Rate the last film you watched out of 5

[jonamok]

Le Mans 66 / Ford v Ferrari

 

Excellent biopic about Ken Miles and Carroll Shelby’s attempt to beat Ferrari at the ‘66 Le Mans 24 with the GT40. Great racing scenes, fantastic audio work and good performances all round - though Bale‘s version of Miles’ supposed Brummie accent is distinctly more Northern. Quality stuff.

 

4/5

[strider]

1917 (2019) 4k

Roger Deakins makes war look beautiful.

4/5

 

Platoon (1986) tv

Still the best Vietnam war film I've seen. Great performances from the three leads and the soundtrack is glorious.

5/5

 

Cliffhanger (1993) tv

Caught this on ITV and it's still great fun. Some nice brutal deaths, a fun turn from Lithgow and some great set-pieces.

4/5

 

Harry Potter And The Philosophers Stone

Better than I remember.

3/5

 

 

 

 

 

[sandman]

Between Us

 

An excellent film with four astounding actors at the top of their game (Stiles, Harbour, George and Diggs). A look at just how odd friendships between two couples can be, this has a cracking script and works extremely well. Everyone feels self destructive and it has a very natural feel to it.

 

Recommended. It’s on Prime

 

4/5

[Vimster]

Dredd (2012)

An efficient and thrilling adaptation of Judge Dredd with a screenplay by Alex Garland. Coming in at around 90 minutes this doesn't outstay its welcome. No messing about, if someone gets shot or dies in this you know it, plenty of blood and gore delivered with a silent arch chuckle. Karl Urban brings as much personality as is needed for Judge Dredd's character, supporting cast do their bit. Particularly liked the way the effects of the drug slo-mo were portrayed, made a a vibrant, time-stretched counterpoint to the comic-book grit.

 

4/5

[Triple A]

7500

 

Reasonably-grounded hijack flick with a good performance from JLG.

 

3

[Vimster]

Judge Dredd (1995)

Where do I start with this? Dredd taking his helmet off, spending most of the film with it off, far too much chatter, Dredd being made the centre of the story and doing little actual judging, Dredd having an unfunny comedy sidekick?. Okay it has some good action in parts, and the production design is pure 90s, feels strangely familiar and nostalgic. The music is superbly overblown and epic, but wholly unsuitable for the film.  The big bike chase in the middle is exciting, there's plenty of energy. Based on my admittedly limited experience of the comics this felt like the producers hadn't actually read any of the comics featured in the intro, just gone with what was expected at the time. Disappointing.  Sly was there to get the bums on seats, he didn't fit the bill. And no mention of the meat wagon. The brief appearance of the late Ian Dury was a brief moment of hope. The rest was wasted. I knew you'd say that.

 

1.5/5

 

[Gambit]

Angel Has Fallen

 

I know these films are nonsense, but I kinda enjoy their brand of nonsense. It's incredibly cliche (honestly, if you don't guess who the mastermind is right from the start this is your first action movie). This one, unlike the previous two, seems to be having a lot more fun with its concept. A lot of Gerard Butler muttering "fuck" as stuff inevitably goes wrong. The real star of the show is Nick Nolte as Gerards dad. A Vietnam veteran hermit who lives out in the woods and has boobytrapped everything with explosives leading to the best action sequence in the film. it does have some of the worst CGI I've ever seen in a theatrically released film though. Some proper fog effects that could be done with a free program, and a hilarious shot where they CGI in Morgan Freeman into a G20 summit standing next to Vladamir Putin and Angela Merkel.

 

3/5

 

Demolition Man

 

I've never been bungee jumping before, but if I ever do you can guarantee I will be shouting "PHOOOOENIXX!!!!" as I jump.

 

5 seashells/5

[Vimster]

Kill Me Three Times (2014)

Low-key, mildly comic crime caper from Australia featuring Simon Pegg as a hitman getting mixed up with goings-on around a small coastal hotel. A little bit kooky yet not so much to differentiate it from anything similar. Despite a few plot holes and too-convenient happenings it's a decent enough story with decent enough direction and decent enough performances. Pegg doesn't stretch is comedy muscles here, felt like he was doing someone a favour. A pleasant if not particularly memorable way to spend 90 minutes. 

