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Child Item

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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barrymanilow

Les Miserablés (2019)

French Police Drama/ social commentary. Centers around two partners who get teamed up with a new arrival on their daily patrol of a volatile Banliuie.

Very good , kind of like training day meets La Haine.

8.5/10

branie2

The Dark Knight on Blu-ray on Friday

It makes powerful viewing in that format

loyatemu

Watching a few old movies with the kids recently:

12 Monkeys - for obvious reasons, still great, probably Gilliam's best.
To my (now) eternal shame I'd never noticed the twist in the very last scene ("I'm in insurance") until watching it this time

The Matrix - obviously a classic.
Kids: "Are there any sequels, Dad?"
Me: "... no"

The Bourne Identity/Supremacy
These hold up really well, kids are keen to watch the other sequels now (though my recollection is that they're all much the same)

not an old one:
Yesterday
I hadn't seen this before, it starts well and obviously has a killer soundtrack but it doesn't really go anywhere after about halfway, and could've been 20 minutes shorter.

Homelander

I actually just watched Fantasy Island and though it was pretty terrible but fairly watchable. I'd say it would be a 4/10 for me. It ticks along OK but has bad acting, a terrible script, no remotely memorable scenes, isn't at all scary or intimidating.

Dades

Blackhat

Ran across this on Netflix, seemed to tick all the boxes (big name star and director).
It started well enough, but the final third was a bit daft with our hacker suddenly turning into John McClane.

freak scence

very enjoyable based on a true story

mikhail

Dades wrote: »

Blackhat

Ran across this on Netflix, seemed to tick all the boxes (big name star and director).
It started well enough, but the final third was a bit daft with our hacker suddenly turning into John McClane.

I quite enjoyed it. It's rare that a movie about a hacker gets anything right.

Interesting to see Mann chasing Chinese money earlier than most, or at least that's what I take the fact that the love interests in both Blackhat and Miami Vice are both played by Chinese actresses to mean. Maybe he just has a thing for Asian women.

Dades

mikhail wrote: »

Interesting to see Mann chasing Chinese money earlier than most, or at least that's what I take the fact that the love interests in both Blackhat and Miami Vice are both played by Chinese actresses to mean. Maybe he just has a thing for Asian women.

Given the Asian locations I assume there was more to it than a penchant for a certain type of lady!

If you need to chase the money to get something made, go for it I say. Without that willingness we'd never have got The Meg.

p to the e

PTH2009 wrote: »

Watched a movie called 'Rock star' which stars Mark Warburg and Jennifer Aniston. From 2001

Story is a bit meh but the music is good

https://youtu.be/-NIXXXzzyiY

I remember enjoying this in the cinema way back when. It's pretty much the story of Rob Halford and Judas Priest

El Gato De Negocios

Do The Right Thing.

Spike Lee's directorial debut that I hadn't watched in over 20 years is still an enthralling piece of work. Centered around an Italian American pizzeria in a tough section of Brooklyn during a sweltering summers day, it is as topical today as it ever was. Racial tensions, police brutality and climate change are all touched upon at various levels. A great soundtrack, snappy dialogue, it actually delivers a powerful message without ever moving into preachy territory. The only real criticism I have is Spike Lee himself taking a central role, he has no screen presence and carries pretty much the same dead eyed expression throughout. Still, a really enjoyable slice of grit and its given me a hankering to take a dive into some of his other works.

8/10

darced

loyatemu wrote: »

Watching a few old movies with the kids recently:

12 Monkeys - for obvious reasons, still great, probably Gilliam's best.
To my (now) eternal shame I'd never noticed the twist in the very last scene ("I'm in insurance") until watching it this time

What was the twist?

loyatemu

darced wrote: »

What was the twist?

she's one of the scientists from the future sent back to get a sample of the virus, so effectively Cole succeeded in his mission (even though he died in the previous scene and the rogue virologist seemed to have escaped).

Sad Professor

On the ending of 12 Monkeys:

loyatemu wrote: »

she's one of the scientists from the future sent back to get a sample of the virus, so effectively Cole succeeded in his mission (even though he died in the previous scene and the rogue virologist seemed to have escaped).

