Rate the last film you watched out of 5

[glb]

51 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

Film #9/52: First Man (2018) - 4K UHD Blu-Ray

 

 

I thought this was a very good, very sad film, beautifully shot and heartfelt, and centred on stuff I never really knew much about. Despite the 2hr 30min run-time, I never once got bored, either; it was all just very interesting, and I now want to know how historically and scientifically accurate it all was, too, because it successfully makes space exploration seem absolutely terrifying (which, of course, it must have been). It's the type of film that makes you want to immediately go out and read books about its subject matter, or watch documentaries.

 

If it loses half a star, it's because Gosling's performance is almost a bit too dour, terse, deadpan and...well, Gosling-like. I need to see him in a few more things where he plays against type a little bit more, because after this, Blade Runner 2049, Drive and Only God Forgives, he's going to end up as a parody of himself before long. It's quite telling when, at the every end, 

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they land on the moon (what a spoiler!) and Gosling's voice is manipulated to sound exactly like the real Armstrong's in the "One small step for man" speech, that the actual Armstrong sounds a lot more chipper than Gosling's version of him. It's almost like Gosling's Armstrong wouldn't say what the actual Armstrong said. Rather, he'd just look around in moodyy silence and then get back in the ship and go home. I found it a bit jarring.

 

But anyway, this minor quibble aside, what with this, La La Land and Whiplash, Damien Chazelle is currently sitting at 3/3 great movies for me. I should really watch Babylon.

 

4.5/5

Have you seen Apollo 11? If not, it’s a wonderful documentary, and a perfect complimentary film to First Man. No narration, just chronological footage of the Apollo 11 mission. It’s on Now according to JustWatch.

 

Also recommend Apollo 10 ½ (Netflix) which is very enjoyable period animation. Yes I have a not-exactly-minor fascination with the first moon landing.

[Jamie John]

1 minute ago, glb said:

Have you seen Apollo 11? If not, it’s a wonderful documentary, and a perfect complimentary film to First Man. No narration, just chronological footage of the Apollo 11 mission. It’s on Now according to JustWatch.

 

Also recommend Apollo 10 ½ (Netflix) which is very enjoyable period animation. Yes I have a not-exactly-minor fascination with the first moon landing.

 

I haven't, no. Will add it to the list!

[glb]

19 minutes ago, Jamie John said:

 

I haven't, no. Will add it to the list!

Excellent, really hope you enjoy it. Think it’s a stunning account of one of humankind’s great achievements

[Ork1927]

On 12/03/2023 at 09:53, ZOK said:

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom - 5/5 (Bristol Watershed)

 

Fancy city boy Ugyen is a teacher and lazy little shit, living it up in Bhutan’s capital city (pop.100,000). The government send him to Lunana (pop.46) as part of their programme to achieve Gross National Happiness by educating every child. The school in Lunana is the most remote in Bhutan, and probably the world.

 

I can’t give this anything other than five stars, even though it’s a retread of a threadbare story (fish out of comfortable water finds his truth in harsh simplicity) with a five minute ending sequence that is almost a clunker. It’s just so spectacularly beautiful and lovely that it’s a perfect film. Every single scene is a delight, save for the very end. And even that had me welling up.

 

 

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

 

I watched this yesterday as part of a 4 film cinema day out.

 

I don't think I'll go 5/5, but it was 4.5/5 and I'll strongly agree with Zok's review.  Would have happily spent a lot longer in Lunana or treking to it.  On the ending

 

Spoiler

I've decided he immediately jumped back on a plane and was teaching the kids again a fortnight later, but that would mean he went to Sydney as soon as he got back and that ending scene was taking place during the Bhutan winter).

 

 

 

Rye Lane

 

A very funny and charming rom-com which mainly takes place across one afternoon/evening in South London between a couple who meet in the toilets of a gallery opening.

 

The two leads were very likeable, the dialogue was funny and sharp and it was visually imaginative and quite trippy at times.  Only 82 minutes long. Great stuff.

