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What have you watched recently? 3D!

johnny_ultimate

You people just keep on watching films, don't you?

We have reached the contractually-mandated 10,000 post limited in thread 2, so here's another one. It's like the first two, but with gimmicky 3D added and a no-name director taking over from the well-known one who directed the first two.

Here's the first thread: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055488699
And the second: https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056732038

So... what have you watched recently?

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batgoat

The House That Jack Built by Lars Von Trier and I was pleasantly surprised. Always find his stuff to be heavy to the point of emotionally scarring me for days. This manages to have a weirdly comedic tone to it and got a David Lynch vibe from it in the third act in terms of the imagery.

Would highly recommend it but be prepared some violence. But if you've watched any of his other work, this one is easy going in contrast.

johnny_ultimate

RBG - An entry in what I personally consider the 'wikipedia-style' of documentary filmmaking: an informative run-through of the facts and not a whole lot more. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a living legend, yes, but the filmmakers here don't really have much to say beyond that. Moments of interest for sure (particularly a short segment on her unlikely friendship with ideological arch-nemesis Antonin Scalia), but celebratory at the expense of asking any difficult questions.

Police Story - The opening and closing segments of this are among the greatest action sequences ever put to celluloid. That the rest of the film is a strange mix of standard police procedural stuff and comic clowning is worth pointing out, but the sheer ****ing gusto of the action is staggering. Jackie Chan is undoubtedly the closest thing we have to a living Buster Keaton, even if his American stuff never matched up to the Hong Kong classics.

Don’t Think Twice - why is that every film about stand-up comedians (or in this case improv performers) features the most horrible on-screen comedy segments imaginable?

Dead Souls - Wang Bing's documentary couldn't help but remind me of Shoah, and not because of its gargantuan length (8.5 hours or so). It has a similar approach of allowing survivors to recount at length their experiences of unimaginable trauma - in this case, the men sent to 'anti-rightist' camps in China during the 1950s. What's different here is that while the images of the Holocaust are seared into the collective consciousness through documentary evidence, here few images exist. Instead, over the course of many hours, we start picking up details that recur across the testimonies - physical exhaustion, hunger, nightly deaths of roommates etc... The great length is exhausting, but immerses you in the details of a largely unknown period of mass political persecution.

Second film I've seen of Bing's, and he's among the best documentarians of our times - a thoughtful but unflinching approach to immensely challenging subject matter.

Wonderstruck - While this certainly is Todd Haynes' masterpiece, it is perhaps somewhat underappreciated. Mostly that's due to its delectable period settings - both 1920s and 1970s New York are astoundingly well-realised. The use of deaf protagonist(s) is really interesting, meaning the soundscape is fascinating (although felt there were a few inconsistent stylistic choices in the 70s chapters). The narrative can't quite match the brilliance of the form, and gets particularly ho-hum once the links between the two sections come into focus. But still there's a lot of extremely good stuff in this as well, and is well worth a gamble if you have Amazon Prime.

Girl - it's been a little while since I've seen this, but see it's getting a release on Netflix US shortly. Initially, I thought it was solid fare - an empathetic exploration of the transition of a transgender teen. But as it went on something felt off, and that culminated in a grim climax that left a massively sour taste. There's interesting details and good performances here, but it's not enough.

It's the same issue I had with A Fantastic Woman - it feels like misery porn designed for well-meaning liberals to nod along with sympathetically (I say that as a straight white liberal/lefty male). While it's good to see stories about transgender people being told, this feels peculiarly regressive. I've pointed to Tangerine before as a more admirable example, where the film feels like it's completely on the same level as the characters - not judging or looking down/up at them. I don't think there's any intentional malice in a film like Girl - I just think we can do better than it.

Harasrailltub

Springbreakers - its on netflix , loved it . Harmony Korines most mainstream work but still nuts by his standards , on many levels it's great ,dialogue is great and for sheer pace, style and visuals it's brilliant but also some deeper themes and social commentary in there too if you want it. It's kind of mad ,hazy and dreamlike, don't watch it with granny.

8/10

Tony EH

Don't like spoilers....go away...

