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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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Decuc500

frozenfrozen wrote: »

The Sisters Brothers

Gave it about 35 minutes and had to turn it off. Didnt care about any characters, didnt know what the plot was or care where it was going

Slow unengaging and boring

Won't be bothering to try it again to the end

Pet gripe. It annoys me reading these 'screener' reviews on this forum for films that haven't been released yet.

Maybe if you saw it in a cinema you would stick with it till the end and change your opinion of it?

joombo

Deepwater Horizon, solid 8/10 for me. I only vaguely remember the disaster so no idea how accurate the events of the film are, probably not very knowing Hollywood but I enjoyed the film. Besides, Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell and John Malkovich, whats not to like

p to the e

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

This is a film that was way ahead of its time. Essentially predicting how child stars can grow up into warped adults. Having talked to some friends/coworkers, a lot of them know the film, know about the legendary spats between the leads but have not seen it.

Joan Crawford puts in a solid effort but she can't hold a candle to Bette Davis's iconic performance. She, and director Robert Aldrich, created the often copied, rarely matched, character of the faded Hollywood star caked in makeup still dreaming of returning to stardom.

Also a decent effort by an actor named Victor Buono (24 at the time of filming but looked twice that) who I immediately thought was a fat Jason Segal.

8/10

Tony EH

'Shane'

The well known 1950's western that sees a troubled gunfighter, who wants to forget his past, befriend a homesteader family who is under pressure to up sticks and vacate their land because of a ruthless rancher who believes he has a bigger right to it.

Finding myself more agreeable to the "revisionist" westerns myself (although I'm not really a fan of the genre at all), 'Shane' is about 20 years too early for my tastes generally. But, the film is a bolted on classic that deserves the title and despite some awkward period trappings - if you knock ten shades out of a guy, he'll respect you and all your problems can be solved with a gun - 'Shane' still lives up to its movieland status as one of the best westerns ever made.

It's well acted by everyone, with Alan Ladd (Shane) and Van Heflin (Joe Starrett) coming off as genuine men forming a believable bond and George Steven's direction does a lot to add to the basic story that may have been absent in the hands of another director of the period. It's also got its fair share of great, familiar faced, character actors, like Elisha Cook Jr, Ben Johnson and the always watchable Jack Palance as a nasty piece of hired trouble.

But, what's most interesting about 'Shane', is that despite its surface layer white hat/black hat simplicity, there's an attempt to add grey area to the story, which was unusual for the time. Although there are definite "bad" guys, they have genuine motive for their actions, as elaborated on during a scene where Ryker (the ruthless cattle merchant) explains why he wants to get rid of the homesteaders that are on "his" land and that are interfering with the open range. His reasoning being that he and his family/friends were the ones who "tamed" it years before anybody else moved in and that the homesteaders get in the way of the natural resources that the range provides, by fencing off their own little areas.

His argument is clearly countered by Starrett, who correctly points out that the Indians and trappers were here long before Ryker and the other pioneers were and that the land wasn't tamed by him at all as he's essentially just passing through. It's a small, but important scene that gives everyone more depth than the usual Hollywood western tropes provide.

'Shane' is not only a great western, but a great film, which has had an enormous impact, not only on other westerns, but on films outside of that bracket too, and it's fully deserving of its place in cinema history. It's beautifully shot as well and makes good use of its Wyoming surroundings, which look fantastic on the Warner Blu Ray and I've never seen the film look as good.

To some, it may seem a little clunky here and there because of the time it was made in - and Brandon DeWilde's Joey can be a little irritating - there's still an awful lot to it that makes for truly satisfying viewing today.

9/10

branie2

The Mule at the cinema this evening. It was very good.

ButtersSuki

Tired and late so these won't be as long or as detailed as usual:

The Post on amazon prime (new addition to my house). Interesting if you like US media/Politics/the Nixon administration etc., had planned a rewatch of All The President's Men at some stage so thought of ticking this off my post in advance of same. It's also an interesting accompaniment to the excellent The Viet Nam War documentary series on Netflix. Some interesting/weird casting choices but probably Hanks' best performance in years.
6.5/10

The Girl In The Spider's Web also on amazon prime (paid). I quite liked the Larsson Milennium Trilogy books and the extended native Swedish film adaptations but haven't read the book this was based on (as Larsson didn't write it mainly). It's not truly awful, has some interesting scenes, but does jump the shark at times. I'm a bit of a Stephen Merchant fan but he's horribly miscast in this, and given his height is almost always seated in his scenes (I always watch out for stuff like this as I'm essentially the same height as him). The best I can say about it is "it's grand".
5/10

