Rate the last film you watched out of 5

[glb]

Pearl - 3/5 (work screener)

 

Probably gets its score just for Mia Goth’s beautifully deranged performance, which I saw someone elsewhere describe as akin to Shelley Duvall playing Norman Bates. Goth’s utterly captivating throughout, with probably the most interesting performance I can remember since Natalie Portman in Jackie. Genuinely think Goth should be up for award consideration but doubt she will be as the Academy and its ilk tends to overlook horror as a genre worthy of acclaim.

 

Can’t wait for MaXXine to arrive and complete what will hopefully be an unexpectedly fun trilogy.

 

(#883)

[Mikes]

The Reflecting Skin (1990)

 

Supposed to be a low-key vampire film. Ended up being an hour and 40 minutes of waiting for the shoe to drop that never did. Very pretty to look at, though.

 

2 young Viggo Mortensens out of 5

 

[glb]

Kinsey - 3/5 (Disney+)

 

2004 biopic starring Liam Neeson as Alfred Kinsey, who in the 1940s revolutionised scientific understanding of sexual behaviour through groundbreaking research.

 

It’s pretty graphic for a Hollywood film, but the story is told with frank maturity balanced with moments of lightness when needed. Neeson is really good in the lead, with Laura Linney on good form as always as his wife “Mac”. Peter Sarsgaard, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, Dylan Baker and William Sadler, with a particularly icky cameo, offer reliable support.

 

One of those films that is pretty much A-B but even at two hours rattles along thanks to good performances, deft direction and an interesting subject. 
 

(#887)

[englishbob]

2001 - A Space Odyssey (4K Blu-Ray) 

 

Still blows me away every time I see it - a true cinema experience - how they made it from 1965 onwards is just incredible. 

 

This is my favourite 4K transfer I think - looks great on the LG C1 in Dolby Vision - I wait until winter until its nice and dark outside and then immerse myself in this film at least once a year (2nd time this year on 4K it's that good!)

 

5/5

[ScouserInExile]

Pitch Black 

 

It's a Riddick film, so it must be good.

 

And it actually is.

 

Vin Diesel oozes menace and brilliantly transitions from the monster of the piece to the anti hero when the real monsters come out. The monsters and the planet they are on are great if you don't think about it too much. 

 

There's some really weird shots and effects that are no good if you've had a bit too much to drink. But it well shot other than that. Full of good action, tense bits, jump scares and a bit of gore.

 

Thoroughly entertaining but not exactly a classic.

 

4/5

[englishbob]

2 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

Pitch Black 

 

It's a Riddick film, so it must be good.

 

Vin Diesel

 

Is it

[Stig]

Black Adam (2022)

 

The stench of the Synderverse is all over this film. From the po-faced script, the colour grading, the lighting, the slow motion, the music etc. If someone told me Zack Snyder directed this, I'd have believed you. Jaume Collet-Serra was clearly only looking one way for inspiration when directing this.

 

It has it moments and for 2/3rds of it, I was kinda enjoying it. I liked Black Adams ruthlessness because it painted him in the perfect light from the get go, although he does end up becoming more of a hero as the film progresses. Hopefully they'll go full villain with him down the road.

 

There's were moments that made me laugh, I thought Brosnan looked ace and I enjoyed Aldis Hodge as Hawkman. The Rock was too serious and seemed afraid to let go and have fun. There's a few funny moments with him that I did laugh at, but I just thought the character was too dry throughout most of the film. They didn't play with the person out of time concept enough. Those are easy wins and laughs and the times they did try, it mostly fell flat.

 

But there are so many problems with this film in how its presented and the script is genuinely awful in places. The other two heroes, Atom Smashes and Cyclone may as well not even bother showing up for all they were used and the villain was a bland as they come.

 

The film lost its way MASSIVELY in the final 3rd where its a big rush to the get to the finish line and its just pure crap. I appreciate them going comic accurate with the bad guy but I found it so goofy, it just didn't seem to fit the tone of these film at all. In Shazam it would work but her it just didn't click for me.

 

Re the mid credits

Spoiler

It was ace and really annoying that not only the internet but the actual team behind the film ruined it before hand.

 

Getting Cavill back as Superman is a big win for DC and The Rock. I hope James Gunn can pull all this together into something coherent going forward.

 

2/5

[Stanley]

Spirited. 
 

I loved this. Ryan Reynolds is, well, Ryan Reynolds, and it’s A Christmas Carol musical, with songs written by the writers of The Greatest Showman. If any of those things appeal to you then you might like it too.

 

4/5

[Ork1927]

1 hour ago, Stanley said:

Spirited. 
 

