What films have you watched recently?

Emp_Fab

Avatar.  Yes, I've only just watched it for the first time.

Visually beautiful.  Plotwise it's just a hash of Aliens and Dances with Wolves plus a million other 'good vs evil' tropes.  Still, I've never got aroused by an animated blue woman before.  Neytiri is a babe.

Philly_Q

Emp_Fab said:

Avatar.  Yes, I've only just watched it for the first time.

Visually beautiful.  Plotwise it's just a hash of Aliens and Dances with Wolves plus a million other 'good vs evil' tropes.  

It's basically a big budget remake of FernGully: The Last Rainforest.

goldtop

Philly_Q said:

Emp_Fab said:

Avatar.  Yes, I've only just watched it for the first time.

Visually beautiful.  Plotwise it's just a hash of Aliens and Dances with Wolves plus a million other 'good vs evil' tropes.  

It's basically a big budget remake of FernGully: The Last Rainforest.

And/or ... Pocahontas. 

Brio

Just came here to post that. :-)

https://thejrexpress.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/avatar_cam1.jpg?w=770

Philly_Q

The Wicker Man (1973)

Back on limited cinema release for its 50th anniversary.  I've seen it several times on a big screen but I'm not sure I've seen this particular cut before.

It's so weird from beginning to end, and yet it somehow seems completely believable.  Perhaps because there are no monsters, no gore effects, no studio sets, no villains even... it really hasn't aged at all.  And it still has one of the most extraordinary final scenes in cinema history.  Bollocks to CGI...

I don't really go in for marks out of 10, but this is definitely a 10.  Still my favourite film, ever.

Offset

They Nest (2000)

On the face of it I shouldn't have really liked this film.  A somewhat cliched plot about cockroaches with some unpleasant nesting habits which overrun a Maine island.

However: what set this apart is the direction, the character development and the acting.   Thomas Calabro, Dean Stockwell, John Savage, and Kristen Dalton (phwooooar) all put in good turns, the plot is pacey, the effects are good and overall I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Not a bad way to spend a spare 90 minutes.

6.5/10

JezWynd

fretmeister said:

BigBearKris said:

fretmeister said:

I rewatched LA Confidential.

What a cracking film. Brilliant cast, superb script, excellent sets - everything is just spot on.

As near as perfect as a film can be. My second favourite film of all time.

Absolutely, its a masterpiece. 

What's your no1?

Kind Hearts and Coronets.

I love it. The subtlety of the script, and that it is genuinely witty, the masterclass from Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, and Joan Greenwood, and that there just isn't anything that could be done better in it.

A pox on the Americans for insisting that the US release have an extra 20 seconds or so to completely change the feel of the ending. Stupid yanks and their claimed morality! Only the UK release exists!

 “I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square.”

I didn’t know about the US ending, what did they do to it?

Emp_Fab

Probably a car carrying the baddies bumped into a parked car and exploded, killing them all - and the orphanage was finally saved from closure.

Emp_Fab

I just watched Shaft - the 2000 version with Samuel L Jackson.

Absolute shite.  It was like a sweary cop movie simplified for five year olds.

Emp_Fab

JezWynd said:

fretmeister said:

BigBearKris said:

fretmeister said:

I rewatched LA Confidential.

What a cracking film. Brilliant cast, superb script, excellent sets - everything is just spot on.

As near as perfect as a film can be. My second favourite film of all time.

Absolutely, its a masterpiece. 

What's your no1?

Kind Hearts and Coronets.

I love it. The subtlety of the script, and that it is genuinely witty, the masterclass from Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, and Joan Greenwood, and that there just isn't anything that could be done better in it.

A pox on the Americans for insisting that the US release have an extra 20 seconds or so to completely change the feel of the ending. Stupid yanks and their claimed morality! Only the UK release exists!

 “I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square.”

I didn’t know about the US ending, what did they do to it?

Well, according to "Let me Google that for you", The ending of the US version was extended to show the guards discovering Louis Mazzini's written memoirs/confessions to make it clear to the audience that he did not get away with the murders of his relatives, the baddies died in a car explosion and the orphanage was saved, whilst the UK version remains ambiguous on the subject.

Shrews

tony99 said:

EricTheWeary said:

Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Prime. 

Having known almost nothing about this I went in eyes open. Enjoyed the set up with the laundry and the lesbian daughter and then it was 8 hours of sci fi nonsense, FFS the multiverse thing has been done to death. I can see the Oscars for technical aspects and nothing wrong with the individual performances but it was just very, very boring. 

Agreed, I thought it was going somewhere at first but eventually it just went round in circles. I don't think it got anywhere near justifying the acclaim.

I'm normally a big fan of surreal movies but only got 45 mins into this film and gave up. If I'd watched it at the cinema I'd have walked out. I just found it annoying and didn't care about any of the characters. 

Boring. Not even worthy of a score.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

The Wicker Man (1973)

Back on limited cinema release for its 50th anniversary.  I've seen it several times on a big screen but I'm not sure I've seen this particular cut before.

It's so weird from beginning to end, and yet it somehow seems completely believable.  Perhaps because there are no monsters, no gore effects, no studio sets, no villains even... it really hasn't aged at all.  And it still has one of the most extraordinary final scenes in cinema history.  Bollocks to CGI...

I don't really go in for marks out of 10, but this is definitely a 10.  Still my favourite film, ever.

It’s an extraordinary, astounding film. I must try to see this cut at the cinema. I’ve seen at least a couple of different versions several times and always find some new detail I’d missed before.