'Bird Box'

A surprisingly decent Sandra Bullock vehicle from Netflix that sees her as a somewhat implausible mid 50's mum to be that goes through an indistinct end of times scenario, where the exact cause of that end is refreshingly kept vague. Simply put, if you see this...whatever...you want to kill yourself, which leads to a pretty efficient elimination of much of mankind. Unless, of course you're blind or already a psycho, in which case, you have an advantage over everyone else. I guess blind psychos would be the top of the food chain now? People without these "advantages" have to go around with blindfolds on while outside and seal up their windows when inside.

It's a fairly simple premise and doesn't need any more expansion than what we get in the film, which is split, in a way, between a "now" section and a "then" section. This is an ok approach, but it has the adverse effect of sealing the fate of nearly every other character, except for Bullock and the two children were are introduced to her with, unfortunately.

Elsewhere, there's a nice, but obvious, turn from John Malkovich as the bog standard "bad old white guy". An irritating, but never horrible, 2nd mum to be role from Danielle Macdonald and a creepy act from 50 Cent lookalike, Trevante Rhodes, whose smoochie efforts just come across as insincere and uncomfortable.

'Bird Box' is not anything truly excellent or world beating and it is over long at 2 hours. But, it's a perfectly fine end of the world film that'll please the apocalypse types to some degree.

7/10

pixelburp

Hotel Artemis (2018)

An intentional attempt at a kind of throwback B-movie (right down to the old-school titles), but one that lacked enough of that brazen swagger and schlock its inspirations often possessed. Ostensibly trashy, but lacking the ... I dunno, soul of trash. A surprisingly talented cast for sure however, with Jodie Foster arguably a little too good for the material, but still giving the main character enough snarky zip & humanity to wish her well. Jeff Goldblum was totally wasted on the other hand, which in of itself is a cinematic crime.

Disposable1

pixelburp wrote: »

but lacking the ... I dunno, soul of trash.

It should have cast my ex-girlfriend.

buried

The Favourite - Had a great time watching this, the characters and especially the entire world portrayed is totally believable. It could have went on for another hour and I'd still be glawping at it hungry for more. Fantastic film, went in to see it at a afternoon show during the day and came out the theatre it was night-time. I love it when that happens. A great little trip, go see it 10/10

The House That Jack Built - This was great too, real uncomfortable brutality showcase. Got a bit tough going halfway through, seems that Dillon is portraying the directors own fascination with brutality, reminiscing about all the work he has done. Few shots off Von Trier's other films sort of took me out of it for a while because of it. Very good all the same 8/10

The Old Man & The Gun - Bland and dull as dishwater, same dirty brown/orange colour of dishwater too. Everybody here is just too nicey nice and unbelievable. Tries to introduce some semblance of character depth towards the end but by that stage I was so bored I did not give a feic. Bad job 3/10

Black 47 - It's well shot, the story is entertaining too but the visual creators seem to be more interested in scenic shots and are utterly clueless in shooting scenes of sequential action. The action scenes are bad, real bad, stuttery, slow and unbelievable. In some cases, laughably bad. Takes you out of the film bigtime. Pity. 4/10

Silence of The Lambs - Hadn't seen this in years, Still holds up really well. The supernatural like portrayal of Lector really is brilliant by Hopkins, could just watch a entire cut of all his scenes in this it would still be great. The night-vision google predator scenes really are brilliant too, great work 9/10

The Night Comes For Us - Leave the brain at the door and this is a good enough ridiculous violent showcase. Great sequential editing but the violence can nearly become too ridiculous and can get boring pretty quickly. 6/10

Jump_In_Jack

Captain Red Beard wrote: »

Beautiful Boy, about addiction in America in general, but the relationship between a father and his addict son is the main thrust of this film.
It's timely in that it shows addiction from the middle class viewpoint, it's not all skid row junkies. It can be a bit overly dramatic and you'll feel like slapping the characters, but it's well acted and worth a watch.

Recently watched Less Than Zero (1987), similar theme, but from an upper class viewpoint. It is a bit dated now but still watchable.
Heart-wrenching insight into how even a wealthy family and close-knit friends are not always enough to help an addict deal with his addiction and insidious relationship with a despicable drug dealer.

