What have you watched recently? 3D!

Fysh

Hmm, it's been ages since I watched Close Encounters. I think I saw it as a kid but couldn't swear to it (whereas I definitely did see ET as a smallie), so weirdly enough my main recollection of CEot3K is watching it as an adult, and being utterly won over by it. Optimistic SF of a kind that is really hard to pull off without seeming twee or cheesy. It's probably time I revisit it.

Speaking of revisiting things, I stuck on The Crow (1994) last night, and it remains, 90s fashion and None More Goth sensibilities notwithstanding, a really good watch - not perfect or without its issues, but a very well-executed piece of entertainment nonetheless. Little things like the way most of the crooks are genuinely freaked out when they realised that Eric has come back from the dead to hunt them down, the sprinklings of humour throughout (my personal favourite is the "Are you going to disappear into thin air again?" / "...I was going to use your front door." exchange), or the way that, when Eric gets shot after his invulnerability has been disabled, he stumbles and mutters "Oh, f*ck" before falling to the ground.

It's not perfect, mind you - some of the needle-drops feel a bit on-the-nose now, and some of the bits with Sarah and her mother are slightly clunky. Top Dollar's crew and their "fire it up" chant lands as a bit silly, particularly because Top Dollar himself is well-played as a narcissistic psychopath with a strain of the Heath Ledger Joker agent-of-chaos running through him. But these are all small things, and there are few enough occurrences of them that they don't marr the experience.

The thought strikes me that it would be fascinating to see a Scott Pilgrim Takes Off-style revisit of the original story years/decades later:

Spoiler Warning

where it is Shelly, not Eric, who is brought back by the Crow, and what her perspective and actions would be.

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121949764#Comment_121949764

Yeah, Close Encounters is a genuine classic. I love the way there's no happy resolution for Roy either. His marriage is finished, he'll never see his kids again. But, feck it, I'm going to space with aliens!!!!

In some parallel universe, we get to see Roy having a terrible time in space as the aliens subject him to a whole manner of awful experiments for the next 30 years and when they return him in 2005, he has no memory of what happened, just like the pilots of Flight 19 who went through a similar experience. 😁

flasher0030

Anyone watched Heart of the Hunter yet. I'm hoping to watch it tonight. Just want to see what others think.

Fysh

I had time to kill last night, and a streaming platform I use had a listing for All Hallow's Eve under the name Terrifier: The Origin so I took a punt on it.

I found it pretty disappointing, unfortunately. I like the anthology format for horror, but this doesn't really feel like any of the stories are particularly effective.

The writing and acting is ranges from so-so to outright bad. The visual execution is fine, although a bit more interested in faux-VHS throwbacks than actually crafting distinctive or evocative images. And, to be fair, it looked like the (pretty decent) effects work was generally practical rather than CGI added in post - sadly it didn't have more impact because of the shoddy writing.

As a first exposure to Art the Clown, this is an underwhelming watch - he comes off as yet another slasher villain being sold on little more than a distinctive appaearance, with no effort made at establishing a personality or story, and the most interesting aspect likely being more a contrivance devised for the framing story than something that will be developed further.

Having since read more about the other films in the series, I conclude that I'm probably not the audience for this. (I had been hoping for something more akin to the Hotell horror comics written by John Lees, which feature a similarly distinctive character and an anthology format, but much better writing...)

monkeyactive

The King

A Drama starring a young Gael Bernal Garcia and Paul Dano . I liked it . I'm always conscious of giving away too much plot in my enthusiasm to sing a films virtues. This one seems to be like a forgotten film of sorts , you'd never hear anything about it .

gym_imposter

Barbie, two stars out Of five , the dopey message began to grate quick

ellyU

Argyle, 2 of 5. Trailer was promising, unfortunately I'm dissapointed.

pixelburp

Witness (1985)

Sometimes a recommendation has to come with some form of immediate and hurried caveat - "trust me, it's better than it sounds". Where the only way to accurately describe a concept resulted in an ostensibly ludicrous or even outlandish summary: to wit, here was a thriller "about a Big City Cop hiding among the Amish while trying to solve a murder" - but trust me! The end result was far better and more effective than that logline might otherwise suggest.

It also functioned as another entry in Peter Weir's quietly excellent and understated CV; here was a story executed dead-centre and without a trace of wry cynicism or winking towards its audience. Certainly the nature of the story could have easily spawned a tone more inherently comedic, maybe even slyly interrogative of the famously anachronistic and insular culture; or indeed bounced to the other side altogether and valorised the Amish & their "simple" ways to the point of patronising them. It was a tale of clashing cultures for sure, but without critiquing either side and that was a deft balancing act. With the possible and noted exception of the unflattering portrayal of the tourists and hecklers, boldly invading the personal space of the Amish, even as they repeatedly asked to be left alone.

Instead, Weir echoed the Amish's own disdain for flourish or exuberance with a fairly robust and pragmatic examination of their communal decency - even when faced with an existential problem such as the bleeding, violent interloper of Harrison Ford's "John Book" arriving at their doorstep (was the scriptwriter 5 minutes from lunch & just came up with the name from looking across their desk? Thank god the lead wasn't Detective John Stapler I guess). This was a simple story told simply, where even its most emotive beats through the "forbidden love" angle that functioned as the film's connective tissue was executed with a surprising degree of restraint and nuance. It was lust & longing rendered with looks and frustrated distance, not melodramatic bombast.