Yeah but

he abandoned his mission in favour of trying to stop the outbreak in the first place. I think it's implied that the scientists were actively working to prevent him doing this because they had no interest in changing time.

I never thought this twist really worked. The implications of it, especially coming as they do on the heels of the previous scene, are too a bit too dense and plotty to process on first viewing.

shrapnel222

just watched Possessor. New film by Brandon Cronenberg, son of David. Well it's fair to say the apple didn't fall far from the tree. great fuc ked up film to say the least.

Another nutjob to follow!!!!

Fysh

shrapnel222 wrote: »

just watched Possessor. New film by Brandon Cronenberg, son of David. Well it's fair to say the apple didn't fall far from the tree. great fuc ked up film to say the least.

Another nutjob to follow!!!!

Ooh, thanks for mentioning this, I've been waiting for him to do something else since first seeing and really liking Antiviral (which if you haven't seen it, is great and very Cronenbergian).

shrapnel222

Fysh wrote: »

Ooh, thanks for mentioning this, I've been waiting for him to do something else since first seeing and really liking Antiviral (which if you haven't seen it, is great and very Cronenbergian).

Hadn't realised he was directing to be honest and just came across possessor by chance. Antiviral has been added to the list, so thanks for the thumbs up . looking forward to it.

Fysh

I watched Bloodsucking Bosses recently on Shudder - it's an oddly frustrating film. It's clearly aware of the likes of Belko Project and Office Space as relevant touchstones, and some of the humour is strong enough to merit at least the comparison, but for a slight film the first act is weak because there's not enough depth to the characters for their stories to grab the viewer. It's sort of fine as a "pizza and beer" film, but a pity the script wasn't polished to bring everything closer to the standard of the best jokes.

I also watched half of Takashi Miike's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable film on DVD, but had to take a break halfway through because there's only so much bombastic Miike-ness that I can absorb at a time. Great fun and great match of source material and director as far as I can tell (the wig budget on this film must have been sizeable).

El Duda

Statutory Ape wrote: »

Do The Right Thing.

Spike Lee's directorial debut that I hadn't watched in over 20 years is still an enthralling piece of work. Centered around an Italian American pizzeria in a tough section of Brooklyn during a sweltering summers day, it is as topical today as it ever was. Racial tensions, police brutality and climate change are all touched upon at various levels. A great soundtrack, snappy dialogue, it actually delivers a powerful message without ever moving into preachy territory. The only real criticism I have is Spike Lee himself taking a central role, he has no screen presence and carries pretty much the same dead eyed expression throughout. Still, a really enjoyable slice of grit and its given me a hankering to take a dive into some of his other works.

8/10

I only watched it for the first time about a year ago. Agree with most of your review. The old DVD I had looked like crap tho.

I bought the Criterion 4K restoration recently. Still not tried it out. Time for a rewatch!

mikemac2

The Last thing he wanted

Ben Affleck, Anne Hathaway, William Dafoe

It starts in an interesting way with two journalists in Nicaragua during a civil war. Death squads are on the government side and they were getting covert support from the Reagan administration to wipe out guerrillas. Looks good so far

The film then split in countless different subplots and by the end I had no clue what was going on. Too clever by half

I love political thrillers but this film gets a thumbs down from me.

Possibly it was a decent book but this film adaptation doesn’t work at all, what a mess

cdgalwegian

mikemac2 wrote: »

The Last thing he wanted

It starts in an interesting way with two journalists in Nicaragua during a civil war. Death squads are on the government side and they were getting covert support from the Reagan administration to wipe out guerrillas. Looks good so far

So far, so Under Fire (photographer + radio journalist) .

El Duda

Moon – 7.25/10

Not as good as I remembered but there’s still plenty to love about this low-budget, sci-fi. The plot is a little thin for the run time, but the revelations are well placed to keep you hooked. There is a slight over reliance on the score and cinematography to create the sense of isolation. Sam Rockwell’s performance is extraordinary, especially when you consider he is acting off himself, but I still think he could’ve been given a bit more to do.

It’s a pretty special debut film from Duncan Jones. It’s no surprise that he has struggled to follow it up.

