What Was The Last Movie You Watched?

[Mr. Brightside]

18 minutes ago, Theroadlesstravelled said:

Candyman- 1/10

Remember when movies didn’t need to have an political agenda and were just entertainment?

 

f**k off.

[BFTD]

I fucking knew Candyman would blow itching powder up the skirt of somebody on here eventually  

Alien/Aliens (cinema) - there's an alien. Hijinx ensue. Later, there are more of them. Likewise.

Was recently embarrassed to discover that I'd neglected to expose the wean to any of the Alien films beside Alien: Covenant (the poor mite), so we rectified that yesterday. First time I'd seen them on the big screen myself, and it was very worthwhile.

Alien feels quite different in the cinema, with nothing to distract and no pause button. It's a real languid affair, taking its time to hit the big plot markers that everyone knows and building up bags of atmosphere. The camera floats lazily around the ship throughout, inviting the viewer to take a look about and imagine living there. The detail in the sets is remarkable and looks totally convincing - the Nostromo feels hot, sweaty, and well liven-in.

There are a few effects that have aged quite badly (and had by twenty-five years ago TBH), but a classic film transcends such things. It's remarkable how many imitators copied the trappings without understanding why the film works so well; it still stands apart from all the other space horror films in tone and execution. Sadly, during the scenes with all the cast, all I could think about was how many of them have died recently...and I don't think I'd ever noticed quite how much the first couple of series of Red Dwarf cribbed from the modelling and set dressing of Alien, but I think they even flat-out copied a couple of rooms  

Didn't gain quite as much from seeing Aliens again, but it's fucking Aliens for God's sake, and I did notice a couple of minor things that had eluded me on the small screen. Also the first time I'd seen the original theatrical cut since it was on the telly back in 1990 - it's always the director's cut everyone watches these days.

This is definitely a better version to watch for the first time, keeping Hadley's Hope and its fate under wraps until the marines arrive on LV-426, rather than showing the base pre-infestation and explicitly letting the audience know that the molecular acid has hit the fan. Hardly a great surprise if you'd already seen the prior film, but it builds more suspense not to see exactly what we're travelling to. It does, however, drop all mention of Ripley's daughter, which sets up the whole theme of the film, although some might feel that it doesn't require such a heavy-handed explanation for Ripley's role as the plot progresses. I just appreciated it as a moment of real horror for a parent, away from fantastical space monsters.

The original cut certainly ticks along at a faster pace, offering plenty of nods to the original in a variety of shots and camera movements, while firmly taking control of its own destiny. It certainly feels like Fox allowed James Cameron to do his own thing to a degree, but they certainly didn't seem to appreciate the results, going by the unholy clusterfuck that the production of Alien 3 turned into.

Sadly, Aliens seems to have been one of those films that whooshed many of its fans. In a similar fashion to how Brian De Palma's Scarface isn't an inspirational rags-to-riches tale about a poor immigrant taking no shit and living his best life, Aliens isn't the story of badass soldiers kicking ass and delivering one-liners, but a surrogate family tale where a bunch of (admittedly cool and entertaining) blowhards are slaughtered due to their own arrogance and incompetence. Christ knows how, but it's remarkable how many people seem to manage to miss that aspect, and bemoan the lack of sequels featuring the USCMC kicking alien butt across the galaxy. This is how we end up with Starship Troopers sequels, folks.

Another mention for Red Dwarf - Captain Hollister makes an appearance in the director's cut as one of the colonists. You'd probably take your chances with the xenomorphs to escape Rimmer.

[BFTD]

Might as well add to that wall of text above - Ridley Scott's re-edit of Alien is worth seeking out if you enjoyed the original film. It features quite a bit of new footage and still clocks in at a shorter running time than the original. I've never bothered to compare the differences, and it's not a superior version by any means, but I do remember it feeling quite different in places and it was an interesting companion piece.

It also features a catfight between Lambert and Ripley, which I think we can all agree to have been the main thing missing from the original.

[Theroadlesstravelled]

1 hour ago, NotThePars said:

Going back to 1940 and watching The Great Dictator which thankfully has nothing to say about the political conditions of the day

That is a satirical movie and a classic.

Candyman is a daft, horror/comedy movie that will be forgotten about in a year. The RACIAL INJUSTICE IN AMERICA theme is redundant and self-defeating.

Ultimately it was just a shite movie. 

[BFTD]

Candyman (1992) - pretentious horror/comedy garbage, forcing sermons about RACIAL INJUSTICE IN AMERICA down the audiences' throats.

No wonder it was forgotten within a year of release.

