What films have you watched recently?

pt22

Offset said:

I now have a burning urge to re-watch Young Frankenstein.

Abbie Normal.  Brilliant!

This is up next for me. It’s already queued up. Looking forward to it as I’ve only seen it in parts over the years. 

ICBM

Wicked Little Letters

Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Timothy Spall and others in a black comedy about poison-pen letters in a small town just after WWI. It's very funny, *very* sweary - although not in an offensive way unless you have very sensitive ears by modern standards - but although there are darker elements, Spall's character in particular, the satire is a bit clumsy in places and it jars slightly. Colman is absolutely brilliant, Spall is as good as ever, but Buckley seems a little too modern for the time the film is supposed to be set in. There are a few other slightly out of context bits and overall it doesn't quite work as well as it probably could have done.

7/10

(Local cinema)

boogieman

pt22 said:

The Producers - 1967

I'm a huge fan of Mel Brooks, but as this was his first full-length film this wasn't one of his best. Still has plenty of funny bits, off the wall "action", and some classic sardonic lines and facial expressions. It just took a while to move the plot, then seemed to skip forward in time past some events I'd like to have seen older Mel Brooks put onscreen. The payoff of the musical opening of "Springtime for Hitler" onstage was worth it though. lol 

I'm glad I watched it, as Gene Wilder is captivating with his unique style, and who can't enjoy a little silly "Benny Hill" style titillation, but all in all his later works are much better movies on the whole. 

I like The Producers but it’s not my favourite Mel Brooks film. I find the two leads just too manic and grating. Springtime for Hitler makes up for it of course. For me Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are Brooks at his peak. 

PearlsPreserve

RichAC said:

I watched a modern western last night, called Hell or High Water. Two brothers (one of them Chris Pine) robbing banks and being tracked by two Texas Rangers (one of them Jeff Bridges). 

It was really good - darkly funny and often moving. It presents a view of post credit-crunch rural America that we don’t often see.

I watched this a few weeks' back (for the second time) and thought it was incredibly good.  Ben Foster is a really REALLY good actor.  I've not seen him be bad in anything, and his roles are often very varied (Leave No Trace is oscar worthy).  Jeff Bridges is Jeff Bridges (i.e. amazing) and Chris Pine is great too.  Honestly, one of the best films i've seen in a very long time.  

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

Had an hour and half to kill yesterday evening so wanted to watch something short and snappy. Found this low budget French film 'Full Time' on iPlayer and really enjoyed it...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001wk90/full-time

Only 80 minutes, all spent following the increasingly desperate struggles of a single mother trying to hold down a full time job, having to commute into Paris during a transport worker's strike. Gripping in a rather uncomfortable, nervy way. Excellent performance from Laure Calamy - aka Noémie from 'Call My Agent'.

7.5/10

Philly_Q

The Exorcist: Believer (Amazon Prime)

Two young girls go missing and are found three days later, physically largely unharmed but with no memory of what's happened to them.  And then strange things start occurring...

The interesting idea here - at least potentially - is that there's no "The Exorcist" in the story.  Instead a group of people, men and women from different faiths, come together to try to save the two children. 

Unfortunately it doesn't work.  The acting is fine, but there are far too many characters with far too little to do.  There are no scares, no excitement and the whole thing falls utterly flat.

SteveRobinson

Proud Mary (2018) Netflix

Mediocre action thriller featuring female assassin saving the kid whose dad she murdered. 

Greatape

'Rebel Moon pt2'

A shitty Star Wars / Seven Samurai rip off. 

Terrible dialogue, acting and direction. Avoid.

Leiversalone

Late Night With The Devil

70's style with an almost documentary feel and a great performance by David Dastmalchian, this is my favourite horror of the year so far. Although it borrows from other classic films (Exorcist and Videodrome spring to mind) it really has it's own spin on things and escalates in a most entertaining (horrific) way. Highly recommended for the horror hounds here. I watched it at a friend's but I believe it's due on Shudder UK very soon.

TeleMaster

I saw Civil War last night. It's an action packed film focused on the journey of a group of photo journalists documenting the end of a civil war in modern day America. The politics of the situation are vague and unexplained aside from the President being a Trump-like figure. I expect this is intentional as most people forget what they're fighting for, and most often don't even know anyway. This is more about the realities of war than the reasons for it. 

The action scenes were good, the characters interesting but me and my friend both wished that there was a bit more about the circumstances that led to the war. 

robgilmo

Going to have a Convoy Sunday, showed my wee boy this and he seemed interested, so , wither or not we will get the whole movie in before he gets bored, who knows.

rze99

ICBM said:

Wicked Little Letters

Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Timothy Spall and others in a black comedy about poison-pen letters in a small town just after WWI. It's very funny, *very* sweary - although not in an offensive way unless you have very sensitive ears by modern standards - but although there are darker elements, Spall's character in particular, the satire is a bit clumsy in places and it jars slightly. Colman is absolutely brilliant, Spall is as good as ever, but Buckley seems a little too modern for the time the film is supposed to be set in. There are a few other slightly out of context bits and overall it doesn't quite work as well as it probably could have done.