Rec – 7/10

Been a while since I had first seen this, and it has started to date slightly, mainly due to the found footage trope. It serves the purpose of adding the needed authenticity but lets itself down by being too shaky at the crucial moments.

For these types of films, I always say that the location is crucial, and the residential tower block setting is perfectly utilised. You get a good sense of the geography of the building and become familiar with certain areas and rooms, so when we revisit them, we feel the dread that the characters are going though.

Scary Stories to Tell in The Dark – 4/10

I expected a lot more considering Del-Toro’s name was all over the promotional material. After a promising start it falls off a cliff. It ends up just being a poor version of Stranger Things.

It all feels very Nickelodeon and the scares are hugely lacking. I had assumed from the title and trailer that this was going to be a 12A film aimed at a slightly younger audience, so I am surprised to see that it was a 15.

budgemook

Beastie Boys Story

Started the free trial on Apple TV + (which I definitely won't be keeping) to watch this. The format of this documentary is very different to your usual music doc and it's a pretty interesting concept however I don't think it transferred to the (small) screen all that well.

As a fan of the band I think I'd have preferred some more footage of the them in their heyday, some views from other players in their career (like from Rick Rubin, for example) and some more tunes, whether live or recorded. I guess I'm saying I'd have preferred a more typical type of music doc over the two boys talking about themselves for two hours.

Worth a watch all the same.

niallo76

Sorry,We missed you(Ken Loach).

Tough watch,very grim with no let up.One scene where the family eat a curry is only bit of light relief,and that only lasts about 2 minutes,and straight back into misery.

barrymanilow

Doctor Sleep

I have a set against the waves of remakes and sequels and prequels and the downright lack of originality or inspiration that cinema seems to be stacked with these days so I came at this film ready to be disappointed but it was actually very good.

It follows on from Kubrick's The Shining, following the life of the boy Danny who escaped from his deranged fathers melt down in the overwatch hotel.

It managed to honor its origin but be a good film in its own right.

8/10

mikhail

barrymanilow wrote: »

It managed to honor its origin but be a good film in its own right.

It's actually based on Stephen King's book of the same name. King also wrote The Shining. The books are pretty good - though Kubrick definitely added some secret sauce to The Shining.

pixelburp

Sea Fever (2020)

Competent and unspectacular, with the low budget mostly working in its favour. The FX were minimal to say the least, the film instead making use of the atmosphere and isolation for its tension. Each of the cast had just enough personality to make them interesting - but not much beyond that. There wasn't really much to recommend here, but not a lot to dissuade a person away either. Like I said, competent - and Ireland produces so little genre work, it's always worth giving them a look when they appear.

branie2

Double Indemnity on Blu-ray last night; it was an excellent film noir thriller from the 1940s with Fred MacMurray and Barbra Stanwyck.

freak scence

MV5BODcyMDc4OTMtNDBkMS00YjRkLTllYjQtNTIyOWEyNzM5YzQwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyODA5NDE0Nw@@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,666,1000_AL_.jpg

pretty crap , could have been very good .

shrapnel222

saw

surprised at how well this holds up. hadn't seen it since it came out, and it's very well put together.

Swallow

Beautifully shot film about a young woman who's life spirals out of control when she develops a penchant to swallow objects. Genuinely impressed with this one. slow burner very well developed

The assistant

Was expecting more from this one although still plenty of positives. Follow a day in the life of the assistant of a big seedy movie producer. Dreary and no glamour for her, only thing to hold on to is for a brighter future.

skate kitchen

skateboarding movie based in new york following a group of girl skaters. Enjoyable down to earth local movie. Not as raw and grim as "kids" but definitely felt similar and shot in the same vein

Fysh

I caught Pablo Larraín's Ema on Mubi last night. It was very good, a strong character-focused script told with visuals that combine a squalid grunginess on the streets with vibrant, hypnotic and euphoric moments, mostly focused around the protagonist's passion for dance. The throughline of the story is Ema's desire to get her adopted son back from Social Services, and the effect his loss has on her and her husband. The character is a mess in the kind of way which would be stressful and unbearable to deal with if they were part of your life, but which is fascinating to watch and follow on-screen.

Edit: It's just been added now so available for the next 30 days, if you're interested in seeing it.