What films have you watched recently?

Brio

I loved it too. I'm a total news junkie being in media for years. 
Probably why I loved The Newsroom so much.

rze99

Nocturnal Animals
Thriller/adult/drama Film 4 2016

A dual narrative, not in chronological order, and with interleaving themes of destruction revenge and loneliness.

Susan (Amy Adams) is a wealthy successful gallery owner married to a stunningly handsome but sullen uncommunicative banker type. She had given up her own artistic career and loving relationship with a an idealistic writer, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), it seems, to appease her domineering society mother and be sensible. 

Unexpectedly she receives a manuscript of an unpublished novel from Edward whom she hasn’t heard from in nearly 20 years: Susan begins to read what is a fairly horrible novel of terror and loss as we see the novel unfold as the interweaving narrative.

A bitter revenge story, the movie is stylish and attractive to look at, but a bit pretentious. Both leads are as excellent as you'd expect. Warning: Body grossness from the outset.

Watchable, but emotionally a bit unengaging.
7/10

Offset

Hell Hole (2024), Prime.

Another evening, another low-budget horror.  An assorted crew of Serbian and American frackers are prospecting in Serbia when they dig up the body of a Napoleonic-era French soldier - who miraculously appears to be alive.  Hereafter, things go decidedly downhill in a fairly predictable fashion.

This creature-feature offers nothing new.  From the first frame, you know this is low-rent. Settings, film quality, cast.  Directed by and starrig a husband and wife team, I suspect most of the limited budget was soaked up by the FX - which are crap :-)

Anyway... it drags on inexorably to a hackneyed Thing-esque ending as the frackers are whittled down one by one or inadvertently top one another (and that isn't a spoiler).  Oh, and the soundtrack is bloody irritating.

What I can say is that this was an order of magnitude better than Light from a couple of nights ago.  Sadly, that isn't saying a lot but this wasn't quite as boring and had its' (rare) moments.

3/10.

Philly_Q

^^ @Offset I watched that last week but couldn't be bothered to post a review.  I've seen a couple of other films by the Adams (not Addams) family and they're much better.  I'm not sure why they even made this one, unless they just fancied a trip to Serbia.

Dominic

I finally got round to Downton Abbey , A new Age .
Pleased to say it was as magnificent as the series and first film both of which I enjoyed immensely ....by far the best thing I have ever seen on Television .
The casting and dialogue is just outstanding.

DrCornelius

Dominic said:

I finally got round to Downton Abbey , A new Age .
Pleased to say it was as magnificent as the series and first film both of which I enjoyed immensely ....by far the best thing I have ever seen on Television .
The casting and dialogue is just outstanding.

I’m getting worried about you , you’ll be doing word searches in the evenings soon 

Winny_Pooh

rze99 said:

Nocturnal Animals
Thriller/adult/drama Film 4 2016

A dual narrative, not in chronological order, and with interleaving themes of destruction revenge and loneliness.

Susan (Amy Adams) is a wealthy successful gallery owner married to a stunningly handsome but sullen uncommunicative banker type. She had given up her own artistic career and loving relationship with a an idealistic writer, Edward (Jake Gyllenhaal), it seems, to appease her domineering society mother and be sensible. 

Unexpectedly she receives a manuscript of an unpublished novel from Edward whom she hasn’t heard from in nearly 20 years: Susan begins to read what is a fairly horrible novel of terror and loss as we see the novel unfold as the interweaving narrative.

A bitter revenge story, the movie is stylish and attractive to look at, but a bit pretentious. Both leads are as excellent as you'd expect. Warning: Body grossness from the outset.

Watchable, but emotionally a bit unengaging.
7/10

Excellent movie, 8/10

Speaking of Glyllenhaal, Nightcrawler is even better.

rze99

@Winny_Pooh Nightcrawler is excellent. Gyllenhaal is always superb.

Philly_Q

Rebel Ridge (Netflix)

An army veteran cycles into a small town carrying $36,000 in cash, intending to bail out his cousin who's being held on remand on a minor drugs charge.  He's pulled over by the local cops, who confiscate the money, and so begins a long, complex dispute with the corrupt chief of police.

This is written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier (who made Blue Ruin and Green Room), and the plot feels a bit like a Jack Reacher storyline, but the film's not quite what I expected.  Worth a watch, though.

