What films have you watched recently?

thing

Just watched The King, the story of Henry V from before his dad died to Agincourt. Thought it was excellent. 

ICBM

Wildlife

Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal, plus Ed Oxenbould and Bill Camp, in a domestic drama set in Montana in 1960. It’s quite a slow burn but compelling, almost entirely due to the quality of the acting - Mulligan and Gyllenhaal are typically good, but actually upstaged especially by Oxenbould who is almost painfully brilliant as the awkward introverted teenager, and Camp’s perfect seedy rich businessman.

8/10

(iPlayer)

vanlooy1

Triangle of Sadness (Amazon Prime).
A bunch of rich folk end up washed up on a desert island after a luxury cruise. Bit like a modern twist on the Admirable Crichton except much more interesting.
Well worth a watch.
8/10

equalsql

The Pale Blue Eye 2022 Netflix
Christian Bale and Harry Melling star in this dark, low key, melodramatic tale of a weary detective pushed into investigating a murder at the West Point military academy. Set in the late 1800s, it's a brooding mystery that is lifted by the quite brilliant performance of Harry Melling as a young Edger Allen Poe. 
The investigation, as it progresses, is a touch confusing but there are some good plot twists and generally it's pretty watchable.
Not one for the kiddies though.
7/10

Offset

equalsql said:

The Pale Blue Eye 2022 Netflix
Christian Bale and Harry Melling star in this dark, low key, melodramatic tale of a weary detective pushed into investigating a murder at the West Point military academy. Set in the late 1800s, it's a brooding mystery that is lifted by the quite brilliant performance of Harry Melling as a young Edger Allen Poe. 
The investigation, as it progresses, is a touch confusing but there are some good plot twists and generally it's pretty watchable.
Not one for the kiddies though.
7/10

Agreed.  I absolutely adored this and Melling bears an uncanny resemblance to Poe.  A moustache would have topped it off, and despite his accent slipping all over the place from time to time he was truly excellent. 

boogieman

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. On Prime. 

Guy Ritchie directing Jason Statham as, surprise, surprise, a private military contractor with mad combat skills, who’s hired to rescue a piece of naughty technology from Baddies. 

It should be crap (because Jason Statham) but it’s rescued by some wry humour and a brilliant turn from Hugh Grant as a billionaire arms dealer. The plot is utter nonsense but it’s still good fun so: 7.5/10

I also feel a sequel coming on. If so I hope they keep Hugh Grant onboard. Have to say Ol’ Hugh is growing on me with some good parts in The Gentleman and Paddington 2. He seems to have morphed from floppy haired yuppy twat into Michael Caine these days, and none the worse for that. 

Also The Torture Chamber of Dr Sadism. Also on Prime.  I’ll admit I was lured in by the title, the fact it has Christopher Lee in it and the description promised disturbing scenes, nudity and violence. Sadly nope: none of that, plus it’s totally awful, but not even in a so bad it’s good way. A German made, utterly plagiarised but shit take on The Pit and the Pendulum, with terrible sets, rubbish acting and nonsensical dialogue. I’d never heard of it, which is surprising considering I normally love Hammer Horrors of this era (this is a 1969 film) but small wonder when the film is so rubbish. 1/10. 

DrCornelius

Renfield 

Had high expectations as I love Nick Cage films almost as much as vampire ones and although it didn’t quite meet them it was still a solid 7.5

I would like to have seen more of Cage but then it wouldn’t have been a Renfield film I guess.

bertie

Nobody

bit of a cheesey "angry Clint" in his prime type film - quite a slow starter but, tho far fetched a good "sunday afternoon-er"  action film

8/10

bertie

boogieman said:

 r and a brilliant turn from Hugh Grant as a (camp Michael Caine) billionaire arms dealer. 

same character personality as the journo he played in The Gentlemen

sinbaadi

bertie said:

Nobody

bit of a cheesey "angry Clint" in his prime type film - quite a slow starter but, tho far fetched a good "sunday afternoon-er"  action film

8/10

Some True Lies to it also, I thought.

I liked it.  I'd not seen much about it and who doesn't love a "secret tough guy" film?

bobblehat

Ghosted - Apple+ 

Much better than it should be. 7/10 

Offset

The Deep House (2021, Netflix)

Against my better judgement I watched this last night.  I should have listened to @Reggaebass and heeded the warning signs from the first 15 minutes or so

Absolute tripe.  Not scary, not even claustrophobic.  Tedious and unbelievable on just about every front even with disbelief fully suspended.