 

3/5

[teddymeow]

Hot Fuzz

 

Fuck me this film just gets better every time I watch it! I actually think, as great as Shaun of the Dead is, Fuzz is a better film.

 

Sheer brilliance!!

 

The cast is just phenomenally good: Pegg, Frost, Broadband, Coleman, (Rafe) Spall, Considine, Buxton, Dalton, (Martin) Freeman, Coogan, Nighy...

 

Cameos by Cate Blanchett and Peter Jackson?!

 

"He's not Judge Judy and executioner. He's my Dad".

 

5 guns firing in the air while screaming "aaaaaaarrrrrgggghh" / 5!!

[teddymeow]

14 minutes ago, Vimster said:

Kill Me Three Times (2014)

Low-key, mildly comic crime caper from Australia featuring Simon Pegg as a hitman getting mixed up with goings-on around a small coastal hotel. A little bit kooky yet not so much to differentiate it from anything similar. Despite a few plot holes and too-convenient happenings it's a decent enough story with decent enough direction and decent enough performances. Pegg doesn't stretch is comedy muscles here, felt like he was doing someone a favour. A pleasant if not particularly memorable way to spend 90 minutes. 

 

3/5

 

Cheers for this.

 

Was eyeing it up last night as to whether to give it a go or not. Doesn't sound too taxing and relatively watchable.

[Triple A]

Transformers The Last Knight

 

Total bobbins at the start, though it got better toward the end.  A right looker in 4K Dolby Vision Blu-ray, and I think I'm ever-so-slightly in love with Laura Haddock.

 

3 for the whizzbang visuals

[Triple A]

Warcraft

 

Snorecraft more like.

 

1

[Ry]

I'm Thinking of Ending Things - 2/5.

 

I can take the pretentiousness of it. I can understand the points trying to be made. But the fact is the characters are so unlikeable that I was ultimately bored and the up its own arse dialogue just made me groan. I just wanted it to end, which I never thought it would as it's over 2 hours long. Shame, as I like Kaufman. 

[Vimster]

1 hour ago, Ry said:

I'm Thinking of Ending Things - 2/5.

 

I can take the pretentiousness of it. I can understand the points trying to be made. But the fact is the characters are so unlikeable that I was ultimately bored and the up its own arse dialogue just made me groan. I just wanted it to end, which I never thought it would as it's over 2 hours long. Shame, as I like Kaufman. 

Had an abortive attempt at watching this earlier. Really needed to be in a better mood to tackle it. The half hour or so I managed made me believe Kaufman has finally slipped over the line into total self-indulgence. For a while he could do no wrong. Then he started directing. He got less and less pushback to the point now where he could suffocate someone with a plastic bag on set and no-one would question it. 

[Skull Commander]

11 hours ago, Ry said:

I'm Thinking of Ending Things - 2/5.

 

I can take the pretentiousness of it. I can understand the points trying to be made. But the fact is the characters are so unlikeable that I was ultimately bored and the up its own arse dialogue just made me groan. I just wanted it to end, which I never thought it would as it's over 2 hours long. Shame, as I like Kaufman. 

I attempted to watch this on Saturday and think I lasted to about 35 mins. Out of curiosity I read what I'd missed out on and I must say I'm actually thankful that I turned it off. Pretentious snorecore of the worst type. 

[ZOK]

However, if they ever make a Uri Gellar biopic, I’m Thinking of Bending Things would make a great title.

[Stig]

The Nun (2018)

 

I knew this would be terrible but my wife love horrors (shit ones, good ones, it doesn't matter) and sometimes I give in and watch them with her.

 

Fuck me this was boring, tedious tripe of the highest order. This film is full of nuns so make it more fun by taking a shot everytime someone says "sister" and you'll be so drunk by the end it won't matter how bad it was.

