What films have you watched recently?

Philly_Q

BigBearKris said:

Two more pages and a review of new Omen plus few Exorcist films will be due...

Yes indeed.    Those films are done already, but maybe they'll have made some new ones before we get there...

snowblind

Watched "Plan 9 from outer space" over the weekend. Easy to see how it qualifies as the worst movie ever made.
Although these days I think it deserves reconsidering. Its central message, however badly delivered, was that humans are stupid and will destroy everything if left to their own devices. In other words, like "Idiocracy", it was actually a documentary.

Philly_Q

snowblind said:

Watched "Plan 9 from outer space" over the weekend. Easy to see how it qualifies as the worst movie ever made.

I saw it was on Talking Pictures the other day.  But it's so far from being the worst movie ever made.  At least it's entertaining.  I've seen at least three worse films just in the last week.

Offset

Philly_Q said:

snowblind said:

Watched "Plan 9 from outer space" over the weekend. Easy to see how it qualifies as the worst movie ever made.

I saw it was on Talking Pictures the other day.  But it's so far from being the worst movie ever made.  At least it's entertaining.  I've seen at least three worse films just in the last week.

I sneakily enjoyed it.  So bad it's good.  It reminded me to re-watch the biopic of Ed Wood with Johnny Depp, which is a belter.

Snap

stickyfiddle said:

Civil War 

I quite enjoyed this, though it's probably not more than the sum of its parts. It's extremely well executed, but I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be about. 

It's obvious that we're not supposed to know why the US is in a civil war, or whose side we are "meant" to be on. And that's fine, except it also doesn't quite seem to nail any other message or provocation of thought besides maybe a suggestion that we're getting too desensitised to polarisation and/or violence. But if that is the intended point, then I don't think it comes across quite well enough either.

Ah, I thought you mention the Marvel film! Which is excellent,ha

Haych

Memory (Netflix)

Given the utter tosh that recent Liam Neeson films have been I expected this one to be equally appalling.

Neeson is a hitman for hire but he has either early onset dementia, or advanced Alzheimer's, depending on how far through the movie you've reached.

He also has a conscience, almost as debilitating for a hitman as a serious degenerative cognitive impairment.

Hired to unalive some bad people and also a 13 year old girl who is the victim of sex trafficking, and witness to the bad people who hired him, he decides he won't kill the girl and then makes it his objective to off his employers and also give clues to the FBI who are also working the case.

It was better than I expected but sometimes the plot is a bit silly.  Neeson goes from having odd lapses of memory in the early parts of the film to being unable to speak properly a few days later in the latter part of the film, but still retains enough cognitive ability to recognise a bad egg when he sees one and leap out of bed back into action man mode.

The subject of sex trafficking is bad enough that the viewer doesn't have a problem with taking the dodgy moral high ground of a hired killer doing nasty things to bad people, despite being a nasty bad man himself.  Definitely one to disengage your brain and not think too hard.

But, for all that criticism it actually isn't a bad film and is much more watchable than most other films he's been a part of in the last few years.

Guy Pearce is very good as the wounded and brooding FBI agent trying to get to the bottom of a nasty ring of traffickers.

6.3/10

Offset

The Terrornauts (1967), Freeview

This British sci-fi movie makes Plan 9 look like Alien.  The bizarre cast includes Charles Hawtrey and Patricia Hayes, although both must have wondered WTF they were doing in it.  Cheesier than a block of gorgonzola with sets that look like they were rejected from Hartnell-era Doctor Who for being too crap, this is only worth watching as a period curiosity for the completist.

3/10 for novelty value.

Barquentine

Alien: Romulus. Words fail me. This is utter garbage in so many ways. More plot holes than plot. Could have been written by a couple of drunks in ten minutes. I really hope there's no more Alien films. 

WezV

Kneecap 

I'm calling this one out separately from the big list of films I have watched this month.

It's an Irish Language film set in Belfast, telling an embellished version of the rise of rap trio Kneecap   

I'm not really into rap, and I don't generally like Bio-pics or political films

and yet.....

9.5/10

Philly_Q

The Knocking (Amazon Prime)

Three thirty-something siblings inherit their parents' house and visit the property for the first time in decades.  The house is set in several acres of valuable woodland and the three argue over whether they should sell it.  But there are.... forces.... in the forest itself which will have their own influence on the decision...

I'm not sure if this was a fairly effective slow-build to a disturbing ending... or a load of silly nonsense.  Either way, it might be the first Finnish folk-horror I've ever seen.

motorhead

stickyfiddle said:

Civil War 

I quite enjoyed this, though it's probably not more than the sum of its parts. It's extremely well executed, but I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to be about. 

It's obvious that we're not supposed to know why the US is in a civil war, or whose side we are "meant" to be on. And that's fine, except it also doesn't quite seem to nail any other message or provocation of thought besides maybe a suggestion that we're getting too desensitised to polarisation and/or violence. But if that is the intended point, then I don't think it comes across quite well enough either.

Yeah, same reaction here. Not sure what if anything I was expecting but it fell a bit short either way.

Offset

Barquentine said:

Alien: Romulus. Words fail me. This is utter garbage in so many ways. More plot holes than plot. Could have been written by a couple of drunks in ten minutes. 

Brilliant!  Then there's still hope for my fledgeling writing career!

Adey

I saw The Critic the other day with Sir Ian McKellen. I enjoyed it and the time flew....

relayar

Barquentine said:

Alien: Romulus. Words fail me. This is utter garbage in so many ways. More plot holes than plot. Could have been written by a couple of drunks in ten minutes. I really hope there's no more Alien films. 

I'm a fan of the Alien franchise, or was, and am still on the fence whether to buy this on BluRay. Do I spend two hours rocking forwards and backwards on the sofa yelling WTAF at the telly until the end titles roll, or not. . ? I think I know what your advice might be @Barquentine . . .

I also think your - 'Alien: Romulus - Words Fail Me' - would make a great title for the next trainwreck of an Alien movie

John

Philly_Q

Tarot (Amazon Prime)

Seven friends rent a house for a weekend party and find an old deck of Tarot cards.  One of the girls does readings for everyone.  They all go home without further incident... then start dying in accordance with their Tarot readings.

This got awful reviews, but I had to give it a go.  It's another variation on the Final Destination, Urban Legend, Ouija school of mainstream horror movies.  The big problem here is that it's impossible to remember what anyone's reading was, so there always has to be some kind of contrived voiceover to remind us what's going to happen...  Also...

...each person is killed by the embodiment of the actual character depicted on "their" Tarot card, which makes for some cool visuals but is way too literal and silly.

So yes, it's terrible.  But I didn't actually hate it.

BillDL

I was in a bit of a downer last night and felt that I needed a good chuckle or even a good belly laugh, so I watched Apocalypse Now again after only having seen it once before decades ago.  It didn't really cheer me up very much though