What have you watched recently? 3D!

Mr.Nice Guy · 12-11-2021 6:35pm

I watched Black Widow. It was decent. Some silly bits like the stuff with The Taskmaster. I liked Florence Pugh.

Ridley · 12-11-2021 10:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118157230#Comment_118157230

I enjoyed Black Widow quite a lot myself, was all in on Moore-era Bond leanings. Just watched Shang-Chi and not seeing the general love for it at all. Didn't feel the runtime but spent 75% of it waiting for it to move past the beginning. Good to know Simu Liu has the chops for all I'd want from a Sleeping Dogs movie though. 😉

Tony EH · 12-11-2021 11:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118143174#Comment_118143174

Watched that on your recommendation the other night. Thought it was pretty decent too. Nothing mind blowing, but a grand couple of hours.

[Deleted User] · 15-11-2021 4:35pm

I know this much is true 2020 Had not heard of this HBO mini series and decided to give it a look on some long haul flights. Was I not disappointed; a really exceptional piece of drama with Ruffalo incredibly engaging playing 2 twin brothers. It comes with a warning that in the most part it is incredibly bleak, and reminds me of Jimmy McGovern stuff, but a US version.

There is so much in the story, there is little point describing it, and I just recommend watching it if you have the stomach for emotional trauma on screen. Ultimately its a very rewarding watch despite the darkness.

[Deleted User] · 15-11-2021 7:51pm

Old Henry

Reasonable Western effort if a little improbable with the revealed backstory bit which was a bit too overdone.

6.2/10

The Beta Test

Swimming with Sharks meets Unfaithful Hollywood caper set in Hollywood agent-land. Interesting initial premise but falls apart at the end but just about watchable.

6/10

johnny_ultimate · 18-11-2021 10:01pm

Petite Maman - in her follow-up to the transcendent Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Celine Sciamma continues to make her stake to greatest working filmmaker with this impossibly gorgeous little movie. It’s best to let its surprises unravel at the film’s own careful pace, but it’s the rare film that captures a very particular magic: a tale of childhood wonder, sadness and curiosity that actually feels more real and true thanks to matter-of-fact magical realism. It’s not even 75 minutes long, and yet it delivers in ways far beyond it modest running time and scope (what a joy to see Sciamma make her smallest-scale film after her largest-scale one). Just the loveliest film you’ll see in a cinema this year… or most other years for that matter.

Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy - Putting out one masterpiece in a year is quite the achievement, but miraculously Ryusuke Hamaguchi has managed two this year. Just an embarrassingly gifted filmmaker - he captures the revelatory, mysterious moments that you often only see in literature or the very best cinema. This film offers up three short ‘stories’ - and, in a rare break from the anthology film norm, each of them is **** incredible. I’m in awe at how Hamaguchi can make a 20-minute, low-key conversation between two characters so electrifying. But it’s also the late-story twists and surprises he throws into each story that really push these into the god tier.

His other 2021 masterpiece Drive My Car is out in cinemas tomorrow, by the way, and I truly cannot recommend it enough.

The Worst Person in the World - I suppose it’s best to describe Jochaim Trier’s latest as a rom-com: it’s romantic and it’s funny, after all. It also follows the basic structure of the genre: one woman, torn between two men (the kind, slightly boring boyfriend and the exciting, adventurous stranger she meets randomly at a random party). But the story twists and prods at the formula to quite impressive effect, and takes the characters down some unexpected paths. Trier throws in some tremendous set pieces, including a sojourn through Oslo where everyone but the protagonists are frozen in time. But it’s the extraordinary star of the show Renate Reinsve that delivers the home run here: comfortably the best performance I’ve seen this year (well, maybe tied with Simon Rex in Red Rocket).

ButtersSuki · 18-11-2021 10:17pm

For a variety of reasons I haven't been round these parts in some time, but returned to warn you all off watching Home Sweet Home Alone. I know you'll say "It can't possibly be that bad", but it is. If I were to start saying how much I hate it and to go into detail as to why I'd likely be banned from boards completely. Quite simply the worst film I have seen in years, and one which deserves the lowest score I have ever given a film on here - 0 /10.

Wombatman · 21-11-2021 12:24am

Last Night in Soho

This psychological thriller \ horror is going to spit audiences for sure. I really liked it. The unconventional evocation of the swinging sixties and it's dark under belly was well put together. Yeah the story had a few kinks and lazy stereotypes but they were easily overlooked because of the creative unsettling narrative and visual style.

