What films have you watched recently?

sinbaadi

VimFuego said:

Jurassic World - Dominion. Don't, just don't. 

So bad. 

One ridiculous set piece after the next.  Dinosaurs who are even less accurate than Bond Villains' henchmen! 

Utter crap trying to stir nostalgia but ultimately shitting on the original movie.

Devil#20

Ford vs Ferrari, Netflix

Matt Damon as Carroll Shelby and Christian Bale as Ken Miles in the development of the GT40 to take on Ferrari's dominance in the Le Mans 24 hours. I like cars and bikes so a bit of an obvious watch for me but I still think it was a great film if you're not. Some great racing sequences. Forget the Cobra and Stingray, the GT40 was and still is the only real thoroughbred racing car the US has ever produced.

9/10

Brio

"GT40 was and still is the only real thoroughbred racing car the US has ever produced."

They neglected to cover the Slough teams work though...

Devil#20

Brio said:

"GT40 was and still is the only real thoroughbred racing car the US has ever produced."

They neglected to cover the Slough teams work though...

Yes they did didn't they. You could say that the GT40 was more British than American. 

Philly_Q

The Retirement Plan (Paramount+)

Nic Cage plays Matt (aka Jim), an old geezer who's living quietly in the Cayman Islands until his estranged daughter and granddaughter turn up, in possession of a top-secret hard drive and pursued by criminal gangs and the CIA... fortunately, Matt is a man with "special skills"... 

This has a bit of an Elmore Leonard feel, a comedy thriller with an exotic location and lots of violence and swearing.  It's got a pretty good cast too, lots of familiar faces (Ron Perlman, Ernie Hudson, Jackie Earle Haley), but everything's just a little bit off... the action sequences are clumsy, the performances are cartoonish and all the bluff and double-bluff involving the hard drive is supposed to be clever, but it's really just flabby and tiresome.

Not bad, but don't go in with high expectations.

Shrews

The Wife

Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, Christian Slater

The critics seemed to like it, especially Glenn Close's performance, but I found her irritating. I also found the story irritating and a miscast Christian Bale irritating.

Her hubbie (Pryce) has an affair with her when he's a young professor and she's a student. He gets the push, but they stay together. He starts to write books but isn't very good, so Glenn Close writes them instead. Turns out she's super-talented and 30 years later he wins the Nobel prize (but really it's she who wins it).

She has a perma wry smile on her face throughout the film. Jealous and quietly seething under the surface, especially as her hubbie has had three affairs in their time together. 

My issues with the plot:
1. A publisher would have sniffed a rat. He (Pryce) didn't know enough about the characters or to discuss their development, it was all in her head not his. 

2. She would have told the truth much earlier, if not at the first affair, then definitely the second-chance second time.

Nothing fits - the wannabe author son, Bale as a reporter who nearly beds her (really?), and overall for a very strong woman portrayed she was actually very weak.

And why not just write the book under two names?

Meh. 5/10

SteveRobinson

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009) iPlayer

Three friends stumble on a time portal in the pub toilet and then the trouble starts.

Recommended.

koneguitarist

The Green Book, very well acted by all concerned I believe and based on true story. 

Viggo Mortensen does a great job. 

boogieman

Philly_Q said:

Offset said:

Keiko said:

Swallows & Amazons. BBC iplayer. When I was a young lad my best mate seemed to love this book. Always going on about morse code, the lake district, pen knives and stuff like that. I don't usually like films with posh kids in them but decided to watch it anyway just so I know what the story is about. The kids weren't that annoying in the end, but wow this was an incredibly boring film. I had to watch over 4 nights in 20 minute stints just to get through it. 2/10 from me. The book is probably a lot more interesting.

My childhood recollections tell me it isn't :-)

Yeah, it's one of the very few books I've ever abandoned after starting.  I remember it being on a holiday reading list they gave us in school.  There was a Gerald Durrell book as well, I'm not sure I even started that one.

And I've got through some boring books, I can tell you.

I went through a phase in my mid teens of devouring Gerald Durrell books. Thought he was the most brilliant writer. Now they seem very dated and a bit  cringey, most certainly very condescending towards the native population where he went on his animal collecting trips. Likewise Swallows and Amazons is very dated in its attitudes and was probably incredibly elitist even at the time it was published. A main character called Titty too? Hmmm, ok. 

Back on topic. I was channel hopping the other night and ended up watching a quaint 1950s b/w film on Talking Pictures called Hindle Wakes, a film very much of its time about a factory girl on the annual mill factory holiday (the “wakes” of the title) and her holiday fling with the mill boss’ son. Paper thin plot, decidedly average acting, creaky dialogue, but still quite interesting in the coverage of what was considered a really great holiday back then… Blackpool Sands, the Winter Gardens, the Tower Ballroom, the boating lake, the fairground rides. I love this kind of social history stuff. 

Some very dated moments that had me chuckling, including the two leads standing at the top of Blackpool Tower. 
“Oh what’s that place over there? The one  with all the lights Alan?”
”Thats Llandudno Jenny” 
“Oh it looks so romantic darling! I would love to visit there one day”. 

So Llandudno was the Welsh equivalent of Venice or Bali, who knew? 

5/10 for the history, 1/10 for everything else. 

