crew to do it. It was mostly filmed on a Canon 5D and GoPros and then edited on a laptop in Steve’s spare bedroom. 

Yeah I've bought him drinks on a fair few occasions.  He never declines :-)

20 years ago the same mate chatted to him after a gig in Guildford and asked him how much he'd charge to do a set at his 40th birthday at a private club in London.  "£500 for me and the boy and a free bar"...

CaseOfAce

Predators - the Adrien Brody Part 3 Predator flick ( yeah I know the alien vs. predator flicks but they don't count...)
As underrated as the over the top part 2.
Brilliant premise, great sci-fi - it does sort of run out of steam a little once the Laurence Fishburne character enters but still keeps you guessing right to the end what's going to happen.

Prey - Part 4 Predator - on Disney+ - you can see why the critics wet themselves over this - native american indian characters  in idyllic 18th century Southern Great Plains setting beautifully filmed - I now know more than I care to about the ins and outs of comanche sociology though.
Fortunately halfway thru the director suddenly realises it's a frikkin' Predators movie, ditches the Attenborough - and it finally gets interesting.
Missed opportunity that they didn't go Rambo: First Blood plot wise - now that would have been a movie but still worth a view.

And we finally get to see who originally owned the 1719 musket handed to Danny Glover at the end of Part 2.

BigBearKris

John Wick Chapter 4.

Went with work and I don't think I was prepared for nearly 3 hours screening time. 
Amazing fighting scenes, non stop action and about everything that you kay expect from the franchise. 
It was enjoyable but also one of the most ridiculous films I've ever seen. 

6.666/10