What have you watched recently? 3D!

Tropic Thunder (2008)

One of the last great satirical comedy films ever made (there is no way in Hell this would be allowed to be produced today) On a different level to the old school Zucker/Abrahams satirical films but obviously pays big homage to those things, and this thing still holds up well to this day, a lot of the big films made around this time have aged very badly despite being relatively recent, even if it was 17 years ago. This was just as enjoyable as the first time I seen it back in 2008-2009, the whole piss-pull of the bloated Hollywood scene, the Asian opium gang, Cruise's 'Grossman' performance - which is obviously a total rip of Weinstein, and Nick Nolte doing the whole send up of the cliched demented "put then in the $hit" Vietnam veteran is the most hilarious thing of all.

8/10

Jackpot!

A screwball comedy, a genre that I thought was long extinct. Starring Awkwafina who I had never heard of, she is quite funny, and John Cena who is one of the better wrestler actors playing a bit of a likeable dolt.

Nice premise, somewhere between the Purge and The Running Man. In the near future you can claim a lottery winner's prize money if you manage to kill them before sundown. A drone follows the winner throughout the day and posts regular updates on their location. Awkwafina is an out of towner who wins the lottery but hasn't a clue why everyone is suddenly trying to kill her. Cena's character is a sort of minder who protects winners until sundown for a cut of the profits.

This was maybe a wee bit long but it was great craic too. It was very funny seeing Awkwafina being attacked by a bloodthirsty group of people all the while throwing out one-liners.

Good ensemble cast, Awkwafina's air bnb host in particular stood out and Machine Gun Kelly who I didn't know acted has a decent cameo too. Well worth a watch.

I'll bet you'll end up watching it again at some point. When I first saw it, I thought it was just ok. But now I consider it a very good film, even a great one. The only thing I don't like about the film is the stupid title.

There's a brilliant scene towards the end of the movie where Winstone and McShane meet up and Winstone has to go through his story. McShane knows he's lying. Winstone knows the McShane knows that he's lying and the tension is almost unbearable.

I was watching Minecraft with my nephew.

Godland

A Danish priest/photographer is sent to build a church in Iceland and this film documents his struggles with the local people and the unforgiving landscape.

In both sound and vision, it is eerie and atmospheric, though there is a lot of silence throughout. It is a standard clash of cultures tale, with hints of colonisation. The locals are practical and eccentric while the Dane is uptight and aloof.

Visually, it is stunning, though it may run on a bit too long. There is an element of conquering at all odds and going a bit mad while doing so. It is an impressive turn from the lead who goes through a range of experiences and growth.

An interesting film, though a bit of a slog.

Adaptation

A movie about writing a movie about writing a movie. Really daring, painfully honest, nobody does introspection like Charlie Kaufman.

It's also so funny, every word out of Donald's mouth had me in hysterics ("it's like technology……versus horse"). Best performance of Nic Cage's career imo, Streep and Cooper obviously kill it too. Been a few weeks since I watched this one and so much of it has stuck with me: Donald's speech in the woods, Susan Orlean's line about wanting to know what it feels like to care passionately about something, the most awkward elevator ride of all time, the way the ending unfolds…

5/5

Lost in Translation

A nice little movie about moments of connection heightened by otherwise feeling nothing but alienation, two lost souls finding comfort in each other's presence. I didn't love this one, I normally enjoy movies that others describe as "nothing happens" but this one never really grabbed me. I didn't hate it either, ScarJo is great, Bill Murray is good (I've never been his biggest fan), it's a nice tight 90 minutes, it's a great "comfy" movie.

Last point: I knew it was coming but I wish they hadn't kissed, I don't think they needed a romance to tell this story and that wasn't the kind of chemistry I was picking up from the two leads at all. Until the final scenes it was coming off far more as a "young woman and her fun uncle" kind of thing lol.

3/5

Training Day

Just watched this one last night, eager to watch it again now knowing what I know. A movie about a day that seems to last a week, taking aim at the state of LA under the ruling of the 90s/2000s LAPD.

