What films have you watched recently?

SteveRobinson

darius said:

Reminded me a bit of Sunshine  so we watched that the next night. A lot weirder and scarier than I had remembered, also has half The Avengers cast in it, so my daughter was v happy. 

Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg perhaps?

Haych

We watched The Great Train Robbery thing on Netflix this week.  Technically a mini-series but both parts are about an hour and a half long, so I think it qualifies for inclusion in the thread.

Never heard of it before so thought it was a recent thing but turns out it was made in 2013!

Luke Evans takes the lead role of Bruce Reynolds, the master planner of the robbery, and Jim Broadbent plays Tommy Butler, the copper determined to nick the gang who carried out the robbery.

The first film tells the story from the perspective of the gang in the lead up, the planning and the execution of the robbery, while the second film is all about the police effort to find the gang responsible and bring them to justice.

I really enjoyed it and thought it was very well done.  I have no idea of its historical or factual accuracy but one assumes they got all the salient parts correct.

If you have a couple of evenings to waste then it's worth a watch

Haych

Runaway Jury

2003 courtroom drama based on a book by John Grisham.

A gun company hires a slick consultant to try to ensure a favourable jury, and outcome, after they are sued by the widow of a mass shooting victim.  However, one of the jury members has other ideas and subtly offers the verdict for sale to both legal counsels on the case to the highest bidder.

Didn't expect it to be quite as gripping as it was and for a 20 year old film it hasn't dated much.  Nice twist at the end that I didn't see coming.  I can see how the book on which it's based would have been a good read, might have to find it and give it a go.

8/10. Netflix

Reggaebass

Deep House on Netflix, the story sounded really good about 2 divers exploring an underwater house, well it’s dreadful, the only good thing is the underwater drone 4/10 

rze99

Seven Psychopaths

2012 R 1h 50m Film Four

Star-filled black comedy.

Alcoholic screenwriter struggling to produce a Psychopath based script  finds himself drawn into various insanities of others. Funny dark gory cool. Great plot. I laughed out loud 5 or 6 times.. rare.  If you like Tarantino/Coen Brothers. It's also short so you can fit it into an evening without 5 loo breaks. Highly recommended.

8/10

Offset

Reggaebass said:

Deep House on Netflix, the story sounded really good about 2 divers exploring an underwater house, well it’s dreadful, the only good thing is the underwater drone 4/10 

Ah!  That was on my watch-list.  Think I'll strike it off...

SPECTRUM001

DrCornelius said:

ICBM said:

DrCornelius said:

We discussed this at length afterwards and you are wrong (sorry ;-)  )

Which bit - that Part II is better, or that a (very) few other films are as good? If it’s the first, we can agree to disagree .

If it’s the second, watch Apocalypse Now! and see if you still think I’m wrong . (Perhaps not coincidentally, also by Coppola.)

Thats funny as at the end of the film I told my daughter that the next stage of her education would be Apocalypse Now :-)

I love that Coppola quote; talking to his director peers re getting Apocalypse Now wrapped (it was becoming known as ‘Apocalypse Never’) - 

‘if I die making this film, George (Lucas), you finish it. And if you die, John (Milius) will finish it. And if he dies, etc etc’ !!!

Haych

Alice Through the Looking Glass

2016 fantasy action film following on from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but this time directed by James Bobin.

The same cast reassembles and all of them do a wonderful job and Sacha Baron Cohen joins as Time.

Got to be honest, it knocks spots off the usual fantasy action stuff from the likes of DC and Marvel.  My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A perfect rainy Saturday morning film.

earwighoney

ICBM said:

DrCornelius said:

The Godfather as my daughter who had never seen it didn’t believe how good it was.

The only thing better than The Godfather is The Godfather Part II.

(Although a few other films in other genres are equally good.)

And I don't even think it was the pick of films Francis Ford Coppola directed at the time; The Conversation is my favourite of his films. Godfather Part 1 and 2 are exceptional though.

UnclePsychosis

Everything Everywhere All At Once

A distinct meh from me. 

The cinematography is excellent but the whole thing felt like an experiment in filmmaking rather than a film.

I'd recommend people watch it, however it definitely struck me as a piece of avant garde art rather than a piece of entertainment. 

HerbieTheRadDorklift

Not sure where people are gettin "Avant Garde" and the like from EEAAO, I thought it was a very simple story.