This appearance is to this day Harrison Ford's single Oscar nomination and I can appreciate why he received it: this was a dialled back performance once it reached rural Pennsylvania, the cocksure confidence soon removed as the "fish out of water" narrative kicked in, and you saw more vulnerability and desperation in Ford's work here than you usually got with him at this point in his career - and perhaps even since then.

al87987

Witness was on our curriculum for Leaving Cert 20 odd years ago. Enjoyed it a lot and recently revisited for the 1st since then. Holds up well.

Keith Andrews

Watched Forrest Gump for the nth time. I don't know why I like this film a lot.

splashthecash

Kong v Godzilla New Empire

The action got a big much after a while for me - hard to know what way was up or down or what world you were in due to the shiny crystal thingies and gloopy portals. These monster movies just don't move the dial like they used to. Human characters were mostly forgettable with suspect dialogue…they are pretty much just there for exposition

Dark Waters

True story on Netflix about a company knowingly dumping harmful\dangerous chemicals into a small town's water supply. Mark Ruffalo leads a solid story which is very similar to Erin Brokovich. It reminded me of Spotlight with the investigative element and the story slowly being uncovered

No Escape

Owen "Wow" Wilson in a story about a guy who moves his family to Thailand for his job in a water company, only to find they arrive just as a coup starts. And the disgruntled Thai protesters are gunning for anyone foreign, especially those working for the company who they feel is exploiting them. Queue the family fleeing for their lives. Quite violent in places and does have some good tense scenes but won't be up there in my best of the year films. P.S. James Bond makes a couple of appearances

buried

Valhalla Rising (2009)

Another one of Nicholas Winding Refn's films I only saw the half once and have given it a good auld re-watch. This thing is just absolutely brilliant stuff, it was totally panned by majority movie-goers on release but this thing holds up far far better than the vast majority of works made around the time, especially when the buzz of today's cinema is the whole love affair with "visual storytelling", well, this does the whole visual storytelling in spades and then uses one of the spades to beat you over the face with it. Just fantastic stuff again from Refn and Mikkleson, where a bunch of brainwashed 12th Century European abrahamic lunatics bring into their ranks a slave warrior named "one eye" in order to help them conquer the 'holy land', they end up somewhere far better and it all goes to complete and utter $hit for them. Just holds up really well, nicely paced, and shot absolutely beautifully, all up in bonny Scotland. It's basically an occult spaghetti pagan western and its 10/10 for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tc8Z9pN1GKU

p to the e

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121972759#Comment_121972759

Dark Waters has been on my list for a while. I watched a great documentary about this story called "The Devil We Know" a few years back and it's absolute madness how powerful these companies are and the extent they'd go to cover up.

gym_imposter

Oppenheimer, very good and it whizzed by

Honestly believe Cillian Murphy gave the best lead performance by an actor since Daniel Day Lewis in There will be blood

flasher0030

Sleeping Dogs

With Russell Crowe. One of those killer mystery movies. Quite interesting following the plot-line along. Relying on a plot reveal at the end, that doesn't really work. Got silly for the last 5 minutes. Interesting up to that.

Damaged

A similar type movie - again hinging on a plot twist at the end - and this one definitely does not work. Samuel L Jackson is the main actor involved. A crime movie set in Scotland. It's watchable if you have 2 hours to spare and need to pass the time. But the story just goes completely ludicrous at the end.

Knox Goes Away

Michael Keaton, Al Pacino and couple of other well known faces. Yet another crime one. But this one was good I thought. Fairly cleverly done (I'm sure there are plot holes if I wanted to find them, but I was just looking for something entertaining to watch). Much more credible movie than the above two anyway, and again it retains your suspense to the end as it is not evident as to how the plotline is going to evolve.

Spon Farmer

I saw ABIGAIL today. Great fun and quite gory, though it would have been nice if the studio had promoted it a without giving away the “twist”. Don’t think I would have seen it coming.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121970499#Comment_121970499

no filums on the Leavibg in my day…:(

Was it for media studies or part of the English course?

al87987

English course, 1 book, 1 movie and 1 Shakespeare if I remember correctly.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122057632#Comment_122057632

Yep, unless it's changed in recent years… it's the 'comparative' element of the English paper where you choose three texts to compare - one has to be a Shakespeare play, and then any two from a long list of books, films, plays etc… It's that and one separate book / play in depth.

We did 'Il Postino' during my Leaving Cert - an overly sentimental film I have zero interest in ever revisiting :)

silliussoddius

Nobody, starring Bob Odenkirk. A bit late to the game with this one as I was a bit late to the game with Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. It was these shows that attracted me to Nobody, as I have gone off mindless action films. Despite this being nothing ground breaking and having a story that has been done to death; I really enjoyed it. Maybe it was Odenkirk, or just sometimes the simple things done really well is all you need.

mrcheez

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122057568#Comment_122057568

I made a point of not letting the gf know which film we were going to last Tuesday, and she hadn't seen any trailers for it before, nor knew anything about it (not seen the poster).