7/10

(Local cinema)

Seems a bit of a quirky Sunday night costume drama with a glass of wine movie.

I'll wait till it's on iPlayer.

munckee

Hell or high water,  I read a recommendation on here and missus munckee watched it last night. It reminded me a lot of no country for old men, not quite as good but very watchable and some interesting characters. 

Philly_Q

Eight for Silver (Netflix)

Rural France, 1882... a group of greedy landowners are cursed by gypsies and find themselves under attack by a mysterious creature...  This reminded me of Brotherhood of the Wolf, minus nearly all of the scares and action.  And in fact the Beast of Gevaudan is mentioned several times.  

The film's set in a part of France where it's permanently grey and misty and most people have English or Irish names, which I found rather odd.  Boyd Holbrook (from The Predator) is the hero and talks in a strange accent which isn't British, Irish or French but - to be fair - doesn't sound American either.  The drab look - all natural light, flames or candlelight - is quite stylish and the film's bloodier than I was expecting, but the performances are all rather flat and wooden.

Chompy and the Girls (Amazon Prime)

Sam, a middle-aged man with a boring job and a failing marriage, gets a message from a 24-year-old woman named Jackson who claims to be his daughter.  The two have an awkward meeting in the park and witness something very strange... 

Amazon labelled this as a horror movie, which it most definitely isn't, although it does have elements which are very vaguely reminiscent of It Follows and Invasion of the Bodysnatchers.  No idea why they labelled it 18+, unless it's for strong language and drug references.  Essentially it's a rather amiable indie comedy about a father and daughter finding each other and bonding.  I liked it very much.

bobblehat

robgilmo said:

Going to have a Convoy Sunday, showed my wee boy this and he seemed interested, so , wither or not we will get the whole movie in before he gets bored, who knows.

I loved that movie as a kid.  Big American trucks and CB's may not hold the same fascination for kids these days.

Offset

Leiversalone said:

Late Night With The Devil

70's style with an almost documentary feel and a great performance by David Dastmalchian, this is my favourite horror of the year so far. Although it borrows from other classic films (Exorcist and Videodrome spring to mind) it really has it's own spin on things and escalates in a most entertaining (horrific) way. Highly recommended for the horror hounds here. I watched it at a friend's but I believe it's due on Shudder UK very soon.

It's now available on Shudder and I'll be settling down with a glass of wine tomorrow night to watch it!

Philly_Q

Offset said:

Leiversalone said:

Late Night With The Devil

70's style with an almost documentary feel and a great performance by David Dastmalchian, this is my favourite horror of the year so far. Although it borrows from other classic films (Exorcist and Videodrome spring to mind) it really has it's own spin on things and escalates in a most entertaining (horrific) way. Highly recommended for the horror hounds here. I watched it at a friend's but I believe it's due on Shudder UK very soon.

It's now available on Shudder and I'll be settling down with a glass of wine tomorrow night to watch it!

Is it by George?  This is a rare case where I'll watch a film again even though I only saw it a few months ago.

Offset

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

It's now available on Shudder and I'll be settling down with a glass of wine tomorrow night to watch it!

Is it by George?  This is a rare case where I'll watch a film again even though I only saw it a few months ago.

That is recommendation indeed @Philly_Q - my anticipation has been heightened!

No pressure of course 

Philly_Q

Offset said:

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

It's now available on Shudder and I'll be settling down with a glass of wine tomorrow night to watch it!

Is it by George?  This is a rare case where I'll watch a film again even though I only saw it a few months ago.

That is recommendation indeed @Philly_Q - my anticipation has been heightened!

No pressure of course 

Don't blame me if you don't like it.  But it's excellent.

Keiko

rze99 said:

PSA

There are a few classic and decent on iPlayer I've seen... plus no adverts! I HATE adverts

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Power of the Dog
The Two Faces of January 
ITonya
Apocolypse Now
On the Waterfront
The Mule
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Sicario
The Keeper
Black Box
Whisky Galore
Mr Jones
My Summer of Love
Persian Lessons
Twelve Monkeys
The Wonder Boys
A Simple Plan
Bringing Up Baby
Citizen Kane

Watched '12 Monkeys' at the weekend. Good fillum. I saw at the pictures when it first came out, but didn't really remember much of it on re-watching. Not sure about the Brad Pitt character, I don't think he is very convincing and doesn't suit the role in my opinion. Apart from that it's worth watching.

The  week before I watched Kick Ass, and Kick Ass 2, also on iplayer. Both enjoyable if you like something a bit silly.

Moonlight is also on iplayer, oscars winner, but I gave up after about 10 mins. Not my kind of thing.