What films have you watched recently?

breakstuff

Speak No Evil - Shudder.

A Danish couple and their kid are invited to stay with a Dutch couple they meet on holiday. Things start getting a little weird and get worse fron thereon. 

Not what I'd call enjoyable and I don't think I'd want to watch it again as the ending is shockingly brutal but one of the better horror films I've seen lately.

Philly_Q

breakstuff said:

Speak No Evil - Shudder.

A Danish couple and their kid are invited to stay with a Dutch couple they meet on holiday. Things start getting a little weird and get worse fron thereon. 

Not what I'd call enjoyable and I don't think I'd want to watch it again as the ending is shockingly brutal but one of the better horror films I've seen lately.

It's grim, but really good.  And I believe there's a US remake in the works.

goldtop

The Wizard of Lies (Sky/NowTV) - the story of Bernie Madoff's massive ponzi scheme. OK, but not gripping. And it was told backwards so there was no sense of how and when the scheme started. Does show how the SEC was/is useless. 7/10

Offset

Under Paris (2024), Netflix.

Encouraged by the Olympic triathalon and other reviews on here (OK, 'encouraged' is probably the wrong word) I sat down to watch this.

Well it actually started fairly promisingly and I found myself rather enjoying the first 45 minutes or so.  But I was merely lulled into a false sense of enthusiasm, because thereafter it became massively stupid and incredibly, incredibly boring.

2/10.

rze99

Fractured
2019 suspense thriller
Netflix

It's a mystery so I'll only outline the scenario without giving any clues. Parents with their young daughter are returning from what was evidently a troubled family Thanksgiving visit when they stop off at a deserted services station. The daughter and father fall down a foundation site, while dealing with a menacing stray dog and she clearly has a broken arm while he bangs his head.

Dad dashes them to a packed local hospital where things gradually get odd. Soon Dad realises his wife and daughter are missing in the hospital, with seemingly no tracing of their whereabouts. 

Lots of familiar themes of the genre here, but the acting (apart from the daughter) is excellent and the tension rises nicely as events deteriorate for Dad.

watchable. 

6.5/10

 

rze99

Emily the Criminal
2022 Crime drama movie
Netflix

Smart and edgy Emily (brilliantly played Aubrey Plaza) is a New Jersey artist designer saddled with huge student debt and locked out of the design agency job market due to a minor criminal record,.

She's moved to LA to try her luck there and is doing fill in work doing zero contract food delivery orders. Increasingly desperate for income, she takes a tip and follows up on a contact. This leads to her taking work as a a "dummy shopper," - buying goods with stolen credit cards for cash in hand.

Although still pursuing straight jobs, Emily soon finds herself seduced the fast good cash of crime and increasingly raises the risks for greater rewards, getting closer to one of the criminal gang leaders, which inevitably leads to more extreme consequences.

This called to mind in the '90s at a party I met a US doctor visiting the UK and she told me about her student debt which, even back then, was $60,000. I was gobsmacked.

Strong and taut tale, directed with pace and intent.

Excellent and highly recommended.

9/10

EricTheWeary

A Storm Foretold. Documentary about Trump ally Roger Stone. Certainly not essential viewing and it's a few years old now but if you wanted further evidence of what a shit bag Trump is. I was listening to the Mooch talking about how all of Trump's relationships are transactional and this is a good example of that, a thirty year relationship that Trump risked his own political career over but then still dumped him in an instant when it suited. iPlayer. 

rze99

EricTheWeary said:

A Storm Foretold. Documentary about Trump ally Roger Stone. Certainly not essential viewing and it's a few years old now but if you wanted further evidence of what a shit bag Trump is. I was listening to the Mooch talking about how all of Trump's relationships are transactional and this is a good example of that, a thirty year relationship that Trump risked his own political career over but then still dumped him in an instant when it suited. iPlayer. 

I try very hard to avoid that monster having any of my brain space and yet, here you are on a guitar site talking about him.

Philly_Q

rze99 said:

EricTheWeary said:

A Storm Foretold. Documentary about Trump ally Roger Stone. Certainly not essential viewing and it's a few years old now but if you wanted further evidence of what a shit bag Trump is. I was listening to the Mooch talking about how all of Trump's relationships are transactional and this is a good example of that, a thirty year relationship that Trump risked his own political career over but then still dumped him in an instant when it suited. iPlayer. 