 

1/5

[max renn]

The King 2019 

 

Not sure of the historical accuracy but enjoyed this very much. Chalimet was excellent and had some great battle sequences too.

 

[Vimster]

Fathom (1967)

Raquel Welch stars in a fun, kitsch espionage-ish caper where she plays a skydiving dental hygeinist who gets embroiled in the hunt for The Fire Dragon. It's typical of the time: exotic location, a hint of romance, quirky characters, just a tad off-beat. It weaves a twisting story with Welch not knowing who to trust, who the good guys are. Okay so it's not the done thing these days to comment on a woman's looks but it has to be said this was Raquel Welch at her hottest, both in looks and performance. She brightens this up considerably with her charm, keeping it light. It was great to see her and Richard Briars spend a lot of screen time together, a rather incongruous pairing. This may be a little too lightweight for some but despite its fluffiness it was still entertaining.

 

3/5

 

 

[Triple A]

Ralph Breaks The Internet

 

Terrific ideas, amazing visuals, great fun.

Best bit was

 

when the Disney princesses were making fun of Disney princess story tropes. Bravo!

 

4

[Vimster]

Hostile Environment (1999)

Please, no-one give David A Prior any sort of budget. I loved his 80s stuff like Mankillers and especially Deadly Prey, but this was absolutely awful. Muscular blonde goodie vs muscular blonde baddie in a story that could only have been written by someone who lived in California, a place where it never rains. In the future the water supply is controlled by some fascist/criminal gang, making bootleg water is punishable by death - please don't tell them about rain. Matthias Huse of I Come In Peace fame is the good muscular blonde, despite having absolutely zero charisma or acting ability he manages to at least show off his impressive physique which gets the interest of said bad muscular blonde Brigitte Nielsen. There are other characters and stuff happens, things explode. There's a bomb for some reason and blah blah blah. Don't bother.

 

1/5

[Vimster]

Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)

Super-sleazy in a bad way, ancient Charles Bronson is an LA cop trying his utmost to take down a guy pimping out underage girls. Meanwhile a Japanese businessman whose wife doesn't do it for him gets relocated to LA and has issues of his own. Teenage girls getting felt up on public transport, a worse fate for a Japanese schoolgirl. And Bronson is on the case, doing what was expected of him in a Cannon flick, although in a more laid back way compared to some of his earlier outings. A lot of the nastiness in this is inferred, it maybe doesn't get as out-and-out sleazy as it had the potential to. Of course Bronson gets his cool revenge, but it's nowhere near as visceral as it could have been, but that's not to say this doesn't make you want to take a cold shower. 

 

2.5/5

[PK]

The Assistant (2019) - 5/5

I loved this. Mesmirising and immersive mundanity, undercut with the deep dread that something terrible is happening. Which led me on to...

 

Elephant (2003) - 4/5

Similarly immersive, with an even stronger sense of dread, only slightly let down by some dodgy improvised performances from a couple of the cast. I would have loved to have watched this without knowing what it was about, there's a moment about 25 minutes in which would be devastatingly impactful if you were in the dark about the subject matter.

 

 

Would appreciate any recommendations of films that have a similarly immersive quality!

[Triple A]

Rogue One

 

Second time watching this, now on 4K Bloo, after having seen it on IMAX first time round.

Like it more on second viewing. Gritty and dark and pretty cool, as Star Wars goes.

This deserved a full Williams score.

Still not keen on the lead male rebel guy though, who’s a bit of a charisma vacuum.

 

4

[Silent Runner]

The Personal History of David Copperfield

 

I don't know much Charles Dickens so I went into this pretty cold and had no idea where the story was going. And I totally loved it. Dev Patel is David and he tells the story of his life to an unseen theatre audience, and we see it in flashback.

 

We follow David through his life - from tough upbringing with a stern stepfather on through the later years where he encounters a cast of eccentric relatives. I guess Dickens has passed into greater consciousness because I was pretty familiar with a lot of the character names; Uriah Heep, Mr. Micawber etc. Dev Patel is superb as Copperfield who never loses his humanity despite a tough life and a string of setbacks. The rest of the cast are excellent - Peter Capildi, Hugh Laurie and Tilda Swinton in particular.

