What films have you watched recently?

Pjon

Grangousier said:

Although those are all details from the book, aren't they?

Probably, but I don't remember them being so clunky! It's a big book though and a lot more subtle than the films.  

Gassage

Everest (2015).

The best take on the epic events of 10 March 1995 when the storm hit Everest.

The photography is spot on- super realistic and very well researched- believe they used Santa Monica Mountains in California and the Dolomite mountains in Italy as a backdrop then CGI'd some of it.

Jason Clarke (one of the most underrated actors around) is brilliant as Rob Hall- Hall was noted for his kindness and professionalism and Clarke nails it beautifully in another great performance.

Tis one of those films that's almost a benchmark in itself- it's certainly easily the most realistic account of Everest.

9/10.

BigBearKris

Gassage said:

Everest (2015).

The best take on the epic events of 10 March 1995 when the storm hit Everest.

The photography is spot on- super realistic and very well researched- believe they used Santa Monica Mountains in California and the Dolomite mountains in Italy as a backdrop then CGI'd some of it.

Jason Clarke (one of the most underrated actors around) is brilliant as Rob Hall- Hall was noted for his kindness and professionalism and Clarke nails it beautifully in another great performance.

Tis one of those films that's almost a benchmark in itself- it's certainly easily the most realistic account of Everest.

9/10.

Great film and agreed re Clarke. 

Jfingers

@rze99 thanks for mentioning Kindling on Iplayer. We watched it last night, it got pretty dusty in the room, especially near our eyes.

It had the same gentle vibe as Detectorists for me. The music was an added bonus. Not really a spoiler, but I'd never seen Geoff Bell play anything that wasn't a horrible bastard. I cried when he did...

I thought it was excellent. 9/10.

Gassage

BigBearKris said:

Gassage said:

Everest (2015).

The best take on the epic events of 10 March 1995 when the storm hit Everest.

The photography is spot on- super realistic and very well researched- believe they used Santa Monica Mountains in California and the Dolomite mountains in Italy as a backdrop then CGI'd some of it.

Jason Clarke (one of the most underrated actors around) is brilliant as Rob Hall- Hall was noted for his kindness and professionalism and Clarke nails it beautifully in another great performance.

Tis one of those films that's almost a benchmark in itself- it's certainly easily the most realistic account of Everest.

9/10.

Great film and agreed re Clarke. 

 Every time I see him the film is a belter and he's bloody brilliant.

I was reading that when he took on playing Rob Hall he was most concerned that Hall's wife and daughter would watch the film and he wanted to deliver a performance that was wholly accurate and not ruin Hall's memory for the family - he spent hours researching that day- including mapping the footprints and listening to every radio transmission.

rze99

Jfingers said:

@rze99 thanks for mentioning Kindling on Iplayer. We watched it last night, it got pretty dusty in the room, especially near our eyes.

It had the same gentle vibe as Detectorists for me. The music was an added bonus. Not really a spoiler, but I'd never seen Geoff Bell play anything that wasn't a horrible bastard. I cried when he did...

I thought it was excellent. 9/10.

Pleasure - glad you enjoyed it. It's very moving.

Chuffola

Dune 2 (IMAX)

Epic and beautiful to look at. Soundtrack fantastic (again) - Hans Zimmer always delivers. My only real complaint was the miscasting of Christopher Walken as The Emperor. Totally wrong.

9/10

Poor Things (Disney +)

I've enjoyed earlier movies from this director - The Lobster in particular - but I hated this. I normally love a weird and / or original movie but I couldn't get beyond the vaguely paedo vibes in the early scenes (and I believe one scene had to be cut entirely to get a BBFC rating at all). Not sure what the point of it all was. Awful.  I'm in a minority though as a fair few friends loved it. 

3/10 (it looks fantastic)

rze99

American Fiction

2023 Prime Original

Literary satire. A Lecturer and novelist fed up with the establishment uses a pen name to write a book of the type he despises as a prod in the eye to the industry. Absolutely brilliant intelligent dry script with numerous laugh out loud moments and great performances. Great soundtrack too. 

Highly recommended.

9/10

ICBM

Chuffola said:

Dune 2 (IMAX)

Epic and beautiful to look at. Soundtrack fantastic (again) - Hans Zimmer always delivers. My only real complaint was the miscasting of Christopher Walken as The Emperor. Totally wrong.

I agree - at best he was rather wasted in the role. I also didn’t like the fairly significant timeline shortening and plot change at the end, from the book

(about five years has gone missing - Alia, by then born and aged four, kills the Baron, not Paul)

but apart from that I thought it was fantastic.

VimFuego

Roadhouse, the 2024 remake. Bit of a curate's egg; on one hand gyllenhaal is fantastic (I'm not sure he's capable of giving a bad performance), and it's an even more remarkable achievement given the dross he had to work with. The rest of the film is a huge, steaming pile of shite. I have no sense of smell (I can literally be inches from a 2 week old dead body and not smell a thing, don't ask me how I know this) and even I can smell how bad this pile of a film was. However, the worst thing is not the plot, or the direction, or the fight choreography, it's Connor MacGregor, who should stick to taking roids and not bothering the silver scene. Honestly, this film is so bad it's a must see, it manages to be a 1/10 and a 9/10 at the same time.

