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Official secrets

Saw this tonght and thought it was a bit meh. Lots of people shouting at each other, tension trying to be drained out of scenes that had no tension in the first place. The subject matter is an SJWs dream and people who love to protest about everything will probably really like it. It just seemed forced or something though. Like I was always aware that I was watching keira knightley and everyone else, acting. Not once was I lost in the story because it all seemed much ado about nothing really.

Luce

9/10

This is a great drama/thriller. The Leads are phenomenally acted. It deals with themes like the american racial divide/identity politics but doesn't come across as preachy or partisan and instead has some very nuanced and fresh perspectives to offer. The dialogue is on point. The tension is subtly crafted. There is lots of purposeful ambiguity. I saw it days ago but am still mulling it over in my head trying to decide what really happened and who really was who they said they were.

Drumpot wrote: »

I was listening to Ed Norton on Marc Marons podcast and he was saying him and Pitt were at the first public show full of critics , many who booed and hated it. They both said “this is going to be the best movie we will ever be in”. He said they knew that the movie was perfect for its target audience and would speak to them in a way that the critics wouldn’t get and they were spot on.

Yeh, it's one of those pictures that can rub some people up the wrong way. Never met anybody in real life that didn't like it though. Although I think the critical reaction may have had something to do with how the film was marketing by the film makers and the studio.

It's a completely ridiculous yarn, of course, but I don't think anyone is supposed to take it seriously.

Hold The Dark

Jeremy Saulnier's fourth film is very ominous and mysterious right from the start. Jeffrey Wright's author and wolf expert is lured to a remote Alaska village to trap and kill a wolf that supposedly killed a local boy but nothing is quite as it seems.

The film has a nasty streak running through it. Just like Green Room people die unexpectedly and often. It's meant to be shocking but I felt a little cheated at the nihilism of it all.

I hope Saulnier can up his game next time and not rely on shock value too much because his films are impressive. Dark and grim but still very watchable.

Martin Eden set in Naples



https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4516162/releaseinfo?ref_=tt_ov_inf

The Nightingale (2018)

A period thriller set in Tasmania Australia, where a young Irish convict who's trying to build a life for herself, ends up seeking revenge for a terrible act of violence committed against her family. It stars Irish actress Aisling Franciosi in the lead role as Clare Carroll.

Probably the most darkest, disturbing movie I have ever seen. Think "The wind that shakes the barley" but a mssive increase in the brutality factor.
Definetly not for the faint of heart, but if you can get past all that, I'd still recommend.

8/10

The King


It's on Netflix. I thought it was great. A bit slow paced in places for some maybe. It's a shame they didn't have a game of thrones size budget for the battles though. The Lead guy is great. The attention to detail for that Era was spot on.


8/10

Last Christmas at the cinema yesterday

Last Christmas

This is getting absolutley slated by the critics. Rolling stone in particular gave it possibly the worst(and funniest) review Ive seen in a while. So I went in with extremely low expectations......and I actually loved it. Its everything the critics are saying it is: Unrealistic dialogue, over acting(take a bow Emilla clarke) predictible. But it does have one thing in its favor and that is its heart is in the right place. I know some would argue that this isnt enough, and I get that but I just found it genuine despite its faults. I think as a consequence of the bad reviews that it wont do well. But I also believe that in a while, maybe one or two years, this will start to develop an audience and will in time be well liked or even loved by the public.

barrymanilow wrote: »

Luce

9/10

This is a great drama/thriller. The Leads are phenomenally acted. It deals with themes like the american racial divide/identity politics but doesn't come across as preachy or partisan and instead has some very nuanced and fresh perspectives to offer. The dialogue is on point. The tension is subtly crafted. There is lots of purposeful ambiguity. I saw it days ago but am still mulling it over in my head trying to decide what really happened and who really was who they said they were.

Agree with the above. Very good thought provoking film

Magic Mike – 2.5/10

A badly made, ugly looking, poorly shot film with no story. The only reason this exists is to give horny girls soggy knickers. I can only imagine the stench the cinema staff had to endure after every screening.