8/10

Decuc500 · 21-11-2021 10:47am

Midsommar

Folk-horror is a sub genre that I have little time for which is why it took me so long to check this out. I shouldn't have bothered.

It's entirely predictable, every beat and worn out cliche is hit and if you've seen The Wicker Man and its countless imitators you know what to expect.

What really annoyed me was how serious it took itself. The pompousness starts to grate after a while and it turns unintentionally funny. Ari Aster's previous film, Hereditary, also suffered from this self importance but at least had the good grace to be creepy.

Aster needs to mature and lighten up as a filmmaker and put away the film school trappings before he can convince me.

gmisk · 22-11-2021 4:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118199482#Comment_118199482

I liked it but didn't love it :(

The look of it the acting music etc was brilliant but it kind of went off the rails.

[Deleted User] · 23-11-2021 11:08pm

I've tried to watch the latest Bond film. Three times. It never ends. I'm done. It's exhausting.

FunLover18 · 23-11-2021 11:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213621#Comment_118213621

It's waaaay too long.

I watched Tremors last week, had heard a lot of good things, seems to be regarded as a cult classic of sorts. I found it fine, I dunno my expectations were probably a bit too high.

[Deleted User] · 24-11-2021 12:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213621#Comment_118213621

Films like that are for the cinema really tbh where it's more immersive and fooking around on your phone is not the done thing.

Jump_In_Jack · 24-11-2021 4:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118213621#Comment_118213621

Fell asleep twice watching it, in the end had to ask the wife what happened in the end, and my reaction was, well didn't miss anything! And I normally love Bond films. This one just dragged on, and seemed like the whole film was about setting up an alternate reality for future Bond films, so we'll have people of different genders/ethnicities playing bond in future perhaps. Also didn't really buy the whole romance thing, it felt very forced and not at all believable, especially the age difference when Bond seemed about 60 in it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 25-11-2021 12:19am

I watched Black Widow earlier and surprisingly I quite enjoyed it. I don't watch the Marvel films, I've seen maybe 3 of them before this, but it felt like it's own film for the most part. There were probably things going over my head bit it never felt obvious that it's connected to a bigger cinematic universe, which is a problem I had when watching the Spider-Man films. It was just a fun popcorn movie, and if they're keeping Florence Pugh in the MCU I could be tempted to start watching them.... maybe.

elenaaustin87 · 25-11-2021 7:33am

I've been watching Brooklyn 99 and I've been pretty happy with it.

monkeyactive · 25-11-2021 11:24am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118200193#Comment_118200193

Interesting review. I agree to a degree with the points made but I actually thoroughly enjoyed Midsommar.

I thought it was a really bold move to make a horror film in almost 90% outdoor summer daylight settings.

I don't think this film is really meant to be take on such a surface level. On that level it is kind of a cliched and predictable. I think Midsommar is a study of grief and of healing , community and connection , cults , conformity and primarily of how alone and lost it is possible to be in a dysfunctional toxic relationship.

I also really enjoyed where psychedelics are placed in this film and what they brought to the story.

I also just liked the style of it , just looked great , the crazy ceremonies , the wickerman vibes. For me its a film that really stayed with me , I couldn't stop thinking about it for days after I had watched it.

johnny_ultimate · 25-11-2021 11:29am

The one thing I'd say about Midsommar is that I don't think it takes itself too seriously at all. Indeed, I think it's a pretty darn funny film in its own particular, blackly comic way. Creepy for sure (still recall the cliff scene as properly unsettling) but it's a more playful film than Heridatary IMO.

That score tho. *chef's kiss*

Tony EH · 25-11-2021 8:07pm

Thought 'Midsommar' was pretty good myself, even if it's really just 'The Wicker Man' for a new generation. But so far I've liked Aster's stuff. Can't say that I'm all that enthused about his next project though, but I'll be checking it out.

As for taking itself "seriously", frankly that's one of the things I liked about it. it was serious enough to buy into and the characters took their situation seriously, which also allows buy in to what you're watching. I am sick to the back feckin teeth of "meta" movies that are tongue in cheek and wink at the audience all the time, or movies that have absolutely no consistency of tone. Pick a bloody lane for christ's sake and choose what you want to be.

Over all, I think 'Hereditary' edges it in the quality stakes, even if the witches coven angle has been done to death. But that might have more to do with the actors in it.

pixelburp · 28-11-2021 3:59pm

Robin Robin (2021)

A short film at 32 minutes, but this was an absolute treat. Very sweet with an incredibly big heart, while Aardman's switch of medium, using felt & wool (rather than clay), only further added to the warm fuzzies.