UnclePsychosis

HerbieTheRadDorklift said:

Not sure where people are gettin "Avant Garde" and the like from EEAAO, I thought it was a very simple story.

A simple story dressed up in weird for the sake of weird. 

axisus

Haych said:

Alice Through the Looking Glass

2016 fantasy action film following on from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but this time directed by James Bobin.

The same cast reassembles and all of them do a wonderful job and Sacha Baron Cohen joins as Time.

Got to be honest, it knocks spots off the usual fantasy action stuff from the likes of DC and Marvel.  My daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A perfect rainy Saturday morning film.

I guess we all like different things, I found that totally unwatchable! The kids had it on a few years ago and I had to leave the room it was so bad. Each to his own as they say!

axisus

Horns
What a strange film! Daniel Radcliffe is a guy who's girlfriend gets murdered. Everyone thinks he did it, he sprouts horns and sets off to try to find out who did it. It was rather strange but I found it very compelling, probably as I seem to have become a big Daniel Radcliffe fan boy. I think he's a good actor and I just seem to find him interesting. I'll go 7/10

Willy's Wonderland
I thought that this would be good, but it's a poor script and poor acting. Nic Cage stars but doesn't get any lines! It was like a bad B movie, daft story poorly produced and pretty awful on all levels - storyline, characters, acting etc. Having said that, I think that it has all the hallmarks of a future cult classic. IMDB gave the film a generous 5.5/10, I'm OK with that, but for future cult classic status I give it 8.5/10, because sometimes even a bad film becomes good.

Philly_Q

I watched Willy's Wonderland last week, having started once before and fallen asleep.  I think it's a very weak effort, and if it does achieve "future cult classic" status, then we are far too generous doling out our cult classic awards. 

It's not funny, it's not scary, it's not gory... the only thing which earns it any points is Nic Cage's dialogue-free, surprisingly committed performance.  The guy is just cool.

On the whole though, it's just a slightly better version of The Banana Splits Movie.

HAL9000

mgaw said:

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 …,,

Those movies probably wouldn’t appeal to an airline passenger so here’s some music suggestions…

Glen Miller
Buddy Holly
SRV

UnclePsychosis

Took the kids to see Mario.

Its very pretty, the soundtrack is awesome, and it's well cast. I laughed out loud a few times and the kids loved it. Loads of Easter Eggs for the nerds. 

That said, there are definitely better "kids films that adults can enjoy too" out there. The whole thing feels a bit like an excuse to cram in all your favourite Mario bits together rather than an actual film. 

Worth seeing if you have kids and/or love Nintendo, but I doubt you'll want to watch it repeatedly. 

fretmeister

Haych said:

Runaway Jury

2003 courtroom drama based on a book by John Grisham.

A gun company hires a slick consultant to try to ensure a favourable jury, and outcome, after they are sued by the widow of a mass shooting victim.  However, one of the jury members has other ideas and subtly offers the verdict for sale to both legal counsels on the case to the highest bidder.

Didn't expect it to be quite as gripping as it was and for a 20 year old film it hasn't dated much.  Nice twist at the end that I didn't see coming.  I can see how the book on which it's based would have been a good read, might have to find it and give it a go.

8/10. Netflix

The book is great but it’s about cancer and smoking instead of guns. It was written quite a while before the film. By the time the film was released the liability of tobacco companies had been settled so they needed a different basis for the story.

Haych

fretmeister said:

Haych said:

Runaway Jury

2003 courtroom drama based on a book by John Grisham.

A gun company hires a slick consultant to try to ensure a favourable jury, and outcome, after they are sued by the widow of a mass shooting victim.  However, one of the jury members has other ideas and subtly offers the verdict for sale to both legal counsels on the case to the highest bidder.

Didn't expect it to be quite as gripping as it was and for a 20 year old film it hasn't dated much.  Nice twist at the end that I didn't see coming.  I can see how the book on which it's based would have been a good read, might have to find it and give it a go.

8/10. Netflix

The book is great but it’s about cancer and smoking instead of guns. It was written quite a while before the film. By the time the film was released the liability of tobacco companies had been settled so they needed a different basis for the story.

Thanks @fretmeister, that actually makes more sense than the gun angle. I did think it was a bit tenuous but even so still made a very good film. 

Brio

Yup. Great film.