 

4/5

 

Allelujah 

 

I almost want to start a whole thread for this, but only because of the WTF third act plot point.

 

So this is the story of a elder care hospital under threat of closure with Judi Dench and David Bradley as patients and Jennifer Saunders as a long serving sister who is getting a medal and Russel Tovey as a Management consultant working for the government.

 

Its not very good, but its very pro NHS and anti government so while its not a great film, its got a good message to the extent that one of the leads is an Asian doctor who is doing a voice over saying how important the NHS is and how we don't treat the elderly well and at one point Russel Tovey kicks off at the wanker Tory Health minister and does a whole speech about how they are destroying the NHS.

 

So 2/5, but up to 2.5 stars for the message except (spoiler for third act plot point) that drops this to 1/5

 

Spoiler

So the film is getting near to its conclusion where you assume Russel Tovey will 'turn good' and help save the hospital and fully re-engage with his Dad and the film's strong pro NHS message will hit home nicely, but out of nowhere it turns out that Jennifer Saunder's has been murdering the patients with morphine laced milk.

 

Its not even a big tonal shift and it happens very late in the film which then still finishes with a direct to camera monologue about how important the NHS is, buts its like the producers watched the film and decided it needed a bit of balance so one of the NHS staff had to be a murderer so we didn't think the NHS was all good.

 

I'm still baffled about it now.  If it had happened much earlier and changed the tone then fine, but it was so out of nowhere that if the film had been a lot better up to that point I'd have probably walked out.

 

Finally

 

I'll post in the main thread, but 

 

John Wick 4.

 

Stupid, over the top, never ending violence - loved it.

 

4/5

 

 

 

 

 

[ZOK]

5 minutes ago, Ork1927 said:

Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom

 

I watched this yesterday as part of a 4 film cinema day out.

 

I don't think I'll go 5/5, but it was 4.5/5 and I'll strongly agree with Zok's review.  Would have happily spent a lot longer in Lunana or treking to it.  On the ending

 

  Reveal hidden contents

I've decided he immediately jumped back on a plane and was teaching the kids again a fortnight later, but that would mean he went to Sydney as soon as he got back and that ending scene was taking place during the Bhutan winter).

 

Yes, I think there are probably plenty of reasons why someone wouldn’t give if full marks, but afterward I sat there thinking ‘what else could I ask for from a film?’ 

[Ork1927]

5 minutes ago, ZOK said:

Yes, I think there are probably plenty of reasons why someone wouldn’t give if full marks, but afterward I sat there thinking ‘what else could I ask for from a film?’ 

 

It was very close to 5 for me and a film I'll show the family at some point so it could go up.

 

 

[Waggo]

19 hours ago, Garwoofoo said:

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

 

I consider myself a Star Trek fan but I have always struggled a bit with the original series crew. While the original show is clearly now very old and can be forgiven a lot on that basis, the movies are 20 years newer yet still suffer from glacial pacing, hammy acting, TV-quality studio sets and terrible special effects.

 

This is a particularly rubbish one. It's clear from the title that (a) Spock isn't going to be in it and (b) they're going to find him at the end (because they aren't going to make a two-hour movie called The Search for Spock where everyone turns around and says "well, guess we didn't find Spock then"). Like both its predecessors, it spends a third of its runtime establishing why this team of bewigged, corsetted geriatrics get to piss about on the Enterprise yet again. It's incredibly obvious where it's going all the way through but it still takes an absolute age to get there. Shatner's playing for the peanut gallery throughout.

 

Anyway, this was dreadful. 1/5

 

 

 

Christopher Lloyd absolutely nails it as a Klingon though, and is the template for all the future Klingon characterisation we see in TNG, DS9 and Voyager.  Worf, Gowron, Martok etc all build on the foundations he laid down in TSFS.

 

His speech about ‘peace with kids playing at your feet, while high above fluttering in the breeze the flag of the Federation’ is also one of my all time favourite Trek scenes.

