What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Mark Connolly]

1 hour ago, Stellaboz said:

I thought it was okay, but I didn't feel at anytime there was a sense of threat or...high stakes like the original trilogy. Quite enjoyed the early part wondering where the f**k they were going with it, but the ending left me a bit...meh. 

Pretty much exactly my thoughts.

Spoiler

The initial part with all sorts of mentions about Warner Brothers and reboots and retreads had me thinking they might do something very different, then they basically had the entire first trilogy in one film with a younger cast other than Reeves and Moss (and Jada Pinkett)

 

[Detournement]

It would have been far better if they had just stuck with the opening premise and done something like Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind in The Matrix.

As I said before the action sequences were half assed.

[Sliced Bread]

The new Ghostbusters film. 
 

I guess it was just what it needed to be,  new and youthful enough to attract a young audience and reboot the franchise, but plenty from the original films to hook in us old farts who watched it in the 80s. It was ok, a bit too long, Bill Murray looks decrepit and it wasn’t the same without Harold Ramis. I did prefer it to the Paul Feig one a few years ago. 

[Arch Stanton]

Munich: The Edge of War (2021)

Boring

[Paul Kersey]

Betty Blue

A badly dressed French bloke and a barely dressed French burd go around doing incredibly stupid stuff.

This was pretty boring tbh. Must be one of the most overrated films ever. 

The only plus point is Bèatrice Dalle in the scud. 

4/10

[NotThePars]

Watched a few things over the last week or so

Spider-Man (2002) dir. Sam Raimi

The melodrama is very over the top and it's incredibly goofy but it's all in good fun. Lot of good OTT performances with Dafoe in the lead. I far prefer this to the MCU monstrosities and Garfield's flops. 

Con-Air (1997) dir. Simon West

What did I think at the end? Yeeha, that's right. Movies were much better back when they made no sense and nobody gave a shit cause it was all in service of cool actors doing cool shit.

Superbad (2007). dir. Greg Mottola

This surprisingly really holds up and I think it might be the comfortable best of that slew of US comedies from the mid-noughties maybe because it has such a simple premise: teens get a fake ID and try to buy booze to get their hole.

The Big Short (2015) dir. Adam McKay

Having watched this and Don't Look Up I think it's pretty obvious that McKay is on much firmer ground with economics. It's a bit preachy like everything he does but that works and is fine when he understands who he thinks is to blame.

The Other Guys (2010). dir. Adam McKay

It's been years since I watched this and while it stops being as funny after the first half hour or so I still enjoyed it. Also it's funny in hindsight how much of the plot of this is focused on a somewhat niche bit of financial fraud and the credits is all about the onset of neoliberalism and the financial crash. Man knew what his interests were.

Licorice Pizza (2021) dir. Paul Thomas Anderson

PTA's pure vibes movie. I loved this even if me and my gf were squirming at the end scene. Hoffman and Alana are so great in this in what is their first role and the whole cinema was howling the entire time with laughter. The scenes with the Japanese wives especially were horrendous but I couldn't stop laughing every time it happened. 

Edited January 24, 2022 by NotThePars

[accies1874]

16. Licorice Pizza (2021)* - Cinema

Finally got to see it. Hanging out in this film with these characters is enjoyable. It lingers on a lot of moments which is often really pleasant, and the two leads are terrific, really buying into that youthful immaturity, lashings of anger and the contentedness and frustration of being in each other's company. That said, I'd be lying if I said it didn't become a bit repetitive being dropped into one too many similar scenario. It wasn't a massive problem at the time, but I'm wondering now how the film would be without one or two of those moments and situations. What would it lose? I accept that it more than deserves a rewatch though - all his films do. 

A lot of the plot points are bizarre, somewhat unrealistic, which along with the cinematography (especially at the 35mm screening) added up to the film feeling like someone  looking upon a life that may not actually reflect the reality of events. A nostalgic yearning for how we think youth played out, or maybe wish it played out. A lot of it is like a teen summer hangout movie with Alana dropped in and she doesn't quite know how to feel about that. 

17. The Shape of Water (2018) - Channel 4

There's a new Del Toro out so I've been watching and rewatching a few of his others. This is his Best Picture winner for the majority of you who have probably already forgotten, and it's got some really great elements (score, production and costume design and cinematography), a good lead performance, a multi-genre narrative and some ideas that were relevant when it's set, when it was released and are relevant now.

So why was I bored for much of it?

18. Pacific Rim (2013)* - Netflix & 19. Crimson Peak (2015)* - Film4

Combining these two as I have pretty much the same thing to say about them. 