I’ve also just watched, for the first time …

Rolling Thunder Revue

Martin Scorsese’s take on Bob Dylan’s 1975 tour of the same name. It’s surreal, disjointed and confusing, but fascinating. I had never really realised what a mesmerising performer Dylan was in his prime - I’ve never seen him live, although I have probably half his entire recorded output… always put off by reports of being either brilliant or terrible.

If you’re even vaguely interested in Dylan you should see it. It leaves a lot out, but I think gets to the heart of why he is a genius.

9/10

(Netflix)

Philly_Q

Night of the Demon (1957)

I decided I had to watch this today after some discussion in a couple of other threads.  Fortunately it wasn't too difficult to find my Blu-ray copy!  Rather like The Wicker Man which I watched yesterday, this was cut by a good ten minutes prior to release, and we're lucky the original version survives. 

The film holds up very well.  Dana Andrews plays a typically brash, self-assured American abroad and I'm not sure if we're meant to find him irritating or not, but this makes it all the more effective when he begins to believe in the curse which has been laid on him.

@darthed1981 you're right, showing the demon at the start of the film was a mistake, but the scene when it reappears is amazing.  I know the general rule is that nothing you see on screen can be effective as what you imagine, but there are odd exceptions!

(Oh, and I hadn't realised Foggy from Last of the Summer Wine was in it!   Rather a different role though.)

stickyfiddle

The Batman (2022) 

It's still a bit too long and tries to do a little bit too much.  But it's still brilliant. 

fretmeister

JezWynd said:

fretmeister said:

BigBearKris said:

fretmeister said:

I rewatched LA Confidential.

What a cracking film. Brilliant cast, superb script, excellent sets - everything is just spot on.

As near as perfect as a film can be. My second favourite film of all time.

Absolutely, its a masterpiece. 

What's your no1?

Kind Hearts and Coronets.

I love it. The subtlety of the script, and that it is genuinely witty, the masterclass from Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, and Joan Greenwood, and that there just isn't anything that could be done better in it.

A pox on the Americans for insisting that the US release have an extra 20 seconds or so to completely change the feel of the ending. Stupid yanks and their claimed morality! Only the UK release exists!

 “I shot an arrow in the air; she fell to earth in Berkeley Square.”

I didn’t know about the US ending, what did they do to it?

@JezWynd ;

The proper version has him simply leaving the prison. He got away with it.

The US version shows some hands finding the memoirs in the cell and a scene in his carriage as he leaves the prison grounds when he suddenly remembers he left them in the cell.

The US version was added on to appease the US morality police to suggest that he didn't get away with anything in the end.

Offset

^^ Ah ha!  I've only seen the US version in that case!

fretmeister

Offset said:

^^ Ah ha!  I've only seen the US version in that case!

It's remarkable how much of a feel change those extra few seconds give it.

While of course I don't condone murder.... I did like that he got away with it.

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Shrews said:

tony99 said:

EricTheWeary said:

Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Prime. 

Having known almost nothing about this I went in eyes open. Enjoyed the set up with the laundry and the lesbian daughter and then it was 8 hours of sci fi nonsense, FFS the multiverse thing has been done to death. I can see the Oscars for technical aspects and nothing wrong with the individual performances but it was just very, very boring. 

Agreed, I thought it was going somewhere at first but eventually it just went round in circles. I don't think it got anywhere near justifying the acclaim.

I'm normally a big fan of surreal movies but only got 45 mins into this film and gave up. If I'd watched it at the cinema I'd have walked out. I just found it annoying and didn't care about any of the characters. 

Boring. Not even worthy of a score.

I also wasn't as bowled over by it as the Oscar judges apparently were. My complaint with it was that it seemed like a sketch show with a variety of 10-15 min skits. I thought some of them were great and really funny, but a good chunk of them missed the mark for me and I got bored.

Very disjointed, but I did enjoy quite a lot of it. Definitely not Best Picture worthy, even though it wasn't exactly a vintage year.

Offset

Dontgiveupyourdayjob said:

Shrews said:

tony99 said:

EricTheWeary said:

Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Prime. 

Having known almost nothing about this I went in eyes open. Enjoyed the set up with the laundry and the lesbian daughter and then it was 8 hours of sci fi nonsense, FFS the multiverse thing has been done to death. I can see the Oscars for technical aspects and nothing wrong with the individual performances but it was just very, very boring. 

Agreed, I thought it was going somewhere at first but eventually it just went round in circles. I don't think it got anywhere near justifying the acclaim.

I'm normally a big fan of surreal movies but only got 45 mins into this film and gave up. If I'd watched it at the cinema I'd have walked out. I just found it annoying and didn't care about any of the characters. 

Boring. Not even worthy of a score.

I also wasn't as bowled over by it as the Oscar judges apparently were. My complaint with it was that it seemed like a sketch show with a variety of 10-15 min skits. I thought some of them were great and really funny, but a good chunk of them missed the mark for me and I got bored.

Very disjointed, but I did enjoy quite a lot of it. Definitely not Best Picture worthy, even though it wasn't exactly a vintage year.

We gave up well before the end.

JezWynd

fretmeister said:

Offset said:

^^ Ah ha!  I've only seen the US version in that case!

It's remarkable how much of a feel change those extra few seconds give it.

While of course I don't condone murder.... I did like that he got away with it.

I've seen the movie numerous times and I've always seen the version where he suddenly remembers that he's left his memoir behind in the cells. Thanks for the info, I'll be sure to look out for it next time I watch.