TheBigDipper

My last two at the cinema, a bit of a contrast.

Drive-away Dolls
The worst film of the year so far. Total tosh. Save yourselves... 

Mother's Instinct
Really good. Gripping and well played by the two women protagonists (and it's really just about them). Go see it. 

A few weeks ago I went to see Perfect Days. That's a lovely film where nothing much happens, yet by the end you've been told a beautiful story and captivated by the main character. And who knew Tokyo had such interesting public loos? 

Ozzie744

Philly_Q said:

Blood Red Sky (Netflix)

Struggling to find something to watch without paying through the nose, so I went for something I've seen before...

Hijackers of a transatlantic flight don't reckon with the fact that one of the passengers is...

Chaos ensues.

This is slow to gain momentum and there's some pretty ropey acting, but once it gets going it's fucking tremendous.

Yes. I took a chance on this a few weeks back not knowing anything about it and came away really liking it.
Yes, it is slow to get going, but a good payoff indeed!

robgilmo

Tonight I shall be watching Ink , I have watched this a few times over the years, an Indie movie that flopped however then became very populay due to pirating, its low budget, the effects though not visually spectacular are implemented beautifully, the story , about a childs relationship with her father is really well written and quite emotional, the whole thing really is quite lovely, its fantasy at its best. Well worth a watch.


Full movie here, Review OST

Philly_Q

Road House (Amazon Prime)

I thought I should watch it before any last vestige of enthusiasm wore off..  For the first 15 minutes or so I was actually quite enjoying it, the scenery looks good, there are some initially likeable characters (most of whom barely appear in the rest of the film).  But it soon becomes clear that the whole thing is completely inconsequential, with a barely-there storyline and scenes that just sort of... happen.

It doesn't really know if it's a comedy or an action movie, I think it succeeds better as the former because most of the action scenes are actually pretty bad, not helped by excessive CGI and weird swings of the camera.  Casting Conor McGregor seemed like an absolutely terrible idea... but in fact the end result is far worse than anyone could have possibly imagined.  Gyllenhaal undoubtedly carries the film... but was it really worth the bother?

The end credits run for nearly 10 minutes, which suggests a lot of money was wasted...

rze99

Dark Waters

2019 film

Based on real life events. A corporate big ticket firm lawyer, played by Mark Ruffallo, slightly reluctantly takes on a local issue from his old town. Soon he realises he is dealing with a very serious negligence case and against a massive company his firm currently works for, putting his career and relationships in danger.

Slow grower and a serious film about toxicity on more than one level. Ruffallo is absolutely superb as the weight of his responsibility literally looks like it is gradually suffocating him, but it's not a fun ride.

8/10

Offset

Page Eight (2011), Netflix

Stellar cast - Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes - and an intruiging plot.  Nighy is characteristically suave, smartly dressed and understated.  He plays a senior spook whose boss, Michael Gambon, undercovers some dark deeds and secrets at the heart of the UK government.  Rachel Weisz lives in the flat across the landing to Nighy and they strike up a slightly unlikely friendship.

We throughly enjoyed this, but there is one strand to the storyline which (for us at least) detracted from the overall film.  Thankfully it unfolded towards the end of the film so the bulk of what preceded wasn't tainted by it.

Nighy, Gambon, Fiennes are excellent as usual and I have to say that not only is Rachel Weisz an excellent actor but she seems to get more gorgeous with age.

A good 7.5/10 - would have been an 8.5 were it not for that one strand.

Kurtis

Philly_Q said:

Road House (Amazon Prime)

I thought I should watch it before any last vestige of enthusiasm wore off..  For the first 15 minutes or so I was actually quite enjoying it, the scenery looks good, there are some initially likeable characters (most of whom barely appear in the rest of the film).  But it soon becomes clear that the whole thing is completely inconsequential, with a barely-there storyline and scenes that just sort of... happen.

It doesn't really know if it's a comedy or an action movie, I think it succeeds better as the former because most of the action scenes are actually pretty bad, not helped by excessive CGI and weird swings of the camera.  Casting Conor McGregor seemed like an absolutely terrible idea... but in fact the end result is far worse than anyone could have possibly imagined.  Gyllenhaal undoubtedly carries the film... but was it really worth the bother?

The end credits run for nearly 10 minutes, which suggests a lot of money was wasted...

Going by the original I wouldn't hold out too much hope for the remake! 

Offset

Kurtis said:

Going by the original I wouldn't hold out too much hope for the remake! 

Whereas Gyllenhaal carries the remake, Jeff Healey carried the original :-)

Brio

Offset said:

Kurtis said:

Going by the original I wouldn't hold out too much hope for the remake! 

Whereas Gyllenhaal carries the remake, Sam Elliott carried the original :-)

Fixed that for you...

Haych

Top Gun Maverick

Flag waving, gung ho bollocks. 

Loved it!