[Virtual Insanity]

31 minutes ago, BFTD said:

Candyman (1992) - pretentious horror/comedy garbage, forcing sermons about RACIAL INJUSTICE IN AMERICA down the audiences' throats.

No wonder it was forgotten within a year of release.

Read this at the top of the page without reading the preceding context and was tremendously confused. 

[accies1874]

There's a twist in the 1992 Candyman that I was convinced was a dream sequence so spent around 15 minutes waiting on a fake-out that never came. I'm pretty sure that's a good thing.

[sfha]

On 19/09/2021 at 23:26, BFTD said:

Might as well add to that wall of text above - Ridley Scott's re-edit of Alien is worth seeking out if you enjoyed the original film. It features quite a bit of new footage and still clocks in at a shorter running time than the original. I've never bothered to compare the differences, and it's not a superior version by any means, but I do remember it feeling quite different in places and it was an interesting companion piece.

It also features a catfight between Lambert and Ripley, which I think we can all agree to have been the main thing missing from the original.

Spoiler

Spoiler

The scene where Dallas is metamorphosing into an egg

 

The theatrical version of Alien is of course still outstanding but the director's cut does have some gems... ^^^

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

Jason Bourne - despite having more courage in it's convictions than the original films and just explicitly making the CIA and security state as a whole the baddy, this is by far the least interesting and weakest of the series. The manhunt scenes aren't balanced with enough clever evasion or investigation from Bourne which made the earlier films exciting, with his involvement mainly being sitting on trains or being in action set pieces. The crowbarring in of more modern social media and surveillance stuff isn't handled well at all, and as a result the film struggles to get performances out of Riz Ahmed and TLJ which is a real shame. I've never understood why Vincent Cassel keeps getting these roles, and Vikander is pretty wooden. Pretty poor and fails as a spy film, an action film and any sort of social cultural commentary imo.

 

 

[BFTD]

I'll be seeing the new Bond film next weekend, and it just occurred to me that I've only seen Casino Royale of Daniel Craig's entries...even that was back when it first came out. Between that and the fact that BigFatTabbyBoy has apparently never seen a Bond film (), I figure it's probably time to work through them.

Casino Royale (DVD) - remembered this being good, but it was actually even better than that. A real stonking start for Daniel Craig, with a ripsnorting, snappy tale that reinvented the way the series and character are presented, without doing too much differently in the way of story. Funny to think about the outrage over the new Bond before the film was released, as Craig is excellent as the ice-cold assassin, giving the character a palpable sense that there's just something missing behind the eyes. A terrific thriller, full of tension and remarkably, properly funny.

Quantum of Solace (DVD) - and then we have to get what's generally agreed to be the worst out of the way. Craig is still on good form, and there's some lovely warm, vivid cinematography, but the story is mediocre, with a deeply underwhelming villain, and the revenge aspect was frankly done better in Licence to Kill. The film has a choppy feel to it, and it's quite easy to lose track of what's happening at any given point due to disinterest. The action scenes are also appallingly edited in that post-millennial blockbuster way, with perpetually shaking camera, constant cuts, and a general lack of coherent movement that leaves the audience only barely aware of what's taking place.

It has its moments though, and the performances are again better than you'd likely expect from the Bond franchise, with the returning Judi Dench and Jeffrey Wright standing out in their brief time onscreen. Overall, though, it's about as forgettable as any of the prior films.

Had to twist BFTB's arm to watch these, as he'd no interest in Bond whatsoever, but he's quite keen to see Skyfall now so I think we have a convert.

[NotThePars]

1 hour ago, BFTD said:

Craig is excellent as the ice-cold assassin, giving the character a palpable sense that there's just something missing behind the eyes.

The best thing those movies did in hindsight was suggest less that Bond is suave, sophisticated or in control and more that he's just an unhinged psychopath who happens to be good looking.

[Arch Stanton]

Old (2021)

An hour and 3/4 of my life that's not coming back.

An interesting premise hamstrung by a lousy script and diabolically bad acting.

[scottsdad]

Doctor Strange (2016) 3/10

Feeble superhero movie. Cumberbatch spends the first half of the film acting like House, even sounding like him in places. Then overnight he's got amazing magical powers. Pisspoor story. Loads of CGI and Mads Mikkelsen cannot save this. 

[sfha]

On 22/09/2021 at 23:43, Arch Stanton said:

Old (2021)

An hour and 3/4 of my life that's not coming back.

An interesting premise hamstrung by a lousy script and diabolically bad acting.

I kept going back to this deciding whether or not to watch it.... don't think I'll bother now! 

[NotThePars]

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) dir. Peter Jackson

Watched this again for the first time in about 7-8 years as I’ve been rinsing the rubbish Middle Earth games.