Ray Donovan: Series 6 A show that when it's good, it's very good; and while the quality does dip on occasion throughout the 6 seasons to date this season was solid. Liev Schrieber, Eddie Marsan and Jon Voight are excellent as always in this.
7.5/10

Fyre Fraud felt like I "had" to watch it for an alternative view as I'd already watched the Netflix documentary (I've cut and pasted my comments on that below for easy reference). It's largely more of the same TBH. I would say the Netflix documentary is slicker from a production point of view, whilst this would be more traditional. They have less interviews with those involved, but crucially they have Billy McFarland himself (which they paid for - a big no-no in the documentary film-making world).

He's lost a lot of weight which I'd like to think was stress-related, but as you get to see him being interviewed you realise it's most likely not.

It's not significantly better or worse than the Netflix doc., so I'll also give it a 6.5/10 I am curious though if I watched this first and the Netflix documentary afterwards would I differ on this?

Fyre on Netflix. You likely already know the bones of the story of "the best party that never happened" and the disaster it subsequently became. This documentary gives an insight into the main organiser and his scams - before and after the Fyre event. It's got access to some footage that is really in the "WTF?" sphere - stuff that's so bizarre you have to wonder did they have any self-awareness at all? It provides an interesting insight at times into the vacuousness of the influencer and some social media worlds, but there's a few interviews with the punters/"victims' that make for somewhat uncomfortable viewing at times i.e.

the rich Asian kid who seems quite proud to say that he and his friends destroyed many tents and urinated on mattresses to prevent others from using them.....when there was a shortage of tents and bed. Real "I don't give a f_ck as long as I'm ok" stuff.

. It's kinda hard to feel sorry for some of these people at times with their

OMG can you believe it's not even a private jet? attitude

When I was watching the credits (I'm one of those :rolleyes:) however I see that one the producers were Fyre's digital marketing agency - without question a conflict of interest and one which has likely shaped and skewed the narrative to some degree, but it is an interesting watch. I know Hulu have a rival documentary so will likely watch that too for a different perspective. Definitely worth a look.
6.5/10

Sad Professor

Electric Dreams

Nerdy guy in 80s New York buys computer and spills champagne on it. It becomes sentient and falls in love with his new next door neighbour. A simultaneously creepy and endearing love triangle ensues.

Loooong time since I’d watched this. Probably not as weird as it must have seemed back then. It's basically an 80s version of Her. The MTV music video interludes are overkill though. And I’m still waiting to meet a real life version of Virginia Madsen’s character.

barrymanilow

Decuc500 wrote: »

Pet gripe. It annoys me reading these 'screener' reviews on this forum for films that haven't been released yet.

Maybe if you saw it in a cinema you would stick with it till the end and change your opinion of it?

I watched it yesterday and really enjoyed it , its very different for a western while still being a western without being idiotic like that tarantino stuff , subtle , well acted and well worth a watch. I am a big fan of the book too

joombo

Michael Inside on Netflix. Irish prison drama, relentlessly grim but well acted. 6/10

[Deleted User]

p to the e wrote: »

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

This is a film that was way ahead of its time. Essentially predicting how child stars can grow up into warped adults. Having talked to some friends/coworkers, a lot of them know the film, know about the legendary spats between the leads but have not seen it.

Joan Crawford puts in a solid effort but she can't hold a candle to Bette Davis's iconic performance. She, and director Robert Aldrich, created the often copied, rarely matched, character of the faded Hollywood star caked in makeup still dreaming of returning to stardom.

Also a decent effort by an actor named Victor Buono (24 at the time of filming but looked twice that) who I immediately thought was a fat Jason Segal.

8/10

You should check out the series Feud if you haven't seen it

joombo

True Romance.

Never seen it before, and it's a great film! 8/10!

johnny_ultimate

An Elephant Sitting Still

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6LxGLlKwgA

The first and final feature film from Chinese filmmaker Hu Bo, who sadly took his own life shortly after the film's completion.

It's hard to forget that tragedy when watching the film. An Elephant Sitting Still is a tough watch, as four or five characters wander miserably around an ominously grey town, each dealing with their own crisis. Few, if any films, I've seen have captured that sense of overwhelmingly despair - a heavy weight dragging people down. Incredibly oppressive cinematography and superbly expressive cast members add to that sense of depression.

