What have you watched recently? 3D!

Nomadland

i don't think this would have worked with anyone other than Frances McDormand. She's nailed on for the oscar, as very possible is the director. Halfway between a documentary and a fictional piece steeped in poetry, Frances glides along this beautifully shot work effortlessly.

The nest

interesting drama set in the 80s with Jude Law and Carrie Coon about an anglo american couple who move their family to London only to watch it fall apart piece by piece. Well shot and really enjoyable although felt some scenes were just a bit poorer for ad libbing.

Retr0gamer wrote: »

When I saw the screenplay was by Akira Kurosawa at the start and who the director was I was baffled this was a Canon film.

Well, that's going on my watchlist now.

I only tend to get on with Kurosawa when he's making Shakespeare good, or influencing Star Wars so '80s action film should definitely get a look-in.

Also watched Parasite which I thought was pretty good - different from the Hollywood fare that usually takes the best picture Oscar. It does go a bit off the rails in the second half, in particular I thought it was a bit implausible that

Tried to watch Tenet tonight, stopped with about 45min left. Just lost interest.

Very clever effects and all, but just too silly a storyline that was painful to follow.

And was it just me, or was the acting and script a bit clunky?

flasher0030 wrote: »

Olympus has fallen

I was a bit surprised at how enjoyable this was. Gerard Butler stars as the hero out to save the US president. It's daft as brush, all action and over the top. But I was completely drawn in by it. If some night you just want to unwind with braindead thrilling action, throw it on. Unless you're very cynical you won't be disappointed.

It was a bit mad the way White House Down came out around the same time although we have had that before (Armageddon and Deep Impact in 1998, Dante's Peak and Volcano in 1997 etc). I haven't seen Olympus Has Fallen or its sequel London Has Falling but I might check them out over lockdown.

Ford v Ferrari

Enjoyed this film last night - apparently 152 minutes long but did not feel like it at all. Some good performances, an interesting story and the racing scenes were done very well. I'd recommend this one.

One thing that annoyed me throughout was Cristian Bale's son having an English accent. I checked afterwards and concluded that he must have been born in US or at least been there from a very young age. Maybe he was home schooled or something :pac:

I watched The Philadelphia Story (1940) again today, after reading a little about the film. It was Katharine Hepburn's comeback film after being labeled "box office poison", and in retrospect plays like a finely-tuned machine aiming to disarm all the criticism being levelled against her. It's a screwball comedy worthy of serious study as a film.

After the commercial failure of films including the classic Bringing Up Baby, Hepburn took a break then turned to the stage in a play that was essentially written for her. She could afford to back it financially, and Howard Hughes bought her the film rights. After it was a huge success on Broadway and in a national tour, and Hollywood came knocking, Hepburn could sell the film rights in exchange for veto control over casting and directing.

There's no question that Hepburn is the star, but the studio didn't trust her to carry the film, and so two famous male leads were cast. Cary Grant demanded and got top billing, and James Stewart has a strong part that won him an Oscar. Her character is literally pushed over in the first scene, falling flat on her backside, and later she has an existential crisis over being called "remote" and decides to get drunk to prove everyone wrong. She also gets pretty racy (for 1940) in a swimsuit and generally works to prove she's not demanding and "stuck up". It worked - Hepburn never looked back after that and went on to win three more Oscars.

Total Recall (1989) - continuing to educate the kids on the classics - still great, clever plot but also a lot of fun. I've never seen the remake, and I never will.

'Spider-man: Homecoming'

As someone who doesn't qualify as a Marvel fan, of either the movies of the comics they came from, I have always been aware of Spider-Man, largely due to the animated TV show that did the rounds continuously for years since they were first made in the 60's. So, who he is and what he does has been known to me for decades. But I don't think he's ever transferred to live action terribly well. The 80's TV was hilarious for all the wrong reasons and the Sam Raimi films left me very cold indeed, helmed by an unbearably insipid lead and a wishy-washy love interest. The recent reboot efforts were ok, and Andrew Garfield was a charming enough Peter Parker, but they were still just ok with nothing about them being particularly memorable. In addition, the sheer rebooty mess that the screen efforts have left in their wake just leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

But 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' (a weird title) is probably the best effort to bring the friendly neighbourhood webbed wonder to life that's been done yet. That may be because Tom Holland makes for an agreeable central figure or that it makes efforts to tie into a greater story, al la 'The Avengers' timeline (not that I am an expert on that mind you). But it adds up to a more satisfying whole than anything that's come before and to it's benefit eschews, completely, the origin aspect that everyone and their mother already knows about at this point.

Other bonus points are the inclusion of Batman Michael Keaton as the lead antagonist - The Vulture - a guy who's not an alien or a god or someone with a blue box or a shaft of light that wants to take over the world/galaxy somehow. He makes for a refreshing, if somewhat low key bad guy, who enters into his role due to the spiky nature of a run in with faceless government types in the movie's opening. Keaton's character certainly isn't a good guy that's been simply undone by bureaucracy however, as evidenced by his willingness to murder in an attempt to pursue his goals.

There's also pleasing "comic relief" in the form of Peter's classmate, Ned (Jacob Balaton), who provides the film with some humour and, an even better looking 59 than she was at 39, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May (as unlikely as that seems at first) who almost ends the film with its best line. It's helped too, by yet another scene stealing display by Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Ironman, who remains, without a single doubt, the best Marvel character to see the light of day.

Where the film falls down a bit is with it's meh side story, involving Peter's crush and a "twist" that everyone must have seen coming from a mile off. Another issue is in the fact that it's probably essential to have seen other Marvel movies, before you can sit down to this one, which is never a good thing.

In any case, 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' is probably one of the more enjoyable Marvel efforts that I've seen and I'll probably check out 'Spiderman-Far From Home' on the back of it...after I've put myself through 'Avengers - whatever" first.

7/10

Two recent DVD watches in recent days:


Hang 'em High (1968) - a former lawman is wrongly lynched for cattle rustling with disastrous consequences for the participants. A strong cast led by Clint Eastwood, Ed Begley and Pat Hingle. Another classic if you like retribution movies. 10+/10


and for the times we're living in..


"The Manchurian Candidate" (2004) - conspiracy at the highest levels of the US military/industrial complex, a brainwashing programme involving American soldiers during the Gulf War and the election of one of those former soldiers as the next US President.


Denzel Washington, Liev Schreiber and Meryl Streep star but there are many other big names that appear including Jon Voight and Bruno Ganz. As a fan of 'quality' conspiracy movies, this is another 10/10.

I watched the recent Bee Gees documentary. Thought it did its job very well.

glasso wrote: »

had to turn that off tbh when I tried watching it before

It's definitely not everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it. Towards the end I did feel it drag a little but it wouldn't put me off watching it again some point in the future.

Shoot 'em Up (2007). I hadn't seen this since the cinema and all I remembered was death by carrots and lots of other ludicrousness. Having watched it again I'm still none the wiser whether it's the worst film ever made or a genius piss take.

If you don't know anything about it on first watch then, after you pick your jaw up off the floor, it's easy to completely dismiss it as redbull filled nonsense. However when you find out that the director was heavily influenced by John Woo (specifically 'Hard Boiled') and that it's supposed to be a modern adult version of Bugs Bunny vs. Elmer Fudd then you become more sympathetic to its outlandishness. It got several laughs at some of the action scenes but, unlike some of the Brosnan 007 outings, these seem intentional. It knows what it is and seems better for it. I'd recommend it but with a warning to not take it too serious if that's even possible.