 

So yeah a generally naff movie, but for me at least still an important one for what it brings to Trek canon.  
 

Plus if you found this one bad just wait until you get to ‘The Final Frontier’!!!!

[Wiper]

Yeah, hence the famous truism about odd-numbered TOS movies being awful — though, to be honest, that always felt a bit unfair to The Motion Picture. I also don't actually mind TSFS; the main criticism as above is that it's basically just a big TOS episode, which I find quite endearing. Certainly preferable to "let's make an action movie with Star Trek trappings!". And on a related note: it could be worse, it could be TNG movies, in which case the rule is "is it anything but First Contact? Then it's terrible and inexiplicably big budget"

[Clipper]

(do we have a star trek films thread?)

 

I have finally decided I don't really like First Contact that much after many years of fooling myself that it is the best TNG movie. The issue is that if I was told I could sit down and watch one TNG movie I'd probably choose Generations or maybe even Insurrection first. The former has a great scenery chewing turn by McDowell and the swansong of Kirk and the latter is a big warm cuddly TNG two parter (not as good as BOBW or All Good Things but decent). First Contact is half action flick (not TNG as TNG action was always irrelevant and terrible) and half comedy TNG episode. It is the best scifi action film of the TNG films but not the best TNG film.

 

TNG movies

 

Generations

Insurrection

FIrst Contact

(the other one that is so shit I won't name it)

 

Insurrection and First Contact are pretty much on a par

 

Also while Star Trek 5 is a bad film it does have some really lovely Kirk/Spock/Bones scenes which gives it a slight edge for me. I can't stand star Trek 4 however with its non-trek comedy 80s soundtrack and fish out of water comedy moments it is just blehh...

 

TOS movies - just to get all my bad opinions out the way in one thread

 

Wrath of Khan

The Motion Picture (hard to rank this as it is the best scifi film of the lot but not really a TOS film )

Star Trek 6

Star Trek 5

Star Trek 3

Star Trek 4

 

5 and 3 are similarly on a par, one has Christopher Lloyd and a self destructing Enterprise and the other has the great Kirk/Spock/Bones moments. 6 is overrated but I just love it as a swansong for the TOS crew.

 

When it comes down to it Star Trek films aren't actually that good as the TV shows are a far better medium for both. Wrath of Khan and The Motion Picture are the only ones that are truly movie-worthy (and TMP is more a hard scifi film) all the others are extended episodes

[Kevvy Metal]

21 hours ago, Garwoofoo said:

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

 

I consider myself a Star Trek fan but I have always struggled a bit with the original series crew. While the original show is clearly now very old and can be forgiven a lot on that basis, the movies are 20 years newer yet still suffer from glacial pacing, hammy acting, TV-quality studio sets and terrible special effects.

 

This is a particularly rubbish one. It's clear from the title that (a) Spock isn't going to be in it and (b) they're going to find him at the end (because they aren't going to make a two-hour movie called The Search for Spock where everyone turns around and says "well, guess we didn't find Spock then"). Like both its predecessors, it spends a third of its runtime establishing why this team of bewigged, corsetted geriatrics get to piss about on the Enterprise yet again. It's incredibly obvious where it's going all the way through but it still takes an absolute age to get there. Shatner's playing for the peanut gallery throughout.

 

Anyway, this was dreadful. 1/5

 

 

 

 

...what the hell is this?

[Tequlia]

42 minutes ago, Clipper said:

 

Wrath of Khan

The Motion Picture (hard to rank this as it is the best scifi film of the lot but not really a TOS film )

Star Trek 6

Star Trek 5

Star Trek 3

Star Trek 4

 

 

Nearly  

 

I'd go with;

 

Wrath of Khan

The Motion Picture

Star Trek 6

Star Trek 3

Star Trek 4

Star Trek 5

 

5's just dismal; I did try rewatching it a few years back and it's definitely not improving with age either.  I wouldn't say 6 is overrated - the cold war aspect is heavy handed and Kim Cattrall grates a bit, but Shatner does a good job of channelling Kirk's Klingon hatred, their age is used well as a theme/plot device and not glossed over, it's got Iman in it and there's finally some decent space battles.