ButtersSuki

Haven't been around these parts for a while and up the walls so will keep this brief:

Spiral Series 1-6 on DVD. French cop drama. Pretty good but maybe not as good as Braquo.

Let down by weak season ending episodes at times, esp. the explosion - you'll know what I mean if you've wathced it, but some great performances by some of the cast.

Final season coming out on BBC in April of this year apparently if you want to catch up. 7/10.

Narcos: Mexico on Netflix. Enjoyed this more than I expected having heard mixed reviews. Then again I like Michael Pena, and Diego Luna is excellent in this. It's major flaw for me is that it's so rushed - this 10 parter should really have been 14-20 episodes IMO as they left out lots of the story. Will be interesting to see where they take it in Season 2.6.5/10

The following are all scored as per their genres, i.e. Christmas and Kids Movies, not my with my usual snobbery :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::pac::
The Night Before on TV - it was Christmas after all :rolleyes: Seth Rogen once again shows his incredible range by playing a stoner :rolleyes:, but surprisingly good performances from Joseph Gordon Levitt and Michael Shannon. 5.5/10

A Bad Mom's Christmas on Blu Ray. Not my choice if that even needs to be said! Meh. Best (only should be) watched under the influence of alcohol. 4/10.

Wreck It Ralph 2 in the cinema with a 3year old. He LOVED it; in fairness it wasn't too bad for what it is. 6/10.

Del.Monte

"211" (2018) on Netflix

While on a routine patrol, an ageing cop (Cage), his partner and their ride-along get caught in a standoff with a band of former mercenaries robbing a bank.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Dwayne Cameron, Michael Rainey Jr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhmZW0N4y48

Another unrateable dog's dinner but one that needs to be seen to be believed. There's just so much wrong with this movie from the unbelievably bad camera work and editing, continuity, plot, dialogue.....

As an example, at one point Cage is outside the bank in his cop car and reverses away from the building for a long distance only to end up virtually outside the door again where he crashes the car. Then he blazes away with a non-issue handgun at the building which he knows to be full of hostages. In another scene, Cage and one of the baddies approach one another this time blazing away with assault rifles but failing to hit anything until Cage gets a flesh wound in the ankle!

The bank robbers are supposedly ex.US army special forces types but their only plan of escape is to run out the front of the bank into the waiting police cordon.

In another bit of nonsense, a female Interpol agent wanders about flashing her ID card at various US policeman who wave her on to crime scenes like her ID is something that a patrolman they would see every day....

The best reverse cliché that I have seen in a long time is when the bank manager tells the chief robber to shoot him - and he does. You couldn't make it up but unfortunately, somebody did.

Set in the US but filmed in Bulgaria - presumably because it was cheap - this is a train wreck which you may wish to avoid.

Captain Red Beard

Along With the Gods. I watched both of these films during the week, enjoyable Korean fantasy jiggery pokery.

[Deleted User]

Del.Monte wrote: »

"211" (2018) on Netflix

While on a routine patrol, an ageing cop (Cage), his partner and their ride-along get caught in a standoff with a band of former mercenaries robbing a bank.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Dwayne Cameron, Michael Rainey Jr...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhmZW0N4y48

Another unrateable dog's dinner but one that needs to be seen to be believed. There's just so much wrong with this movie from the unbelievably bad camera work and editing, continuity, plot, dialogue.....

As an example, at one point Cage is outside the bank in his cop car and reverses away from the building for a long distance only to end up virtually outside the door again where he crashes the car. Then he blazes away with a non-issue handgun at the building which he knows to be full of hostages. In another scene, Cage and one of the baddies approach one another this time blazing away with assault rifles but failing to hit anything until Cage gets a flesh wound in the ankle!

The bank robbers are supposedly ex.US army special forces types but their only plan of escape is to run out the front of the bank into the waiting police cordon.

In another bit of nonsense, a female Interpol agent wanders about flashing her ID card at various US policeman who wave her on to crime scenes like her ID is something that a patrolman they would see every day....

The best reverse cliché that I have seen in a long time is when the bank manager tells the chief robber to shoot him - and he does. You couldn't make it up but unfortunately, somebody did.