If you tend to want more from cinema than just c*cks, t*ts and man nipples flapping around, you should avoid this. It isn’t even fun in a tacky, camp way. Matthew McConaughey is the only redeeming element of this film. He somehow manages to be laugh out loud funny in this insipid, lurid, dog sh*t film.

I thought Steven Soderbergh was meant to be a film director?

Gemini

It starts well enough and the first act is what you've been sold: high octane adventure with Will Smith versus an uncanny valley version of his younger self. The second and third acts, however, are utter garbage full of exposition laden soliloquies with occasional bursts of action. Absolutely awful. 2/10

'Wendy and Lucy'

Or...Michelle Williams looks for her mutt. A slowish mover, but not boring one, by independent film maker Kelly Reichardt, sees a young woman, Wendy, drift into a one horse Oregon town on her way to Alaska. Her car breaks down and she is stranded, because she doesn't have the money to get it fixed. Wendy is travelling with her dog Lucy (the director's own dog), but they get separated and Wendy has to look for her, before she can move on.

Reichardt's story dumps us into Wendy's life without telling us much about her. We never find out why she's on her way to Alaska, or what she hopes to do when she gets there, besides find work. She's obviously not had the best of times, though, and while not exactly a maudlin character, she does come across as a bit downbeat. This is made all the worse when her dog, Lucy, parts company with her as the dog appears to be her only real companion in life.

Williams puts in a very convincing shift here as Wendy and as an actress I never seemed to have much regard for, as I still think of her as part of the 'Dawson's Creek' alumni, she was pleasantly surprising. There's a danger that, as a viewer, one can feel a little cold toward the main character because we are dropped into a slice of life without knowing anything about her and not finding out much by the end of the film, but Williams manages to make Wendy a genuine person and one that we can sympathise with.

Reichardt's direction is fine, if it seems a little casual and aloof. But the simple story doesn't require much flare and it keeps the interest over its 80 minute run time.

9/10


'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2'

Tobe Hooper's sequel to the excellent 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' misses all of the beats that made the 1974 film so great. Why Hooper decided to play the sequel almost exclusively for laughs, when the original was a pure horror movie, is quite the mystery and it never once sits comfortably. It can be said that the Sawyer family possessed some darkly humorous attributes in the first film and Hooper himself has always said that he wanted some laughs in there, but it never went into overtly camp territory like it does here. Thusly, the macabre fascination of Leatherface's clan is completely diluted and they never capture the absurd horror that they embodied in the 70's.

The protagonists this time out are Vanita "Stretch" Brock (Caroline Williams), a late night Texan radio DJ and Boude "Lefty" Enright (Dennis Hopper), a Texas Ranger who is investigating the Sawyer family. They eventually do battle with Leatherface and his kin who are holed up in an abandoned theme park, where they have built an elaborate underground hideaway.

While the first half of 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2' feels relatively different, the second half repeats much of the first film, even down to letting grandpa (who is surprisingly still alive) try and kill the heroine by belting her with a hammer, despite him making a mess of it in 1974. Caroline Williams, like Marilyn Burns, spends much of the time screaming her head off too. But, unlike her predecessor, her character "Stretch" eventually fights back.

While the original film was almost completely bloodless, the sequel up's the gore content thanks to the involvement of the great make up effects artist Tom Savini. But, unfortunately, it's just not enough to offset the poor story and the lacklustre atmosphere that is ruined by the over all comedic tone. But I suppose that Hooper figured that he'd already made one of the greatest horror films of all time, so he set out to do something different with its sequel. But in the end the result was a very bad misfire.

'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part 2' wasn't very well received at the time of its release in 1987 and was outright rejected by some fans of the original, because of its comedic value. But, it has since gone on to develop a cult following of its own, like most of these movies do. It will have a certain appeal for people who like black comedies, I suppose. But if someone is a fan of the original film, they won't find the same kind of entertainment in its sequel.

3/10