 

One of the best films I've watched in ages.

 

4.5/5

 

 

[sandman]

3 joints by Mr Lee

 

Shes gotta Have it

 

Lees debut is best described as “experimental”.  It kind of works but is basically his Eraserhead where he learns his craft. The cast are ok, but the whole thing feels slight and it never shifts out of second gear. 
 

2.5/5

 

Summer of Sam

 

Lee does Scorsese. What a strange film. Why on earth did he put punk Brody in there? The whole thing is a mess of a movie. It’s like they chucked everything into the blender and hoped for the best. The central relationship just about works, mainly due to a terrific performance from Sorvino. As it’s 98% fiction I’m not sure what the point of it was. The first 45 minutes are actually really good, but it soon gets less and less disciplined. 
 

2.5/5

 

Blackkklansman.

 

Lee does Tarantino. This is in a different league. Utterly spellbinding, it’s amazing to see how Lee has matured as a filmmaker. I’m kinda glad I only got round to seeing this now as it’s such a reflection of America in its current form. The cast are all perfect and the script is first rate. 
 

5/5

 

I guess I was in the right place at the right time to fall in love with Lees films when he hit big. But his career since the mid 90s has been rather Up and down. ( I think I’m the only forumite who loves his version of Oldboy ). Malcolm X was huge on release, but was forgotten 5 years later. His very definitive early style seems to have been diluted over the years and I’m not sure why. 

 

 

[Vimster]

The Bank Job (2008)

"Based on true events" although despite the wide-ranging consequences of this particular event I'd never heard of it, so I can only judge this purely on its ability to entertain. In essence Jason Statham is a small-time criminal (I think, it's not well established) who is roped into robbing a bank by a lady friend of his, unbeknownst to him for her own reasons. You've got bank-robbers, bent coppers, London villains, government ministers and a guy wanting to be the British Malcolm X in this twisted tale. My main gripe is something that really gets my goat with films like this: it's set in 1971 yet it has a very contemporary soundtrack, barring a couple of hits from the time the music really ruins the period atmosphere. A shame because they've tog the togs and the motors and the locations sorted. The actual bank job is only a small part, most of the film deals with the aftermath, and it's generally entertaining although it takes something of a dark turn near the end, felt a bit out of tone. Weird seeing Peter Bowles without a tasche though.

 

3/5

[SeanR]

always reminds me of Things to do in Denver when you're Dead...

[Vimster]

Life Is Sweet (1990)

Slice-of-life drama from Mike Leigh, a chef father, shop-assistant mother, their grown-up twins, one of whom is a tomboy, the other struggling with an eating disorder, their struggles, muddling together. I could relate to the family, they felt real, the sort of working-class my parents were. It starts off light enough, Alison Steadman and Jim Broadbent trading jokes, he buys a knackered burger van, added it to his to-do list of things that will never get done. Meanwhile twins Claire Skinner and Jane Horrocks are the twins Nicola and Natalie both have their lives to lead. As it the way with a Mike Leigh film the characters are so well drawn, there's so much complexity. Add in Timothy Spall as the family friend trying to get his restaurant off the ground, initially comic but his true character comes to the fore. There's a scene later in the film between Nicola and her mother that really touched me. I'm not a parent but it felt like that is how one would feel about a child who is struggling with life. It has the combination of the banal punctuated with tragedy and hope that Mike Leigh does well. The lack of a solid plot may stop some from appreciating this, but for me spending time with this family was a pleasure, even if I had to share their tragedy too. Excellent film.

 

4.5/5

[ImmaculateClump]

Rent A Pal

 

Great fun. Has a pitch perfect tone where the gentle gallows humour serves to elevate the more serious moments and make them more harrowing, rather than making you feel detached or like it's being disrespectful of the subject matter.

Rides the line perfectly. Made with confidence, it's such a perfectly paced, enjoyable ride. Had a smile on my face all the way through.

 

****