I loved this. Ryan Reynolds is, well, Ryan Reynolds, and it’s A Christmas Carol musical, with songs written by the writers of The Greatest Showman. If any of those things appeal to you then you might like it too.

 

4/5

I posted in its own thread, but seconded.

 

Very enjoyable

[Vimster]

Batman Begins (2005)

I take a shortcut through CEX to catch the bus home from work, and as it was running late I went back in and bought the Nolan Batman trilogy on Bluray for a fiver. Not going to lie, I loved this from the off, the tone and pace of it felt just right, as did the tight action, moments of dry humour and even the dangerously earnest cod philosphy. Obviously it's a well-crafted film, but I just found it totally engaging, with a very well-paced origin story. At the time the Batman franchise needed a change of direction like this, and whilst I have a soft spot for camp, this stylishly darker take worked for me. Can't fault the cast, and for some reason I was overjoyed to see Shane Rimmer have a small part in this.

 

4/5

 

Nil By Mouth (1997)

Man alive, that was a hard watch, but a fulfilling, brilliantly-directed one. It's a finely-observed tale that treats domestic abuse more than cheap drama, understands the ebbs and flows of a domestically-abusive relationship in the most no-nonsense way. Hearing Ray Winston's character talking about his father was powerful stuff. I'd like to know more about what inspired this, but from this watch I get the impression this came right from Gary Oldman's heart.

 

4.5/5

[glb]

Causeway - 3/5 (Apple TV)

 

Jennifer Lawrence in full acting mode leads this low-key drama alongside Brian Tyree Henry.

 

Lawrence plays a military vet dealing with the fallout from an injury, and her past when she moves home to New Orleans. Not remotely original, but the film is elevated by Lawrence being excellent, and having great chemistry with the charming Tyree Henry.

 

(#888)

[Jamie John]

Kill List (2011) - Blu Ray

 

 

Well, that certainly took a turn.

 

Hmm. I thought this was excellent up until the very end: realistically acted, claustrophobically shot and incredibly tense. I must admit, however, my initial reaction when I got to the end was immediate dissatisfaction, a proper "Oh, for fuck's sake" moment, which undid a lot of the goodwill the film had generated up until that point. I've spent the last 30 minutes or so reading a few different interpretations, and that's done something to mitigate my original frustrations with the ending, but only up to a point.

 

In a lot of ways, this reminded me of Under The Skin, one of my favourite films, in terms of its cinematography and underlying menace, but it doesn't quite reach the same heights. Having said that, however, I'm definitely interested in checking out some of Wheatley's (the director's) other stuff; I've heard that A Field in England is just as divisive as this, if not more so.

 

4/5

[Vimster]

Weirdly that tonal twist totally grabbed me.

[Jamie John]

9 minutes ago, Vimster said:

Weirdly that tonal twist totally grabbed me.

 

I sensed that there would be a change in tone from quite near the start: I'd already heard that it was a 

Spoiler

horror film disguised as a hitman thriller, and there's the bit at the beginning where Fiona carves the cult symbol into the back of the mirror, which is a pretty big clue.

 

What threw me was the wife's laugh at the very end, once Jay (the main character) had finished killing her and their son. Initially, I thought that she was part of the cult, but she had just spent the last 10 minutes efficiently killing cultists who had invaded the house, so that didn't quite add up.

 

It seems that the ending is supposed to be very metaphorical and allegorical - something about Jay's inevitable descent into evil - but I don't think the film quite earned it, especially when it had been so realistic (in terms of the locations, the sets, the cast, the performances) up until that point. Had it been self-consciously ambiguous up until that point then I might have felt differently, but, ultimately, the ending just didn't land for me.

[Capwn]

Wonder 

 

I initially tried this yesterday and gave up within 20mins. Just wasn’t feeling it, also weirded out how grainy the image is.

 

Gave it another go tonight and enjoyed it, I like how it plays out, not quite as conventional as I was expecting. 

 

Super bleak though, beware.

 

3/5

[Junker]

Venom - let there be Carnage

 

2/5. Dumb action movie. Inexplicable amount of Brits in it with ropey accents. Getting revenge for Dick van Dyke?Woody Harrelson doing the weirdest villain voice and delivery of lines, and pulling weird faces.

 I liked the first one, went in with low expectations and actually had fun. This one was bad. 

 Oh and the product placement is horrific!! The tracking shot of his Ducati was SO bad it made me lol.
 Having said that, Tom Hardy is just so watcheable I kind of enjoyed it ..

 

[Silent Runner]

Reminiscence

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3272066/

 

Nick Bannister, a private investigator of the mind, navigates the alluring world of the past when his life is changed by new client Mae. A simple case becomes an obsession after she disappears and he fights to learn the truth about her.