 

(As an aside, I'm so glad The Motion Picture has gone through a re-appraisal of late.  Sure it tries too hard to be 2001 but I've always liked watching it).

[Mogster]

V has my favourite McCoy line ever:

 

[Regarding Spock] "Oh I liked him better before he died"

[Thor]

18 hours ago, Jamie John said:

If it loses half a star, it's because Gosling's performance is almost a bit too dour, terse, deadpan and...well, Gosling-like. I need to see him in a few more things where he plays against type a little bit more, because after this, Blade Runner 2049, Drive and Only God Forgives, he's going to end up as a parody of himself before long

You* need to watch The Nice Guys. Gosling is hilarious in it.

 

*And anyone else who hasn't seen it. 

[PK]

Yeah he was a bit of a revelation in The Nice Guys, turns out he's a fantastic comic actor.

[Wiper]

This was no revelation to anyone who saw him in Lars and the Real Girl! 

 

(in other news, watch Lars and the Real Girl)

[Jamie John]

I can understand why he would be funny as he's so deadpan, but sometimes he just looks like he's bored. I think it reaches peak silliness in Only God Forgives, when he spends 20 minutes staring at his hands in silence. I'm not sure that I really got that film...

 

I liked him a lot in La La Land, though.

[Loik V credern]

He's funny in Crazy Stupid Love as well.

[Commander Jameson]

 

 

Your mileage may vary with Saturday Night Live, but I enjoy Gosling in these skits.

[schmojo]

Clerks 3

 

You already know if you're the target audience for this, and if you are it's pretty damn effective. Balances the fan service and meta gags with genuine emotion that hits surprisingly hard. It really taps into something horrifyingly relatable at times.

 

Enormously self-indulgent, but when you're nearly thirty years into your trilogy that's going to happen. And if people have stuck around that long, they're not going to mind one bit.

 

4/5 if you're the target audience. If you're not, I wouldn't bother at all.

[Mikes]

They (2002)

 

Saw it at the cinema when it first came. remembered it quite good.  Yeah, it was alright.

 

4 Cravens out of 5

 

 

[Mikes]

9 hours ago, Loik V credern said:

He's funny in Crazy Stupid Love as well.

 

Bloody love that film.

[Festoon]

3 hours ago, Mikes said:

 

Bloody love that film.

 

Except for the fact that screen anathema, Steve Carell, is in it.

[Treble]

Infinity Pool

Cronenberg's got so many interesting tools in his kit, it's a shame this isn't better. He draws a (sometimes deliberate; often not) apathetic performance from Skarsgard whilst getting sheer brilliance out of Mia Goth. The shot composition is amazing, but the pacing is terrible. The trippy sequences powerful but overused. The story is fascinating but the script is perfunctory. 

 

In the final analysis, this gets by on the strength of some great ideas and a stomach-churning/compelling turn by Goth, but you could lose almost all of the first hour to give you a more compact, affecting experience. 

 

***

[Michael J Glocks]

I mostly agree with that, except I didn’t really think much of Goth’s performance. Quite a disappointment as I loved Possessor, this just lacked any forward momentum, feeling like a handful of never quite crazy enough set pieces held together by…nothing much. I kept hoping it would escalate into something properly shocking or challenging and actually make me feel something but it maintained that detachment all the way through and ultimately I didn’t really care about any of it. I had more fun pondering the implications of it all (which I wish it had explored more thoroughly) than with anything I actually saw on screen.

 

2/5

[Jamie John]

Film #10/52: Prey (2022) - Disney+

 

 

I was mildly disappointed with this, after all the good things I'd heard. I mean, it was fine, but it was just a silly, gory action film, and while there's nothing wrong with that, based on other people's ratings, I thought it would have a bit more... gravitas about it, if that's the right word.