Wasn't a big fan of either but what makes Del Toro admirable is that he's more than happy to venture into almost schlock/pulp stories and give them the same respect he would his Oscar-winning stuff. Tbf I'm not sure he intended for Crimson Peak to be considered that way, but it has all the twists and melodrama of a classic sensational Gothic romantic drama (with a blend of good horror elements) that naturally brings about ridiculousness - so many of them are daft! With Pacific Rim, he takes big, stupid monster/robot bashing and completely commits to the grandiose fights and huge scale as well as that lore shit that losers care about. I don't know why it was lit like... that, though. 

20. The Devil's Backbone (2001) - DVD

I watched this during one of the lockdowns but couldn't remember much about it. HOW?

This is fucking great. A tale that blends coming of age with mortality and lets child actors lead the way - in fact, they make it all work thanks to their childhood innocence effectively on a timer with the war going on around them and death that they're not yet aware of. There are some big themes that could've been trite if not told in a wonderfully put together film. 

It effortlessly sets things up in plain sight that lead into moments later in the script. Stuff that you don't think about at the time but are impressed by when it links into the story later on. It's got a cool look too, pretty much using three dominant colours with quite impactful flashes of red. Even the simple effects on the ghost are impressive. 

[UpInTheAyr]

The 355.

Looking at the stacked cast you would think this would be worth a watch. You would be wrong. Awful script, awful acting, awful action scene. As generic a spy/action film as you can get.

[J_Stewart]

Just watched Boiling Point on Prime, and it is very, very good. One shot throughout, Stephen Graham plays the head chef who’s just started in his own restaurant with not everything going to plan either personally or professionally. As per usual, his performance is fucking incredible. No one does angry, apologetic, intense, vulnerable in a single character better than Graham, one of the absolute best actors around.

The way it’s shot, coupled with the performances and the story itself make it tense from the very first moment to the very last. An easy 7 out of 10 on the Uncut Gems scale of movie relentlessness. Well worth a trip to the cinema, or the tenner to rent it at home.

[Shandon Par]

The Power of the Dog

Netflix’s algorithms tick various boxes marked “Oscar judges will like this”. Just felt a bit cynical. Or maybe that’s just me being cynical?

[MSU]

006 -- Parallel Mothers. Penelope Cruz in Pedro Almodóvar's latest effort. The audience realize what its secrets far far earlier than any character in the movie so the events that contrive to push Cruz's Janis, and fellow new mother Ana together are nowhere near as satisfying or interesting as the secondary storyline of confirming the fate of Janis's great-grandfather during the Spanish Civil War. Cruz's performance and some delicious looking plates of food make it just about worth a gander. 5/10

Edited January 30, 2022 by MSU

[Detournement]

There is only one Boiling Point as far as I'm concerned. 

 

[MSU]

1 hour ago, welshbairn said:

^^^How many spoilers can I fit into 100 words type post. 

You're absolutely right. It was late. I wasn't thinking. I'll redact.

[welshbairn]

2 minutes ago, MSU said:

You're absolutely right. It was late. I wasn't thinking. I'll redact.

[Mark Connolly]

14 minutes ago, MSU said:

You're absolutely right. It was late. I wasn't thinking. I'll redact.

A bit late now you've told everyone Bruce Willis was Keyser Soze all along tbh

[BFTD]

2 hours ago, Mark Connolly said:

A bit late now you've told everyone Bruce Willis was Keyser Soze all along tbh

It was Brad Pitt's head being in the box at the end of Fight Club that really ticked me off.

[NotThePars]

As an aside one of my favourite 30 Rock jokes is when Tracey Morgan says "I finally understand the end of the Sixth Sense! All those names were the people who worked on the movie."

[8MileBU]

Spider-Man: No Way Home

My wee lassie is right into Marvel just now and been champing at the bit to see this for weeks. I only half paid attention to it so I ain’t gonna critique it. 
 

Rucker (The Trucker): 

Probably would never even have heard of this movie if I hadn’t read on Blabbermouth that Slipknot’s Corey Taylor had a part in it.

A lot of pish.

[Fullerene]

10 hours ago, BFTD said:

It was Brad Pitt's head being in the box at the end of Fight Club that really ticked me off.

I was really enjoying watching the World at War until somebody told me who won it.

Spoiler

.. but I am not telling you.

 

[coprolite]

Sing 2

Anthropomorphic singing animals blag a high budget musical production. 

Quite entertaining despite having Bono in it. By the numbers but made great use of the animated format for the visuals. 

Highlights were mercury rev on the soundtrack and the shy elephant doing "say a little prayer".  Bono's voice acting was probably the worst i've ever heard. He should stick to eradicating global poverty. 

Wolves get unfairly maligned, again. 

7/10