I don't think it's the strongest script and nothing about the direction blew me away…but the two leads are on fire. Ethan Hawke loves a naive, bright-eyed rookie role. This feels like the role by which all future Denzel performances are measured. It's a good movie without them, but their two performances elevate it so so so much for me.

5/5

Just watched Cast Away on Netflix.

Great film but watching it again a little older than when I watched it the first few times I've just realized how incredibly depressing it is.

Spoiler Warning

The final part of the film is heartbreaking, the poor fucker after already losing his girlfriend by being stuck on the island miraculously manages to find his way home only to find he's again lost the love of his life and the only thing keeping him alive and Kelly (Helen Hunt) has to live with the realization she's married someone as much out of convenience rather than pure love and is going to be stuck with him for life regretting that she didn't wait just a few more years for Chuck (Tom Hanks) to return. After he returned and found out she was married and had a kid and all , I;m sure he must have been thinking it would have been far better off if he'd died on the island. I know the final scene provide a glimmer of hope but still I found it really depressing.

and streaming on Amazon Prime !!

The Way of the Gun

This film is very likeable in an odd way. Its kind of trashy , messy, unbelievable and badly acted with overly Machiavellian characters and a B movie action heist vibe.

But something carries it through.

The score is great. Benicio Del Toro and Ryan Phillipe just works somehow. The shoot outs are just good old style satisfying shoot outs. Its tense. Its just very watchable despite the obvious gammy elements, messy script and on screen ridiculousness.

7.9/10

Under the Skin is next on my hitlist of things I've been meaning to watch for a long time.

Cape Fear is also on my rewatch list, now moving back up close to the top. I must admit I love this thread, it's always reminding me of things I want to rewatch or alerting me to things I've never heard of.

Enter the Void

From Gasper Noe. Visually intense Neon dreamy dark Jarring Psychological drama. I'd rank it up there as one of those you probably need to be on drugs to fully appreciate this like something along the lines of fear and loathing in Las Vegas. Visually its pretty spectacular, taking Kubricks penchant for colorfulness about ten levels up while somehow paradoxically remaining Gotham City dark. It's very long I felt for that style of a foggy druggy hazy relatively plotless movie. I can see why some adore it and consider it a masterpiece. However not this sailors cupán tae.

The Thirteenth Floor

This is a mid 90s sci fi about people living in a computer simulation which had the unfortunate faith of being released at the same time as the much higher budget and much more bombastic The Matrix. As such it bombed and has kind of been overlooked which is a bit of a shame as its not that bad at all and holds it's own up there with more crumby 90's sci fis like the lawn mower man , chain reaction etc.

Acting isn't great , writing is schlocky and script can be hard to follow but it has its charms. If you like Black Mirror or the Prime series Electric Dreams then I can't see any reason you would not like this as its basically just like a longer episode of these types of sci fi tech fantasy shorts.

7.5

Point Break (1991)

My young ladeen wants to learn how to surf this summer and there's no way out of it for me but to have to go learn the whole pain in the ar$e with him, which will undeniably result in me getting some sort of injury/hip replacement/whatever, so I said I'd give this a watch as I hadn't seen it since I was about 11 years old and I always remember the surfing aspect. But this thing is absolutely hilarious, its pretty much an A-Grade action B movie laden with so much late 80's early 90's style sequential editing, filming and shots, Bigelow did a great job, but it may as well be Tony Scott's "Once Upon a Time in The West". Just brilliantly entertaining, and flows perfectly, and some parts of this thing are just absolutely hilarious, the foot chase scene through the houses and alleyways of the LA housing blocks, Reeves flying through a window, the housewife beating him with a broom as Swayze throws a pitbull into his face, ahh I really lost it laughing badly out loud. You can really see it had an influence on Michael Mann's 'Heat' also without the B-movieness. 8/10

One of my favourites. Absolutely love it