Set in the US but filmed in Bulgaria - presumably because it was cheap - this is a train wreck which you may wish to avoid.

You do seem to torture yourself with a lot of dodgy films Del, I wonder is it part of your work or are you just seeking out pain

branie2

Stan & Ollie at the cinema this evening. It was brilliant.

al87987

One cut of the dead - 7.5/10

Wasnt sure about this film after hearing good things but the second half makes sense of the first half and I was laughing my ass off in the end.

Harry Palmr

Hail Caesar (2016) Dir Coen Bros

Enjoyable salute to the so called Golden Age of Hollywood built around a shaggy dog tail about an actor who goes missing during production of a cheesy Sword and Sandal epic.

[Deleted User]

Vice 2019 This is a really exceptional piece of work. I felt like I was watching Oliver Stone at his best, yet he had nothing to do with this film. For me the most impressive political film since Nixon, and it bares a lot of the hallmarks of that film, editing, timeline as well as an exceptional performance from the lead in this case Bale. I feel like it was nice and balanced leaving you with your own choices at the end as to what kind of man Dick Cheney is. A must see.

Outlaw/King 2018 Surprisingly good film about Robert the Bruce. I had thought it was going to be a fairly low budget affair, but this had plenty behind it, a notch or two below the scale of Braveheart, but not that far. Fantastics sets, battles, and insight into how the Scots fought back against the English. Very entertaining.

bnt

Watched Splendour in the Grass (1961) today: an Oscar winner for its screenplay, though I'm not quite sure why. It's basically the story of two high school students in love - Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty - in the late 1920s, when social mores were so strict that they had zero chance of getting their rocks off. So - spoiler alert - the parental pressure and sexual repression are so severe that first he gets ill and nearly dies, then is forced by his overbearing father to go off to college, where he fails everything, since he's a meathead. She goes mad waiting for him, tries to drown herself, and is sent to an asylum for two and a half years. His father kills himself after the stock market crash on 1929, which relieves all the pressure on him, so he marries a waitress and goes back to the farm, where he's happier fixing tractors. So she comes out of the asylum, having gotten engaged to a fellow loonie, goes looking for him to see if there's anything there... and there are sighs and regrets all round. All the while the parents are absolving themselves of any blame, and ... I don't know if I'm supposed to learn some kind of lesson from all this drama. I can only see it as some kind of object lesson in how parents should embrace the sexual revolution. I don't feel any wiser having perservered to the end.

Harry Palmr

The Eyes of Orson Welles (2018) - Dir Mark Cousins

Whimsical, wistful and absorbing portrait of the legends cultural hinterland and how it informed his most famous works. Some new things learnt by me esp the incident during the 30s which inspired Welles to track down a racist policeman who blinded a black kid after an altercation on a bus for which the lad was blameless.

Decuc500

Dark Age

An Ozploitation movie from the 80’s about a huge man eating crocodile terrorising an Australian community.
A ranger and two aborigine men try to capture the animal to transport it back to its remote, natural habitat.
It’s part monster movie, part conservation drama and the real villains turn out to be the gun toting, beer guzzling poachers who want to kill the animal.
It’s very much influenced by Jaws and stands alongside other classic Aussie killer animal movies from the time like Razorback and Long Weekend.

joombo

Watched Vice last night, really enjoyed it, brilliant performance by Christian Bale. 8/10

Sugarlumps

Red Sparrow – Long winded, bogey accents, does the sun ever make an appearance in any Russian related films?

Tony EH

Decuc500 wrote: »

Dark Age

An Ozploitation movie from the 80’s about a huge man eating crocodile terrorising an Australian community.
A ranger and two aborigine men try to capture the animal to transport it back to its remote, natural habitat.
It’s part monster movie, part conservation drama and the real villains turn out to be the gun toting, beer guzzling poachers who want to kill the animal.
It’s very much influenced by Jaws and stands alongside other classic Aussie killer animal movies from the time like Razorback and Long Weekend.

Oh wow. It's been years since I've seen that. Always remember

the kid being killed

having a big effect on young me.

Tony EH

Sugarlumps wrote: »

Red Sparrow – Long winded, bogey accents, does the sun ever make an appearance in any Russian related films?