 

This had loads of good ideas, a fine cast and a decent budget and wasted all of it. This is a sci-fi, noir, mystery, Inception knock-off that never really commits to a single theme or plot. Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson are good, there's some nice effects (and some terrible ones) but the whole thing is aimless and just drifts on towards a disappointing ending.

 

2/5 

[Thor]

Clash of the Titans (1981)

 

I'm replaying the old God of War games. Partway through God of War II I was reminded of this movie, and it occurred to me I'd never actually watched the movie at an age where I understood what was going on. Obviously the effects are incdibly dated now (those scorpions were bloody good though), but the film is actually alright, for a whitewash of Greek mythology of course. 

 

3/5

[Mikes]

Hateful Eight (2017)

 

Not a big western fan, but this isn't an western movie. Really liked the tension throughout and the 2.75 hour runtime flew by. The screenplay was fun to read too.

 

5 N Words out of 5

 

 

[Thor]

5 minutes ago, DualSense said:

Get out of here.  Watch the remakes and you’ll see that their effects manage to look even more dated somehow.

 

Knightmare on CITV a few years later looked better

 

The scorpions really were fucking great, though.

[PaB]

8 hours ago, Mikes said:

Hateful Eight (2017)

 

Not a big western fan, but this isn't an western movie. Really liked the tension throughout and the 2.75 hour runtime flew by. The screenplay was fun to read too.

 

5 N Words out of 5

 

 

I think it’s my favourite Tarantino film . It’s between this and Jackie brown. I absolutely love it.

[Colonel Panic]

All my friends hate me

 

4/5

 

Man meets old friends in country house, but something seems off. 

 

Barbarian

 

3/5

 

I enjoyed this, but it went off the rails towards the end. 

 

The Invitation

 

1/5

 

sub par vampire movie

[Mikes]

Ex Machina (2014)

 

Pretty awesome.

 

5 plinky plonky piano musics out of 5

 

[englishbob]

On 20/11/2022 at 22:57, Thor said:

Clash of the Titans (1981)

 

I'm replaying the old God of War games. Partway through God of War II I was reminded of this movie, and it occurred to me I'd never actually watched the movie at an age where I understood what was going on. Obviously the effects are incdibly dated now (those scorpions were bloody good though), but the film is actually alright, for a whitewash of Greek mythology of course. 

 

3/5

 

On 22/11/2022 at 08:39, DualSense said:

Get out of here.  Watch the remakes and you’ll see that their effects manage to look even more dated somehow.

 

Judi Bowker though (See also Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run)

[Couch Corpse]

Dial M for Murder - 5/7

[englishbob]

Everything Everywhere All at once (Amazon Prime)

 

Loved it all, can't not give it less than a 5/5

 

(it seems impossible to buy physically in 4K (or any) disc format in the UK - it states on Amazon Prime it's "exclusive" - but only having it available in HD is a poor exclusive. It was released in US but even for a disc that was only released about 5 months ago it's almost impossible to get. There is a German version however)

[ucci]

On 20/11/2022 at 11:30, Silent Runner said:

Reminiscence

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3272066/

 

Nick Bannister, a private investigator of the mind, navigates the alluring world of the past when his life is changed by new client Mae. A simple case becomes an obsession after she disappears and he fights to learn the truth about her.

 

This had loads of good ideas, a fine cast and a decent budget and wasted all of it. This is a sci-fi, noir, mystery, Inception knock-off that never really commits to a single theme or plot. Hugh Jackman and Rebecca Ferguson are good, there's some nice effects (and some terrible ones) but the whole thing is aimless and just drifts on towards a disappointing ending.

 

2/5 

Still haunts me to this day, had a choice to go to the cinema last year and watched this over The Night House. Ballsed up there defo. 

[glb]

Armageddon Time - 3/5 (work screener)

 

Coming-of-age drama from James Gray. Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong and Anthony Hopkins feature, with some pertinent moments admonishing class and privilege. 
 

Felt solid rather than spectacular, like an early Oscar-contender that fizzles out of momentum by the time the nominations come around.

 

(#900)

[Fireproofradiator]

Brian and Charles. Only one joke, really and I’m a bit unsure about the links to Ricky Gervais as well as the general ‘will this do’-ness of the structure. But it is a good joke and the performances are engaging. Also “I’ve got a washing machine for a tummy!”

 

3/5

[Thor]

38 minutes ago, DualSense said:

In a film with flying horses, giant sea monsters, a Medusa turning people to stone, giant scorpions and so on..you choose man turning crank underwater. Pfft.

Yeah, because the effects you mention actually look like they're part of the scene, whereas that looks, well, utterly pathetic, even by the standards of the period.