Don't bother.  2/10 

Philly_Q

Offset said:

The Deep House (2021, Netflix)

Against my better judgement I watched this last night.  I should have listened to @Reggaebass and heeded the warning signs from the first 15 minutes or so

Absolute tripe.  Not scary, not even claustrophobic.  Tedious and unbelievable on just about every front even with disbelief fully suspended.

Don't bother.  2/10 

Oh, it's directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo.... I might have to watch it, despite your warnings @Offset. ;

Offset

^^ I'm looking forward to reading your expressions of disappointment :-)

Jfingers

3 From Hell, netflix.

I'd seen it before, Mrs J hadn't. Fairly enjoyable horror romp with lot's of nods to lots of better films.

If you enjoyed Natural Born Killers you'll probably enjoy this.

Bonus points for the soundtrack, especially in a gadda da vida. it worked perfectly with the scene.

Extra 0.25 points for Danny Trejo and that dude from Sons/Mayans.

7.25/10

SteveRobinson

Just Jim (2015) BBC iPlayer 

Written, directed by and starring Craig Roberts.

Jim is an outsider at school, bullied and ostracised by his peers. A cool American guy moves into the house next door promising to make Jim cool, which has dire consequences.

An unsettling film, but with some laugh out loud moments. I wasn't sure how much of the action was real and his much takes place in Jim's imagination.

DrCornelius

Prey on Disney +

The latest in the Predator franchise and probably my favourite since 1 and 2 (although Alien v Predator was pretty good)

Set on the plains of North America in the 1770s it follows a tribe of Comanche whose peaceful existence is interrupted by the inter galactic killing machine.

A solid 8.5 out of 10

Philly_Q

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

The Deep House (2021, Netflix)

Against my better judgement I watched this last night.  I should have listened to @Reggaebass and heeded the warning signs from the first 15 minutes or so

Absolute tripe.  Not scary, not even claustrophobic.  Tedious and unbelievable on just about every front even with disbelief fully suspended.

Don't bother.  2/10 

Oh, it's directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo.... I might have to watch it, despite your warnings @Offset. ;

Offset said:

^^ I'm looking forward to reading your expressions of disappointment :-)

Well now.... I didn't hate it quite as much as @Offset did.  It's only 81 minutes, and that's a positive...

A (partially) found-footage haunted house movie, shot underwater, is really not such a bad idea.  Throw in some modern horror cliches - grainy film clips, body parts in jars, photos of missing kids - and a few references to Hellraiser, The Beyond, maybe a bit of Argento... lots of ingredients, you just have to put them together properly.

Unfortunately they don't.  The plot has very little of interest and, being underwater, it's very, very hard to tell what's going on.  But the film is most hampered by the awful, post-dubbed dialogue which feels more like some kind of commentary than characters actually talking.  Surely there was a better way of doing it.  Also the ending is really, really.... nothing.

Anyway, should've known, really.  It's got James Jagger in it.  Weird how much he sounds like his dad.

Reggaebass

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

The Deep House (2021, Netflix)

Against my better judgement I watched this last night.  I should have listened to @Reggaebass and heeded the warning signs from the first 15 minutes or so

Absolute tripe.  Not scary, not even claustrophobic.  Tedious and unbelievable on just about every front even with disbelief fully suspended.

Don't bother.  2/10 

Oh, it's directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo.... I might have to watch it, despite your warnings @Offset. ;

I’ll be interested to hear what you think of it as we don’t all like the same things , great idea for a film but didn’t do it for me, happy viewing 

boogieman

Jfingers said:

3 From Hell, netflix.

I'd seen it before, Mrs J hadn't. Fairly enjoyable horror romp with lot's of nods to lots of better films.

If you enjoyed Natural Born Killers you'll probably enjoy this.

Bonus points for the soundtrack, especially in a gadda da vida. it worked perfectly with the scene.

Extra 0.25 points for Danny Trejo and that dude from Sons/Mayans.

7.25/10

I must watch that, it’s been on my watchlist for ages and apparently it’s being pulled at the end of April. 

Watched Christine last night (on Legend channel). Doesn’t look too dated and stands up ok, especially the special fx which are still surprisingly good. The flaming car scene is great. The only bit that jars is Buddy the school bully, who looks about 25, bit like all those “kids” in Grease.