Brio

Borderlands
Based on a game apparently but I don't know it.
Its a gem in that could you imagine a movie where Kevin Hart isn't the most annoying character? This is it, but that role falls to Jack Black voicing a robot wheelie bin.
A visually dense feast that fails to hide the lack of content but on the plus side Cate Blanchett is looking stunning as ever.
The plot races on, twists are well telegraphed and happy ever after happens.
Lots of cartoon violence and great FX.

Haych

Bokeh

Thought provoking drama. Jenai and Riley are a young American couple on vacation in Iceland. One morning they wake to find everyone else has vanished and as far as they can tell they are the last people alive on the planet. 

With no way of getting home and nobody else around, Jenai and Riley need to adapt quickly to their new way of life. 

While Riley seems to be taking everything in his stride and has an “it’ll be ok” attitude, Jenai is searching for answers and cannot reconcile what has happened. 

Depending on each other the distance between them starts to grow. 

I really enjoyed this film.  Not a lot happens but much is portrayed.  The feeling of isolation comes across very well and it’s quite haunting in many respects.  Some wonderful scenery to boot. 

7.5/10

DrCornelius

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at the local flea pit

absolutely loved it , 9 out of 10.

In saying that , the original was our family tradition every Halloween and I think knowing the original film well adds very much to the enjoyment of the sequel.

Great cast , good story and pretty tight , I can’t think of any plodding moments at all.

Proper nostalgia 

Timcito

Get Carter. This was on my little TV in the kitchen while I was cooking dinner this evening.

I've seen Michael Caine in many films, likely we all have, but there are some, for me, where his performance is so phenomenal that he makes the film into a classic almost single-handedly, and this is surely one. As the gangster Jack Carter, he is utterly compelling - awesome, in the true sense of the word. 

The film also has a special place for me because of the setting, in both geographical and temporal senses. There are scenes that juxtapose the old terraced house streets with the new high-rise apartment blocks - a landscape I saw in my childhood and teens. The film also captures that unique spirit that prevailed in the late 60s and early 70s of young and middle-aged people moving from times of post-war economic austerity and sexual repression to a brave new world of plenty and sexual delight. 

Hurling_Fruitmig

DrCornelius said:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at the local flea pit

absolutely loved it , 9 out of 10.

In saying that , the original was our family tradition every Halloween and I think knowing the original film well adds very much to the enjoyment of the sequel.

Great cast , good story and pretty tight , I can’t think of any plodding moments at all.

Proper nostalgia 

Totally agree. We went this afternoon and loved it. I came away thinking there were probably lots more call backs to the original that I missed.

Emp_Fab

The Gentlemen (2019) starring Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell and Hugh Grant who puts in an excellent performance as an immoral tabloid reporter. 

Great fun.

Winny_Pooh

Don't expect too much from the end of the world 2023

If you like your arthouse movies vulgar 8/10

If you enjoy the transformers franchise 3/10

Often funny musings on late stage capitalism, incels, exploitation & collective gaslighting. Dry red wine. 

munckee

DrCornelius said:

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice at the local flea pit

absolutely loved it , 9 out of 10.

In saying that , the original was our family tradition every Halloween and I think knowing the original film well adds very much to the enjoyment of the sequel.

Great cast , good story and pretty tight , I can’t think of any plodding moments at all.

Proper nostalgia 

I made my wife and kids watch the original today as none had seen it, with a view to going to see the new one next week. 

They thought the original was awful, I hadn’t seen it for many years and wasn’t as good as I remember. 

The nightmare before Christmas is our Halloween film and beetlejuice not a patch on that.  

Haych

Despicable Me 4

Quite like the DM movies but was fully expecting this to be nothing more than a final squeeze of the cash cow’s udder.

I was wrong and it was very good fun. Some clever scenes stolen from well known action movies for comedy effect and some great laugh out loud moments. 

8/10 local cinema

Lodious

American Fiction
Black comedy about a black author who accidentally finds a path to paydirt. The interplay between the family members was brilliant. Really enjoyed it, 8/10

Jackpot!
Moronic trash set in the future about a lottery where the winner only keeps the prize if they can stay alive until sunset. I enjoyed it, but realistically, it was utter shit. 7/10

Rebel Ridge
Netflix thriller about a corrupt police force in smalltown US. Slightly ludicrous, but decent enough Sat night viewing. 6.7/10

Snack Shack
Set in the early 90's two teenagers run a swimming pool food shack. More vacuous trash, but if the cap fits.... 7.5/10. 

SteveRobinson

Offset said:

Hell Hole (2024), Prime.

Another evening, another low-budget horror.  

Does it have a Spinal Tap soundtrack though? Missed opportunity if not