I try very hard to avoid that monster having any of my brain space and yet, here you are on a guitar site talking about him.

On a film thread, on a guitar site.  Seems like fair game.

rze99

Philly_Q said:

rze99 said:

EricTheWeary said:

A Storm Foretold. Documentary about Trump ally Roger Stone. Certainly not essential viewing and it's a few years old now but if you wanted further evidence of what a shit bag Trump is. I was listening to the Mooch talking about how all of Trump's relationships are transactional and this is a good example of that, a thirty year relationship that Trump risked his own political career over but then still dumped him in an instant when it suited. iPlayer. 

I try very hard to avoid that monster having any of my brain space and yet, here you are on a guitar site talking about him.

On a film thread, on a guitar site.  Seems like fair game.

Kurtis

Bodies bodies bodies.


Not bad. Worth it for the end. Nice twist. 

robgilmo

Watched all the Batman films, then all the Avengers, so bit of a film trek, they are still astounding movies.

racefaceec90

the night flyer (on yt)

tv film based on stephen king short story.

i liked it, some slow sections in the film but the ending is worth it if you like gory horror (physical sfx).

7/10

Philly_Q

Rebel Moon:  Director's Cut (Netflix)

No I haven't watched them, but Netflix now has Zack Snyder's director's cuts of Rebel Moon, Parts 1 and 2, available for your enjoyment....  Over six hours in total.  I thought the "theatrical" versions were absolutely dreadful, but a small, masochistic part of me is tempted to give it a go.

VimFuego

Philly_Q said:

Rebel Moon:  Director's Cut (Netflix)

No I haven't watched them, but Netflix now has Zack Snyder's director's cuts of Rebel Moon, Parts 1 and 2, available for your enjoyment....  Over six hours in total.  I thought the "theatrical" versions were absolutely dreadful, but a small, masochistic part of me is tempted to give it a go.

dear lord, I'd forgotten I'd seen them. There's not even one single atom of me that wants to watch them, but now I know, I probably will!!!

robgilmo

Zack Snyder's Justice League was epic though, I've watched it several times. Rebel Moon though, hmmmmm.

Philly_Q

Light (Paramount+)

Two female astronauts wander around on the foggy surface of an unknown planet.  That's it, basically.  It's really dark all the time but the filter colours change occasionally, for a bit of variety.  Most of the time it's a greeny-grey, but sometimes it's blue, or orangey.  Apparently there's a big alien in it somewhere, but I must have missed that bit when I was fast forwarding.

The whole thing probably cost about £7.50 to make, but it's hard to see where they spent all that money.

No Way Up (Amazon Prime)

It's Sharks on a Plane!  A plane crashes into the ocean, killing most of the passengers, but a handful of people (the usual mix of ages and personalities) survive in a pocket of trapped air.  They decide to wait to be rescued, but some hungry sharks have found the gaps in the fuselage...

This could've been fun if it had played up to its own silly concept.  The crash is pretty good and there are a few OK jump scares, but for the most part the film is just talky and boring.  Avoid.

Haych

Joyride 

Olivia Coleman is a single mum with a new baby in rural Ireland . She is trying to get to her sister’s place to give her baby away before fleeing to Lanzarote. 

The taxi she is in is then stolen by a young boy escaping an encounter with his abusive father, cue what is supposed to be a buddy road trip and heartwarming story. 

I can’t state that it wasn’t good. Coleman was excellent, as was Charlie Reid. However, as feel good and heartwarming as it was supposed to be, some of the themes pursued were altogether rather bleak. 

Maybe that was intentional but the two paradigms in the same story didn’t quite work for me in the way it was portrayed. While of course it has a happy ending, the journey to that ending made me feel sad and depressed. 

Very well made and superb performances so 8/10 for that but 2/10 for making me want to break out the scotch and painkillers. 

Timcito

Westworld was on while I was cooking dinner this afternoon. Great film and quite topical for the A.I. times we find ourselves in.

Some of these old films are interesting for the ways in which behavioral norms have changed. The two supposedly average young American guys indulge in a Western cowboy fantasy and drink large amounts of whisky during a staged brawl. When they wake up, they both have filthy hangovers. I somehow doubt that two such average guys in a film like this today would do such a thing.

Anyway, amazing to think I saw that film for the first time at a cinema in Oldham soon after it came out. I must have been 15 or so.

GSPBASSES

Lucky Bastards, True story on Prime. Not for the fine hearted.