Not when they're made by Americans.

Tony EH

'Hawk the Slayer'

A film that proves the so bad it's good rule in a far more real way than the likes of those rubbishy SYFY 'Mega Shark vs...' or 'Sharknado' films, which are deliberately designed to be awful, despite reasonable budgets.

Almost beyond belief, 'Hawk the Slayer' was written and filmed as a serious fantasy story, albeit one that's seemingly scribbled by a rabid 'Dungeons and Dragons' obsessive. Although, I use the word "story" in the loosest possible terms as there isn't much story to it. Without getting into too much detail, it involves two feuding brothers, magic stones, giants, elves, treasure and an all female religious order that the bad guys torment.

Undeniably, it holds a certain fascination and there's a very real entertainment value. But it's, without a doubt, a bone fide guilty pleasure. Part of which is looking out for the laundry list of British character actors that turn up along the way. Watch out for Roy Kinnear, Bernard Bresslaw, Warren Clarke, Patrick Magee, Harry Andrews and the cutting room floor Jabba the Hutt, Declan Mulholland, who all turn up to get a few shillings to pay their mortgage.

The highlight of the film, if one could call it that, is Jack Palance who brings an enormous side of ham, but devours every piece of scenery there is. Offsetting a terribly bland, but at the time obligatory-for-the-US Market American lead (John Terry), Palance plays Hawk's malevolent brother Voltan. He's clearly having a whale of a time though and provides the bulk of the dubious satisfaction that the film allows. There's one or two of the cast that are trying their best, like Victor Meldrew's wife, Annette Crosbie, and the recently deceased William Morgan Shepard. But, most of the others are just having a laugh and why not.

The soundtrack, too, is a weird mixed bag that seems to channel Jeff Wayne's 'War of the Worlds'. Composed by veteran Hammer composer, Harry Robertson, it rarely matches any of the visuals but adds to the whole experience nonetheless and deserves a mention.

The director, Terry Marcel, puts in a shift, but it's never more than pedestrian. Tellingly, his next film was 'Prisoners of the Lost Universe'. So, if you've had the pleasure of that film, you'll get an idea of what 'Hawk the Slayer' has in store...vibe wise anyway. Marcel always threatened to do a sequel to the 1980 film, but never managed to rustle up the moolah. Perhaps thankfully.

'Hawk the Slayer' could never be seriously considered as a good film, but if you in the right mood it's very amusing and passes by harmlessly. It has a great how was this even made quality and even if you won't laugh out loud at it, you'll probably have a grin on your face.

pixelburp

Tony EH wrote: »

'Hawk the Slayer'

A film that proves the so bad it's good rule in a far more real way than the likes of those rubbishy SYFY 'Mega Shark vs...' or 'Sharknado' films, which are deliberately designed to be awful, despite reasonable budgets.

I had heard this film mentioned before - I think in the context of post Star Wars knock-offs - so had to look up the trailer. It's no 'Krull'! :P

Tony EH

pixelburp wrote: »

I had heard this film mentioned before - I think in the context of post Star Wars knock-offs - so had to look up the trailer. It's no 'Krull'! :P

No, but there is a connection. Bernard Bresslaw plays giant in both.

Paddy Samurai

I’m late to the party on this one,real sorry I waited so long to watch this.
Love this film big time .10/10 at least

Ending montage and song I rewound and watched at least five times,Brilliant!.

Del.Monte

"In a Valley of Violence" (2016) on Netflix

GUEST_4b3ffb02-3832-48e7-9d45-d15cbcfe4112?wid=488&hei=488&fmt=pjpeg

Excellent old style western with a difference - can't say much more without giving away the plot. Stars Ethan Hawke, John Travolta. Give it a lash you won't be disappointed. 8/10

branie2

Mary, Queen of Scots at the cinema this evening. It was very good.

frozenfrozen

Bad times at the El Royale

Nice Cohen brothers feel to this one easily 8/10 film, story hooks you from the start and just keeps expanding. Really well fleshed out characters.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, 8/10, I would nearly give it 10 but although it was great the pacing dragged a couple of times, I know the reason and effect it had on the whole film in context but the story of the thespian just dragged a bit.