What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[tongue_tied_danny]

To Live and Die in L.A.

Classic 1980s crime thriller. A renegade agent bends the rules while trying to bring down a murderous counterfeiter. There's plenty of sex and violence, a good car chase, a cool Wang Chung soundtrack and L.A. has never looked so sleazy. A very underrated film that deserves to be far better known.

9/10

[roverthemoon]

Currently watching Trainspotting 2. Not sure why, it’s a terrible film. Strip out the nostalgia and love for the characters from the magnificent original and there is an absolute wreck of a film. 

[MSU]

Movie 37 (Kid #1) -- Mamma Mia! 2.5/10. I couldn't even enjoy the music thanks to c***s like Streep and Brosnin being unable to hold a tune, and the story seemed largely pointless. The missus and Kid #2 loved it. No idea why Kid #1 picked it. He hated it more than me. 

[tongue_tied_danny]

5 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

Currently watching Trainspotting 2. Not sure why, it’s a terrible film. Strip out the nostalgia and love for the characters from the magnificent original and there is an absolute wreck of a film. 

No, it's not bad. But it's not great either, is it? And in your heart you kind of know that although it sounds all right, it's actually just...shite.

[oldbitterandgrumpy]

9 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

Currently watching Trainspotting 2. Not sure why, it’s a terrible film. Strip out the nostalgia and love for the characters from the magnificent original and there is an absolute wreck of a film. 

Yep, big disappointment.

The cash withdrawals at the ATM using the same (predictable) PIN made me laugh though. 

[BFTD]

Fant4stic - wean was in the mood for a superhero film, and I figured this would make a change of pace from the Marvel ones.

I didn't think this was as bad as a lot of folks seemed to, and it was a more interesting take on a very familiar set of characters. The film suddenly realises it's nowhere near an ending with about 30 minutes to go and rattles through a terrible attempt to produce an antagonist and resolve the conflict in record time, but it's OK up to then. They'd have done better leaning into the horror themes more; the team's initial terror at what they've been turned into was nice, and they started on a nice dark vein when Doctor Doom is unveiled, but it doesn't last long. It'd be interesting to see what the original cut was like, as this had a Suicide Squad style re-edit in post production.

BigFatTabbyBoy had heard it was pish, but it was "better than expected".

Quarantine/REC - found-footage horror film where a small film crew follow the fire brigade around their night shift, only to be quarantined in an apartment building after they arrive at a seemingly routine call.

The wean found my copy of REC 2 and wanted to see it, but it doesn't make a lot of sense without seeing the first film. I couldn't find my copy of that, so we watched the American remake instead, then the Spanish original after it inevitably turned up afterwards. Interesting to see them both side by side; REC is a short, snappy classic of the genre and still holds up well, with plenty of good sound work to keep your nerves on edge and decent, believable performances, which this type of film tends to struggle with. There's also an interesting plot reveal towards the end, and a real WTF special effects moment.

Quarantine is virtually the same film, relocated to Los Angeles, and with hardly any differences. However, the running time is padded by about fifteen minutes from the original, and you can really feel it - everything drags in comparison without anything of note being added. Oddly, the audiovisual effects are also less effective, and the characters aren't as memorable. The central TV host unfortunately crosses the line into being obnoxious and irritating, as played by Jennifer Carpenter, but that seems to be her schtick going by her role on the TV show Dexter. They also altered the ending to remove the most interesting aspect, and the WTF reveal is nowhere near as effective. An OK film on its own, but a pale imitation of the original.

BFTB on Quarantine: "Yeah, that was OK"

BFTB on REC: "Wow, that was much better! That might be the scariest thing I've ever seen!"

Quarantine 2: Terminal - follow-up that deviates entirely from the sequel to REC. A passenger plane leaving Los Angeles around the time of the first film's events becomes the site of another outbreak.

Much better than you'd expect from a straight-to-video sequel. They dropped the found footage conceit for this one, but it's a decent horror film that expands on the plot change from the end of the first film (still nowhere near as interesting as where the Spanish films went).

BFTB: "Yeah, not bad". He was a bit disappointed there wasn't another film set...

Spoiler

...on the Las Vegas strip, but I reckon they milked the conceit dry by the end of this one.

 

[BFTD]

Grindhouse - watched this on my tod; I'd never seen the original version of the film, just the separate releases of Planet Terror and Death Proof. Neither film loses much from the shortened running time, unless you were absolutely desperate to see Vanessa Ferlito shake her ass around, and you also get to see more of the spoof trailers, which are a bit of fun (although Rob Zombie's one is shit, despite a promising premise). This might be the preferable way to watch the films TBH; Planet Terror's a weirdly intense, generally fun paean to Italian horror cinema, and Death Proof spends a large part of its running time revelling in Tarantino's trite dialogue, before redeeming itself with high-stakes car chases at the end.