Just a classic blockbuster isn’t it? Maybe the last truly great franchise. This movie warped my expectations of blockbusters in the same way (and in the same year!) as 9/11 did for the news. Feel deep for kids who have to settle for lazy garbage like the MCU when we got this and the sequels.

10/10

[Paul Kersey]

Escape from Alcatraz 

Clint Eastwood stars in this account of a real life escape bid from "The Rock".

This is probably the best prison movie going. It's dark, atmospheric, it oozes menace and has sparse dialogue. My only complaint is that, like many prison films, it protrays the prison staff as evil while glossing over the crimes committed by the prisoners. 

A very good film to watch late at night with the lights turned off.

9/10

[velo army]

On 22/09/2021 at 21:31, BFTD said:

I'll be seeing the new Bond film next weekend, and it just occurred to me that I've only seen Casino Royale of Daniel Craig's entries...even that was back when it first came out. Between that and the fact that BigFatTabbyBoy has apparently never seen a Bond film (), I figure it's probably time to work through them.

Casino Royale (DVD) - remembered this being good, but it was actually even better than that. A real stonking start for Daniel Craig, with a ripsnorting, snappy tale that reinvented the way the series and character are presented, without doing too much differently in the way of story. Funny to think about the outrage over the new Bond before the film was released, as Craig is excellent as the ice-cold assassin, giving the character a palpable sense that there's just something missing behind the eyes. A terrific thriller, full of tension and remarkably, properly funny.

Quantum of Solace (DVD) - and then we have to get what's generally agreed to be the worst out of the way. Craig is still on good form, and there's some lovely warm, vivid cinematography, but the story is mediocre, with a deeply underwhelming villain, and the revenge aspect was frankly done better in Licence to Kill. The film has a choppy feel to it, and it's quite easy to lose track of what's happening at any given point due to disinterest. The action scenes are also appallingly edited in that post-millennial blockbuster way, with perpetually shaking camera, constant cuts, and a general lack of coherent movement that leaves the audience only barely aware of what's taking place.

It has its moments though, and the performances are again better than you'd likely expect from the Bond franchise, with the returning Judi Dench and Jeffrey Wright standing out in their brief time onscreen. Overall, though, it's about as forgettable as any of the prior films.

Had to twist BFTB's arm to watch these, as he'd no interest in Bond whatsoever, but he's quite keen to see Skyfall now so I think we have a convert.

I loved Skyfall. Don't let him watch Spectre though. That was worse than QoS (which I actually liked as a slow burning piece of continuity) and is one of the laziest Bond films out there. Game of Thrones levels of incompetence.

On the subject of Bond, I watched Goldfinger recently and there are parts of that which are simply awful. The "seduction" of Pussy Galore is basically sexual assault. I cringed hard at that. And the final fight between Bond and Odd-job is laughably bad. It reminded me of the fight between the two male leads in Bridget Jones' diary. 

[BFTD]

1 hour ago, velo army said:

On the subject of Bond, I watched Goldfinger recently and there are parts of that which are simply awful. The "seduction" of Pussy Galore is basically sexual assault. I cringed hard at that. And the final fight between Bond and Odd-job is laughably bad. It reminded me of the fight between the two male leads in Bridget Jones' diary. 

There's a lot of moaning about "woke Bond" at the moment, before the new film has even come out, and I noticed Goldfinger's barn scene is cited as an example of something that the woke mafia would never allow these days.

Obviously Bond has always been a superhero fantasy for men, but you do have to wonder why some men are outraged that it no longer includes the whole "no means yes" fallacy instead of, say, women actively pursuing a shag from Bond because he's just so cool and handsome, and all that jazz.

[Shandon Par]

Big congratulations to the set designers who created Skyfall house/castle or whatever it was. Half-expected Austin Powers to turn up and say to the viewer “isn’t it remarkable how little a cardboard mock Tudor mansion on a moor in England looks like a Scottish castle?”.

[BFTD]

Jaws (cinema) - an innocent shark is accused of murder after a young woman is killed by a rogue bunch of crabs on the New England shoreline.

Really enjoying seeing classic films on the big screen at the moment. Jaws was my favourite film as a wee boy, and the same goes for my son, so a good time was had by all. What I didn't expect was how involving it was, despite having seen it literally dozens of times in the house, and I was so wrapped up in the story that I'd forgotten about Quint's fate until it was actually happening, and it was every bit as unpleasant as the first time round. It really can't be overstated quite how good that film is; an absolute masterpiece of tension.

There's just no comparison between watching these films at home or in the cinema, by the way.