 

For some reason, I'd got it into my head that this was mostly dialogue-free and was going to be solely about one character Vs the Predator in the forest, sort of like First Blood or Apocalypto, but with a deadly alien creature hunting the human character down. Something with a lot more tension to it. Instead, tonally, it felt like it had more in common with Alien Vs Predator - a bit more popcorn and throwaway than I was expecting. I suspect if I'd come to it without these preconceived misconceptions then I'd have enjoyed it more for what it was, but I was hoping for something with a bit more weight to it.

 

Still, it claws back half a star because it's got a very, very good boy in it.

 

3/5

 

Watched this year:

 

Spoiler

10. 24/03/2023 Prey ☆☆☆

9. 22/03/2023 First Man ☆☆☆☆☆

8. 17/03/0203 Sicario ☆☆☆☆☆

7. 15/03/2023 2001: A Space Odyssey ☆☆☆☆☆

6. 17/02/2023 Portrait of a Lady on Fire ☆☆☆☆

5. 11/02/2023 Zoolander ☆☆☆

4. 04/02/2023 Ad Astra ☆☆☆

3. 20/01/2023 The Raid ☆☆☆☆

2. 14/01/2023 The Tragedy of Macbeth ☆☆☆☆

1. 02/01/2023 Good Time ☆☆☆

 

[Stig]

Unwelcome (2023)

 

I thought this was going to be a scary film by playing on the folk lore in a really spooky manner with unseen creatures tormenting the leads, but it's tonally all over the place and utterly terrible for it.

 

It tries too hard to take on this serious trouble with the locals/home invasion angle but once the creatures are involved it turns into a really shit Gremlins. 

 

I dont get what this film was aiming for at all. Is it a serious film or horror comedy? Who the fuck knows. It was utter crap that didn't work at all and the ending was God-awful.

 

Easily the worst film from 2023 I've seen.

 

1/5

[Vimster]

The Towering Inferno (1974)

Now this is frankly the epitome of disaster films for me, so big it took two Hollywood studios to produce. Just the right blend of melodrama and action, with as much bravery, stupidity and selfishness as you can handle. Fire scares the shit out of me so the first time I saw this in the late 80s on the telly I had nightmares it's that effective. You get a genuine feeling of danger here, the way the fire works in this still looks convincing, Irwin Allen directed the action whilst John Guillermin handled the drama, with a formidable cast headed by the charismatic duo of Paul Newman and Steve McQueen. There isn't a moment wasted in the epic 164 minute running time, and that's not Marvel 164 minutes with the last 15 minutes being credits. It may feel dated in places, and it is preposterous, yet grounded enough to feel believable, unlike Irwin Allen's next attempt at disaster, The Swarm. A part of my love for this has to come from the 70s-ness of it, I've always had a love for that hyper-modern urban American 70s feel and this has that in spades. Add in the superb John Williams soundtrack, especially the opening theme, and you're getting something truly epic, yes I used "epic" multiple times, sue me. This was a very hard act to follow.

 

4.5/5

[Tequlia]

Binge-me-do;

 

Ava (2017) MUBI 3.5/5 

 

Won’t call this a coming of age drama as I hate those and liked this.  Ava is a young teenager on the verge of losing her sight and so her mum promises her a “best summer ever”.  It’s a very “French” film (sorry if that sounds trite) which coupled with another great performance from Noee Abita (Slalom) gives it a great deal of charm.  

 

It goes off the boil in the final third - Ava becomes a passenger in her own film but I’d still recommend it.  Maybe worth noting there’s copious nudity in it, prompting my wife to ask what the fuck I was watching more than once.

 

The Forgiven (2021) Amazon Prime 4/5 (on sale if you rent).

 

Old white guy accidentally runs over and kills a Moroccan boy whilst lost in the desert and en route to a party.  Thought this was excellent on all levels, from the quiet disdain of the servants, the depictions of crass wealth & entitlement and the "redemptive" arc the main characters go on.  Also makes me really want to visit Morocco.