But, the thing is, there's a glimmer of hope present here. There's the hints, the impassioned pleas even, that there's something better for these characters. It's a dark, tough film - long takes, and an oppressive lack of colour. But for the real-life tragedy behind this film the work itself is, in many ways, a celebration of life... a rousing call for these characters to not give up and instead to push forward.

It's all immaculately crafted. Specific praise has to go the music cues - deployed sparingly (perhaps a half dozen over the four hours) but they hit with astonishing force when they are used.

To put it quite simply, An Elephant Sitting Still is one of the most extraordinary films I've seen in many years - challenging and haunting, no doubt, but also deeply moving and rewarding. A masterpiece from a director whose own story sadly ended far too early.

branie2

Green Book at the cinema this evening. I really enjoyed it.

Del.Monte

"Rogue Agent" (2015) aka "The Operative" on Netflix.

A very slow Eastern European (made) thriller which only comes to life in the last 10 minutes and not worth watching. Serbian language dubbed in English.

Save yourself the trouble and watch the trailer instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApX5ZEfXS9A

0/10

barrymanilow

The Golem

Trailer was well put together and made it look like it was going to be a stylish psychological period horror like "The Witch". It wasn't.

2/10

Del.Monte

IO: Last on Earth (2019) a Netflix original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUKEj4JRrxY

Yet another depressing Sci-Fi/Apocalyptic movie that has little to recommend it.

The earth has become so polluted that most of the surviving population have already left in a fleet of spaceships while the few that remain prepare to evacuate. With a cast of just two (!) this films staggers to its inevitable conclusion at a painfully slow pace. Not to be recommended, especially if you're already feeling in anyway depressed.

Edit - there was one other actor who appeared very briefly.

1/10

buried

Stan & Ollie - A really enjoyable heartfelt tale about these two lads. The sets and the design of the entire world at that time are really, really very well portrayed and totally believable, mannerisms of the people at that time very well done too. Coogan is really very good in this. Pacing and writing is very well done. Grand enjoyable film for what it is. Be a sort of good Christmas day, after dinner, half cut, slouch and goofy smile film for the future. I really enjoyed this work and this sort of craic wouldn't be my thing at all. 8/10

Vice - Makers of this are obviously bigtime Oliver Stone/Martin Scorcese/Adam Curtis fans as this is the vibe to tries to mish mash together. Tries a bit too hard to portray Dick dasterdly as the main villain of the whole thing and nobody else, which isn't fair because the whole gang were a bunch of inept self serving gangsters. Too much $hit with the wife. I mean, how do we know what those two actually discussed on the bed pillows? We don't, and a good 60% of this film is based on those pillow talks. Not great, expected better. Too much quick fire fancy editing in the finished product. Would not rush back to watch this. Not bad. Not Great. 5/10

The Favourite - Second watch of this and got even better. Just a absolute great showcase of writing, world building and execution. Stone is just magic to watch in this. Can't wait for the Blu ray release and the next Cinema release from Lanthimos himself. Great work. 10/10

Raiders of The Lost Ark - I'm currently doing a course on the usage of hidden occult themes in modern mainstream media and this whole thing is laden with the stuff, as well as being the occultish action adventure yarn everyone knows it to be anyways. The usage of the sun, nature, sunlight intertwined with the sound design in this entire thing, it is well worth to take notice of those subjects in this work what makes it actually 'work'. Everybody just watches this thing as a fantastic stand-alone adventure story, and it is, but there are hidden subtle supernatural themes running alongside a great deal of the scenes that loudly portray the supernatural elements of the story.There are hidden elements of the occult all over the place in this. The synchronization of the soundtrack to the images on the screen is another example - the ancient theory of music notes synchronised to different colours and images. Fascinating to look at. It's also pretty f**ked that this thing got a PG rating when you look at it properly. A lot of the scenes in this are really really brutal. Faces melting, lads chopped up by rotating propeller blades, people literally incinerated, demon ghosts, binge whiskey drinking!! Ahh its great film, as everyone knows anyways, but its also great to watch this thing at a different close angle, not just as something you'd watch for the sake of it on the Christmas day TV schedule because nothing else is on. . 10/10

Del.Monte

"State of Play" 2009 on Netflix.

A political thriller with a strong cast including Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren and Ben Affleck. Slightly convoluted plot but it cracks along at a good pace and I would recommend to anybody who likes the genre. 7/10

branie2

For the day that's in it today, The Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, The Song of Bernadette on DVD

joombo

Abducted in plain sight.