[Slacker]

Watched Stan & Ollie last night, really enjoyed it. To the point where I binged a ton of Laurel & Hardy material*/Coogan & Reilly interviews afterwards. * Including an episode of 'This Is Your Life' where the presenter is a total arse, making fat jokes about Hardy all the time. Gets a solid 8.5 from me.

Also watched Joker (8) and Green Book (8.5) over the weekend. Fantastic performances all round.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

The Sapphires the other night. Fancied seeing it when it came out. Was pretty good. Chris O'Dowd is a great comedy actor. Why's he not in more stuff? Knew it would touch on racism against Aboriginal Australians but it's really doesn't shy away from it.

Then two nights ago I watched Baby Driver. A lot more style over substance but fairly enjoyable. Not as good as Vanishing Point tho

[SpiderDee]

Midsommar (Amazon)

What the feck did I just watch 

[WhiteRoseKillie]

5 hours ago, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

Yep, big disappointment.

The cash withdrawals at the ATM using the same (predictable) PIN made me laugh though. 

T2 was great and crap for exactly the same reasons as the original. More like a cinematic Tribute Act than a sequel for me. The cash machine episode (including the wee improvised club performance before) was funny, mind - although I'm not sure the gag translates that well. I've had to explain it to a few friends down here.

[roverthemoon]

14 hours ago, oldbitterandgrumpy said:

Yep, big disappointment.

The cash withdrawals at the ATM using the same (predictable) PIN made me laugh though. 

Found the whole Rangers supporters scene tedious. I know people love it, it’s an easy club to hate after all, but there was something incredibly lazy about that whole scene. It’s one joke worn incredibly thin. 

[The_Kincardine]

16 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

Found the whole Rangers supporters scene tedious. I know people love it, it’s an easy club to hate after all, but there was something incredibly lazy about that whole scene. It’s one joke worn incredibly thin. 

TS2 was not a patch on TS1 (which itself was flawed) but I take issue with "It’s one joke worn incredibly thin" when you're posting on a message board dedicated to that brain-dead trope.

[roverthemoon]

2 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

TS2 was not a patch on TS1 (which itself was flawed) but I take issue with "It’s one joke worn incredibly thin" when you're posting on a message board dedicated to that brain-dead trope.

I support Raith. No one is interested in the Old Firm where I post, except when reminiscing about our League Cup and Challenge Cup ‘double’ against them of course. 

[The_Kincardine]

30 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

Found the whole Rangers supporters scene tedious. 

 

3 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

No one is interested in the Old Firm 

That's diddy logic.  Mention a Rangers scene and then distance yourself from it when challenged.  I bet you're simple-minded enough to be a Natter..

[roverthemoon]

5 minutes ago, The_Kincardine said:

 

That's diddy logic.  Mention a Rangers scene and then distance yourself from it when challenged.  I bet you're simple-minded enough to be a Natter..

Mentioned the Rangers scene to say I thought it was pish. I  completely accept that Rovers are an absolutely diddy club, so not exactly sure what your point is. 

This is a film thread. The original Trainspotting  film was groundbreaking and innovative. The sequel was so pedestrian that it resorted to getting cheap laughs by lazily caricaturing Rangers fans. That doesn’t make a great film sadly. 

Edited April 22, 2020 by roverthemoon

[The_Kincardine]

4 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

Mentioned the Rangers scene to say I thought it was pish. I  completely accept that Rovers are an absolutely diddy club, so not exactly sure what your point is. 

I was taking the particular "It’s one joke worn incredibly thin" and applied it to the general ,"you're posting on a message board dedicated to that brain-dead trope".

Makes sense to me but I am fine with you taking issue with it.

[roverthemoon]

1 minute ago, The_Kincardine said:

I was taking the particular "It’s one joke worn incredibly thin" and applied it to the general ,"you're posting on a message board dedicated to that brain-dead trope".

Makes sense to me but I am fine with you taking issue with it.

Ok I concede. You win whatever point you are making in your own head. It’s too late to try and make any sense of this 

[The_Kincardine]

34 minutes ago, roverthemoon said:

Ok I concede. You win whatever point you are making in your own head. It’s too late to try and make any sense of this 

You know I monitor cheap tropes about The Rangers.  Maybe next time you'll avoid posting like a fud.

[MSU]

Movie 38 (Kid #2) -- The Greatest Showman 5/10. We've started this thing in the last five or so movies where there has to be a link from this movie to the previous movie. Which means a stretch of musicals, which I hate. This was comfortably better than Mamma Mia, at least the songs were better, I just can't get all that excited about JT Barnum being the hero of anything. My pick tomorrow. I wonder ...