Timcito

I watched 30 minutes of The Avengers starring Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman and Sean Connery yesterday.

Oh dear ...

sinbaadi

SteveRobinson said:

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009) iPlayer

Three friends stumble on a time portal in the pub toilet and then the trouble starts.

Recommended.

I'm a sucker for a time travel movie and this had passed me by so thanks.

Devil#20

Baby Reindeer, Neflix

Based on a true story of some wannabe comedian working in a bar. Some scottish woman comes in claiming to be a lawyer but can't pay for a drink. He takes pity on her and makes her a tea (she's teetotal). She's also a mental head case stalker with history. I can sort of relate to it because I once had a woman who wouldn't leave me alone and popped up all over the place. I think she had lookouts. Every time I went to the pub she'd turn up 5 mins later without fail. Not as mad as this one though. 

7/10

Dontgiveupyourdayjob

^^^Should that post not be in the TV series thread?

Philly_Q

The Black Phone (Netflix)

Denver, Colorado, 1978... five teenage boys have been abducted by a mysterious figure known as The Grabber.  Finn Blake becomes the sixth victim, finding himself locked in a concrete basement, with no way out.  And then the seemingly dead phone on the wall starts ringing... Finn is about to get some help.

Based on a story by Joe Hill, son of Stephen King, this feels very... Stephen King.  A kid with psychic abilities, benevolent voices from beyond the grave, some snappy dialogue, it's all good stuff.  If does drag a bit in the middle - it's just a kid in a basement - but the 1970s look and feel is really well done and the two young kids at the centre of the story are excellent.

DrCornelius

sinbaadi said:

SteveRobinson said:

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009) iPlayer

Three friends stumble on a time portal in the pub toilet and then the trouble starts.

Recommended.

I'm a sucker for a time travel movie and this had passed me by so thanks.

 I turned that off after 30 minutes last night . I won’t spoil the plot but the scenes with Anna Faris held my attention - they just seemed ‘livelier’, everything else felt dull despite a potentially interesting story

Offset

In The Land Of Saints And Sinners (2023), Netflix

Mrs O picked this last night and I prepared to settle down, pretend to watch it, and quietly read tFB on my phone.  Why?  It's a LIam Neeson thriller, and we all know the way those go these days.

But wait.  It also features Ciaran Hinds, Niamh Cusack, Kerry Condon and Colm Meaney.  The plot is pretty simple and follows a tried and tested formula - Neeson is a former contract hit-man (in this instance, during The Troubles) who is trying to put his past behind him and lead a simple, quiet life.  Of course that doesn't last long, and he gets tangled up with an IRA cell who are lying low after carrying out a bombing.  He meets Kevin, a young would-be hitman played by Jack Gleeson who looked for all the world like a young Feargal Sharkey, which I found something of a distraction.

Against all expectation I really enjoyed this.  There were no real surprises, no cartoon action and no unbelievable heroics.  It is, however, well-acted, beautifully shot - the locations are absolutely stunning - and slightly understated.  It kept us watching through to the (slightly predictable) end.  Not a bad way to spend 1:40.

6/10.

* EDIT - Be aware that the 'c' word is used fairly liberally.

Grangousier

I watched Unfrosted on Netflix, and I have to say it's the most relentlessly silly thing I've ever seen. I think by the time I got to the funeral with full cereal rites I was laughing out of control. That said, I suspect the market for it is fairly small and a lot of people will hate it. Essentially, it's one of the very silly episodes of Seinfeld (a Kramer and Mr Costanza have a business idea type episode) at feature length. Anyway, I fully expect the next person to mention it to say it's the worst thing they've ever seen. 

BigBearKris

Grangousier said:

I watched Unfrosted on Netflix, and I have to say it's the most relentlessly silly thing I've ever seen. I think by the time I got to the funeral with full cereal rites I was laughing out of control. That said, I suspect the market for it is fairly small and a lot of people will hate it. Essentially, it's one of the very silly episodes of Seinfeld (a Kramer and Mr Costanza have a business idea type episode) at feature length. Anyway, I fully expect the next person to mention it to say it's the worst thing they've ever seen. 

I like Seinfeld so I'll give it a go.

strumjoughlamps

BigBearKris said:

Grangousier said:

I watched Unfrosted on Netflix, and I have to say it's the most relentlessly silly thing I've ever seen. I think by the time I got to the funeral with full cereal rites I was laughing out of control. That said, I suspect the market for it is fairly small and a lot of people will hate it. Essentially, it's one of the very silly episodes of Seinfeld (a Kramer and Mr Costanza have a business idea type episode) at feature length. Anyway, I fully expect the next person to mention it to say it's the worst thing they've ever seen. 

I like Seinfeld so I'll give it a go.

I’m the next person, me and the missus constantly laughing out loud.. and it’s the first time I’ve managed to not cringe when Amy Schumer is on the screen. 

Solid 8/10 from us for giving it us some solid laughs.

Haych

Masterminds (Netflix)

2015 heist comedy based on the 1997 Loomis Fargo bank robbery when $17.3M was stolen in an inside job. 

A few well known names in the cast, Zach Galifianakis, Kristen Wiig and Owen Wilson so has credentials that it didn’t quite live up to. 

It’s not terrible but should have been better and felt like they were trying to make the real story much more interesting than it probably actually was. 

6/10