For the first half of the movie she thought it might be a ghost or some external evil presence and had no idea it would be the girl!

As a result she was shocked by the twist, whereas I knew all along what was coming as I'd seen the trailer AND the poster.

Bizarre decision by the studio.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122057665#Comment_122057665

Yep did the same, I do think whatever you study in leaving Cert is forever ruined. And the analyses are so basic.

Spon Farmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122063058#Comment_122063058

they could have easily promoted it as an evil presence or haunted house movie. Or even as kidnap thriller.

Nothing in the film itself until the reveal even hints that Abigail is more than she appears. Even the comment to Joey at the end of their first meeting seemed like it about what her father would do. Could have gone down as one of the all time great plot twists.

The film is great regardless though - a fun story with a few surprises and great set of characters and actors, Alisha Weir in particular. She is brilliant.

I probably should have watched Mathilda first :P

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122063095#Comment_122063095

We did Cinema Paradiso, and I still love it.

I actually find myself quite often thinking that that part of my education is probably the only thing that I find myself "using" in any real way in my adult life. I see so many people online moaning about films and TV while showing little to no understanding of even the most "basic" analysis we'd have done at aged 17.

HalloweenJack

Inglorious Basterds.

Possibly the first time I've seen it since it came out. I remember a lot of buzz at the time and enjoying it thoroughly but I've seen plenty of better films since then, some of them Tarantino's.

I was 21 when it came out so probably thought it was hilarious and a masterpiece. Looking back now, I'd say its great as an homage to a certain style of film but as a film itself, it's not great.

There's quite a bit of very obvious foreshadowing. Of course, the usual Tarantino indulgences of literal overkill with violence, over-complicated dialogue where every character is a poet and a chorus of compelling characters that don't get enough screen time. The only Tarantino film that I can think of that stripped it down and had a smaller group of characters was Deathproof and that was atrocious.

Fassbender is brilliant but he only has about twenty minutes. Brad Pitt was also quite charismatic but should have had more screen time. Waltz steals every scene but he's still a more polished version of the cartoonish Nazi that's been churned out for decades.

A very pedantic complaint but the whole languages thing is overdone. So much effort is put into it, especially in the Fassbender scene, to make it feel genuine. I appreciate that. Then you have a Nazi general flowing freely in French chatting with a French farmer in English and they're practically speaking as natives. He might as well have just gone with the cliche of everyone speaking English.

I know you go into a Tarantino film with an expectation of an exaggerated reality but when so much emphasis is put on certain details, it can be frustrating when others are a bit off.

Tarantino knows what he's doing: he landed on a formula and he can tell interesting stories but there doesn't seem to be much evolution. He keeps making the same cake with the same recipe; he just switches up the ingredients every time.

flasher0030

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122072599#Comment_122072599

I saw Inglorious Bastards in the cinema, and I thought it was really boring, especially that first scene with Waltz. I saw it sometime later in the comfort of my own living room, and my view completely changed. I couldn't get over that I dismissed it the first time. I think you are being really harsh in your criticisms. It's ok for over the top violence (we know that is what Tarantino offers). And we know that his movies are wordy. But I find that interesting in deciphering what is being said.

Decuc500

Yakuza Graveyard

Mid 70’s gangster film from Kinji Fukasaku. This followed his Battles Without Honor and Humanity trilogy and is very similar stylistically though easier to follow.

A hard to control cop goes against his boss to take down a Yakuza gang while also getting involved in the gangster lifestyle. This is a ridiculously fast paced movie with all sorts of crazily angled camera shots and blistering shoot outs.

Also has possibly the coolest title card freeze frame in cinema.

The 400 Blows

Francois Truffaut’s first film. It’s an autobiographical coming of age story about a wayward kid who gets in trouble in school and with his indifferent parents.

Obviously it’s considered a classic and it’s not hard to see why. It takes a lot of skill to make a film that seems so simple and natural yet packs such an emotional punch.

The thing I found remarkable is that it was released in 1959 but it feels so modern. The way the camera moves, the beautiful widescreen photography, the performances of the child actors, the use of music. It must have seemed so cool in 1959.

It all builds up to a really lovely final shot.

All the greats of modern cinema must have learnt so much from this film.

eightieschewbaccy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122076928#Comment_122076928

Recently enough I watched 400 Blows and Kes the following week. The latter while aesthetically very different. Both have so much in common in terms of the realist take on coming of age. I wish I'd had the opportunity to watch The 400 Blows as a teen.

Homelander

Ben Wheatley's In the Earth.

I really wanted to like it and generally I like this stuff (Meg 2 aside) but I found it pretty awful. First half is solid, second half just descends into headache inducing nonsense.

monkeyactive

Problemista,

Nice comedy with a gas performance by Tilda Swinton as a very intense woman. I enjoyed it.

Overall its silly light stuff but it delivered some actual deep hot takes on life and living on the bread line using a comedy Trojan horse.

The Craigslist entity was a great chuckle , I subbed in adverts.ie and daft in my imagination.