A great shame this wasn't feature length; would love to know whose decision that was.

[Deleted User] · 28-11-2021 9:48pm

Dog Eat Dog / Perro Come Perro (2008)

Unpredictable and entertaining Colombian gangsters on the hunt for missing money caper that is worth a watch. A couple of entertaining psychopath type characters in the movie even if they are a little cartoonish.

7 / 10

[Deleted User] · 28-11-2021 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118222832#Comment_118222832

Midsommar was a great ride I thought once you're able to get on board with the whole trippy sort of experience that it's going for from the start and roll with it to the end.

Fysh · 01-12-2021 9:02am

I finally got around to watching Patrick last night on BFI Player. It's about a man who lives and works at a nudist campsite, and the existential crisis that starts when one of his hammers goes missing (he's a carpenter and quite particular about his tools). It's also about grief, finding one's place in the world, and a bunch of oddball characters. It riffs a bit with private detective story tropes, but never in an overbearing way. A gently absurdist comedy-drama, I really liked this.

[Deleted User] · 01-12-2021 10:30am

Last night in Soho is one wild ride. Wasn't expecting that! Really good original film, highly recommended.

Dades · 01-12-2021 11:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249516#Comment_118249516

Yeah, I really liked Last Night in Soho as well.

I heard people moaning about the final third and the ending, but I thought it was fine. 60s London looked amazing.

[Deleted User] · 01-12-2021 12:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118249930#Comment_118249930

The whole second half of it was a trip I was not expecting at all. Creative, intense, horrific, scary. Just fantastic film making.

Fysh · 01-12-2021 3:36pm

I got to see Last Night in Soho on Monday and agree, it was a great watch and the recreation of 60s London was very well done. It's very much a giallo-inspired film, so the operatic flourishes in the third act didn't feel out of place. And as always with an Edgar Wright film, the use of music was great.

dubstepper · 02-12-2021 4:08pm

Censor

Had not head much about it but really enjoyed it. It's set around the time of VHS and video nasties. Our protagonist is a woman working as a movie censor. She has a troubled past in that when she was younger her sister disappeared while they were playing in a forest. During her work looking at video nasties she becomes convinced that her sister is alive and is involved in the industry.

I loved everything about this. The tone is perfect and it looks like you are watching an old VHS. It has some nods toward Cronenberg's Videodrome, in the sense of blurring of reality and the videos themselves. Niamh Algar is great in the lead.

8/10

monkeyactive · 03-12-2021 3:51pm

King Richard

Easy to watch does what it says on the tin True Sports Drama centered around the father of The Williams sisters and how he engineered their climb to superstardom by not allowing them to get chewed up in the system. Heart warming stuff. Big Willie has got good screen presence and carries the whole thing through.

Space Jam 2021

Didn't enjoy as much as the Classic. Personally I find it hard to watch stuff thats too CGI laden. Lebron doesn't have the effortless charm and mystique that Jordan brought to the screen. Someone made the mistake of giving Lebron too many lines and asking of him to act whereas Jordan barely spoke much in his role. Still its a good auld SFX gorging and the Looney Tunes Lads drew a few laughs. A certain age group will enjoy.

The Power of the dog

Great Western drama that revolves around a rift that develops when one of two brothers marries and brings his wife and effeminate son to stay on their ranch. Very original take , not so much a Western as no gunplay or shots fired but it portrays that time and place beautifully.

8.5/10

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-12-2021 1:33am

I watched CODA on Apple TV+ tonight. I thought it was really wonderful. It's a pretty standard coming of age premise with the "obstacle" being that the main character, Ruby, is the only hearing member of her family, and has taken on the role of interpreter for her parents and older brother, helping them run their fishing boat and deal with basically everything that involves communicating with the hearing population of their town. A music teacher discovers Ruby's passion for singing and encourages her to apply to a music college in Boston, which leaves Ruby torn between doing something for herself and staying with her family.

If you follow awards season at all you'll have seen/heard this get a lot of love and hype. I have to agree with the praise. As I said, it's a fairly familiar story in a lot of ways but the cast are all fantastic, it's funny, it's moving, the music is great, and it's even got our own Ferdia Walsh-Peelo (Sing Street) in a supporting role. It's uplifting and heartwarming without veering into cheesy or overly sentimental and is just an all round nice time.

What have you watched recently? 3D!

Comments