What the absolute hell. Has anyone else seen this?
It's absolutely mental. Terryfying that it's real. It has everything, it's such a sad tale but it's hard not to find it funny.
Strong 9/10 on the crazy scale.

Frank O. Pinion

joombo wrote: »

Abducted in plain sight.

What the absolute hell. Has anyone else seen this?
It's absolutely mental. Terryfying that it's real. It has everything, it's such a sad tale but it's hard not to find it funny.
Strong 9/10 on the crazy scale.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057950243

Ronanc1

Raiders of The Lost Ark It's also pretty f**ked that this thing got a PG rating when you look at it properly. A lot of the scenes in this are really really brutal. Faces melting, lads chopped up by rotating propeller blades, people literally incinerated

Nah it's no issue as long as it's happening to the Nazi characters :P

buried

Ronanc1 wrote: »

Nah it's no issue as long as it's happening to the Nazi characters :P

lol Yeah, was thinking all that when I was watching it. Sure weren't they some poor mothers sons at the end of the day! Its like the bit of writing in 'Clerks' when the two boys are discussing all them poor crathurs what got blowed up on the Death Stars from Star Wars what just were forced or had to get a job on the thing.

Ronanc1

Aye all those space plumbers and space electricians on the death stars

barrymanilow

Chronicle

Bit of a throw away sci-fi laugh , kind of in the super hero genre I guess but no underpants over trousers . Seems to have gone under a lot of radars but it's actually good enough craic. Three teens get superpowers after coming in contact with an alien substance but their moral compasses diverge.

8/10

El Duda

The Apartment – 10/10

One of the most enjoyable, witty and charming films I’ve ever seen. Jack Lemmon’s performance is sheer class and lays down the template for all bumbling male rom-com leads. The script is sharp and concise. The supporting cast are all superbly directed as the film maintains the same, happy-go-lucky tone throughout.

Pure gold and easily one of the greatest films I’ve ever seen. Shirley MacLaine is as utterly adorable as Lemmon is charming.

ButtersSuki

The Fifth Estate, Julian Assange/Wikileaks story on Netflix. I've read a couple of books recently on Mr. Assange himself, I've read extensively on this subject matter outside of said books, and I've watched a lot of documentaries on Wikileaks so I approached this with trepidation. TBH, I mostly hated it. I'm not a fan of Benedict Cumberbatch at the best of times and for some reasons he irritated me more than usual in this, a real case of over-acting. Tucci, Linney, Thewlis, Capaldi were good in fairness I guess in their respective roles, but Cumberbatch and Bruhl disappointed. There's so much wrong with this storywise I don't know where to start, but they basically tried to cram too much in and don't go deep enough on any of it to make real sense and give you a deep enough insight into Assange or Wikileaks. f you're interested in the subject matter, watch one (or more) of the many Wikileaks documentaries instead. 3/10.

Prime Suspect 1973 on ITV, recorded last year and binge watched in the last week. I again approached this with a degree of trepidation having loved the original TV series (highly recommended if you haven't watched it BTW), but have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Stefanie Martini is very good stepping into Jane Tennison/Helen Mirren's shoes in such an iconic role, and she's very easy on the eye too which I guess doesn't hurt. Blake Harrison (Neil from The Inbetweeners - yes) is in fairness quite good in his role and by episode 2 you pretty much forget about his previous role (though it is quite a shock at first!). There's plenty of good supporting acting too, esp. Alun Armstrong. The story is grand, nothing near as deep as the original series, but I'd give it a solid 6/10.

[Deleted User]

Del.Monte wrote: »

"Polar" 2019 on Netflix.

The world's top assassin, Duncan Vizla, aka The Black Kaiser, is settling into retirement when his former employer marks him as a liability to the firm. Against his will, he finds himself back in the game going head to head with an army of younger, faster, ruthless killers who will stop at nothing to have him silenced.

Off after less than three minutes - utter tripe. 0/10.

htf can you comment on this after 3 minutes? answer - you can't.

actually a decent spin of a movie if you take it for what it is.

superior to the similar wick movies imo.

[Deleted User]

Noveight wrote: »

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Excellent, really enjoyed this. Must watch more Cohen Brothers stuff. 9/10.

I'd give it a 7.5 to 8.

Watching it inspired me to go back and re-watch "O brother where art thou" which has a similar style - 8.5 for that imo.

branie2

Happy Deathday 2U at the cinema yesterday. It was very good