 

Wobble Palace (2018) MUBI 1/5 

 

Follows a slow motion car-crash of a relationship coming to an end, framed against the political arrival of Trump.  I found it very hard to get past what an absolute imbecile the main male character is (especially as near the end in flashback he seems much more grounded) .  The second half is better as the main female character is far less irritating but it had lost me by then.

[Jamie John]

Film #11/52: Aliens (Theatrical Cut) (1986) - Disney+

 

 

I hadn't seen this in about 15 years, and seeing as Cameron and Fox are dragging their heels so much about releasing a 4K UHD version, I thought I'd just watch it on Disney. Anyway, it may well have been said before (chinny reckon?), but this really is a very, very different movie from the original, and after having re-watched Alien relatively recently (back in October) I was initially thrown by how different they are: tonally, musically, in terms of the writing and the way they're photographed. Whereas the first film sits and broods with shots that linger, this whips by at break-neck speed and never really lets up, even at 2hrs and 17mins. Once I'd adjusted my frame of mind, however, I realised that this is just a brilliantly paced action movie, and while it might lack some of the menace and horror of the original, it makes up for it with sheer spectacle and back-to-back set-pieces. I think it's probably the best of these 80s/90s-era 'Ooh-rah!' action films that I've seen. And so many iconic lines, too! Some of which I'd completely forgotten came from this originally. "It's the only way to be sure", "They mostly come out at night...mostly", and, of course, "Get away from her, you bitch!" all had me grinning.

 

That said, however, I got to the end and I could have sworn that parts of the film I remembered from when I was a teenager were missing. The sequence with the sentry guns and the rapidly depleting bullets, which I distinctly recalled as being a fantastically tense, as well as Ripley's sadness that she had missed out on the best part of 60 years due to being in cryosleep, and many of her friends and relatives back home having either died or aged significantly in the meantime, were both just not here. At first I thought I was going mad and had just conflated the plots of some other classic sci-fi films into this one. As it turned out, however, the version of this I originally watched many years ago was actually the director's cut version, which includes the stuff I mentioned, as well as a lot of other bits that were cut for the theatrical release, so I was pretty annoyed that this version wasn't the one with the additional content. I suppose I'll just have to wait for that UHD release after all.

 

4.5/5

 

Watched this year:

 

Spoiler

11. 26/03/2023 Aliens (Theatrical Cut) ☆☆☆☆½

10. 24/03/2023 Prey ☆☆☆

9. 22/03/2023 First Man ☆☆☆☆½

8. 17/03/0203 Sicario ☆☆☆☆☆

7. 15/03/2023 2001: A Space Odyssey ☆☆☆☆☆

6. 17/02/2023 Portrait of a Lady on Fire ☆☆☆☆

5. 11/02/2023 Zoolander ☆☆☆

4. 04/02/2023 Ad Astra ☆☆☆

3. 20/01/2023 The Raid ☆☆☆☆

2. 14/01/2023 The Tragedy of Macbeth ☆☆☆☆

1. 02/01/2023 Good Time ☆☆☆

 

[Vimster]

Shark Attack (1999)

Shark expert heads to Africa to investigate the mysterious death of his mate who was looking into a spate of shark attacks. Make no mistake, this is no Jaws or Deep Blue Sea but then it isn't meant to be, you're getting a no-nonsense dose of straight-to-video shark-based action that, frankly, doesn't deserve the 3.3 average on IMDB. It takes ages to get going, pacing is an issue no doubt, but just when you're about to give up it picks up towards the end, delivering some inexpensive thrills whilst resolving a clumsily-constructed plot. There are rough edges but it's one of those cheap films that just about gets the job done in all departments, even if it's not in the most competent way. Stock shark footage is blended in well enough, again, to get the job done. I fear a lot of reviewers were expecting a lot more. Go in expecting less and you may be pleasantly surprised, mildly anyway.

 

2.5/5